Cloud-native architecture has revolutionized the way we build and deploy applications. Yet, while we've embraced microservices, containers, and continuous delivery, our security practices often remain rigid, reactive, and misaligned with modern development workflows.
The result? Security becomes a bottleneck, slowing down innovation rather than enabling it.
I recently came across a 2023 Gartner report predicting that by 2026, 75% of organizations will restructure their cloud security strategies. Why? The misalignment with DevOps and software delivery speed is creating real problems:
- Our product launches get delayed by slow security reviews
- Engineers feel friction from rigid security policies
- We're drowning in fragmented security tools that disrupt developer workflows
- It's nearly impossible to show security ROI to leadership
And with the surge in software supply chain attacks like SolarWinds and Log4j, we can no longer afford this patchwork approach to security.
Why Our Traditional Security Approaches Are Failing Us
Many of us have tried to "shift left" and enforce security controls early in development. It's a step in the right direction, but I've seen firsthand how traditional security frameworks simply don't scale in cloud-native environments.
Here's the reality:
- Our quarterly security reviews can't keep up with daily deployments
- Security teams have no visibility into thousands of microservices
- We end up with checkbox security instead of actual risk reduction
Security shouldn't be blocking engineers. It should be enabling them - providing context-aware guidance, automated enforcement, and security investments that align with business goals.
Meet CNAMM: A Different Approach to Cloud Security
This is why I'm excited about the Cloud Native Assurance Maturity Model (CNAMM). It's an open-source framework that gives us a structured, scalable approach to cloud-native security.
What I love about CNAMM is that it doesn't try to force one-size-fits-all security. Instead, it helps us build adaptive security strategies based on our specific contexts:
- The industry we're in and our regulatory requirements
- Our cloud maturity level (are we just starting out or an enterprise with complex needs?)
- The technology stack and CI/CD pipelines we're using
- Our organization's risk tolerance and business objectives
The 8 Pillars That Make CNAMM Work
CNAMM covers eight critical key areas that helps with your Cloud Native journey:
- Strategy & Risk Governance - How we align security with what our business really needs
- Supply Chain & Vendor Security - Reducing risk across our software dependencies
- Infrastructure & Platform Security - Protecting our cloud environments and workloads
- Application & Data Protection - Building secure code and protecting our data
- Identity & Access Governance - Implementing least privilege and zero trust
- Runtime Security Operations - Continuously monitoring what's happening in production
- Threat Detection & Response - Automating how we handle security incidents
- Resilience & Service Assurance - Making sure we can recover when things go wrong
devsecflow
/
Cloud-Native-Assurance-Maturity-Model
A comprehensive framework and assessment toolkit for measuring and improving Cloud Native security maturity across 8 critical business functions. Includes automated scoring, contextual recommendations, and evidence-based evaluation.
Cloud Native Assurance Maturity Model (CNAMM)
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide organizations with an effective and measurable way to evaluate and enhance their Cloud Native security posture. We aim to enable organizations to confidently design, deploy, and operate secure Cloud Native systems through a self-assessment model that drives continuous improvement.
Overview
The Cloud Native Assurance Maturity Model (CNAMM) is a framework designed to help organizations measure and improve their Cloud Native security and assurance capabilities. This toolkit provides a structured approach to assess your organization's current maturity level and identify areas for improvement.
Framework Structure
CNAMM evaluates eight critical business functions, each containing three Practice Areas with two assessment Streams:
Business Functions
- Strategy and Risk Governance
- Supply Chain and Vendor Security
- Infrastructure and Platform Security
- Application and Data Protection
- Identity and Access Governance
- Runtime Security Operations
- Threat Detection and Response
- Resilience and Service Assurance
Assessment Streams
- Stream A…
Visualizing Your Security Maturity
One of the most powerful aspects of CNAMM is how it helps you visualize your current security state. The assessment toolkit generates heatmaps that show exactly where you stand across each practice area:
You can also see your overall maturity distribution to understand if you're meeting your security goals:
And track your progress across all business functions with radar and bar charts:
Why CNAMM Feels Different
I've implemented and abandoned many security frameworks over the years but here's why CNAMM makes sense and why we opensourced it:
It's Open Source and Community-Driven
You can clone the repo today, customize it for your organization, and contribute back.
It's Evidence-Based
Instead of vague security goals, CNAMM gives us actual metrics to measure risk reduction and security ROI. The assessment toolkit helps you with tracking your security journey with real data.
It Adapts to Your Industry
I've worked in both fintech and healthcare - their security needs couldn't be more different. CNAMM's contextual multipliers adjust security requirements based on your industry, making the guidance relevant to your actual situation.
It Speaks Business, Not Just Security
This might be my favorite part. CNAMM helps security teams communicate in terms that leadership understands, transforming security from a cost center to a business enabler.
Meaningful Results
After implementing CNAMM with a healthcare company, I witnessed impressive improvements:
- We cut their security tool costs by 40% - without compromising security
- Their compliance validation process became 3x faster thanks to automated scoring assessments and scorecard
- We saved them roughly $1.4M by targeting our security investments based on actual risk
How to Get Started Today
The best part? You can start implementing CNAMM right now:
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/devsecflow/Cloud-Native-Assurance-Maturity-Model.git - Download the assessment toolkit: It's a simple Excel-based tool to evaluate where you stand
- Check out the documentation: There are detailed guides for each of the 8 areas
- Join the community: Share your experience, ask questions, and help improve the framework
A Personal Note
I believe security should empower us, not slow us down. CNAMM gives the structure and insights organizations need to build security practices that actually scale with their cloud-native development.
If you're struggling with the same challenges I was - balancing security with innovation, demonstrating security ROI, and keeping up with the pace of cloud development - I'd love for you to join this journey.
Star the CNAMM Repository | Share Your Experience
What security challenges are you facing in your cloud-native journey? Drop a comment!
Top comments (0)