Introduction to Security in Docker

If security is hard, we’re less likely to implement it. Fortunately, most of the security in Docker is easy and preconfigured with sensible defaults. This means you get a moderately secure experience with zero effort. The defaults are not perfect, but they’re a good starting point.

Docker supports all major Linux security technologies and adds some of its own. As such, we’ve divided the chapter to first cover Linux security technologies, followed by Docker technologies.

This chapter focuses heavily on Linux, but the sections relating to Docker security technologies apply to Linux and Windows containers.

The TLDR

Good security is about layers and defense in depth, and more layers are always better. Fortunately, Docker offers many security layers, including the ones shown in the figure below.