Directory CybersecurityCloud Security & CSPMStarboard (Aqua)

Starboard (Aqua)

Open Source

About Starboard (Aqua)

Starboard, developed by Aqua Security, is an open-source Kubernetes-native security toolkit designed to consolidate and present security findings from various tools directly within the Kubernetes ecosystem. By integrating outputs from multiple security scanners into Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs), Starboard enables enterprises to access comprehensive security reports through the Kubernetes API, eliminating the need to manage multiple disparate tools. This approach simplifies security management for Kubernetes workloads and infrastructure components by providing a unified view of risks and vulnerabilities.

Targeted primarily at enterprise organizations leveraging Kubernetes at scale, Starboard facilitates automated security assessments and continuous monitoring of cloud-native environments. Its integration into Kubernetes allows security teams and developers to operate within familiar workflows, enhancing efficiency and reducing the learning curve associated with traditional security tools. Although Starboard has been superseded by Aqua's Trivy-Operator, it laid the foundation for Kubernetes-native security integration and remains relevant for organizations seeking open-source CSPM solutions.

How to evaluate Cloud Security & CSPM

This is how the CIOPages Research Team evaluates this category. It is not an assessment of Starboard (Aqua). It comes from our Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) buyer guide.

25%

Risk Prioritization & Attack-Path Analysis

Context graph that correlates misconfiguration, internet reachability, identity/permissions, vulnerabilities, secrets, and data sensitivity into ranked attack paths to crown-jewel assets; toxic-combination detection; quality of the “fix these 10” output versus raw finding volume; false-positive rate in your own accounts

20%

Coverage Model: Agentless Breadth vs. Runtime Depth

Agentless snapshot/API scanning for fast 100%-estate visibility versus agent/eBPF runtime for in-production threat detection (CDR); container, serverless, and Kubernetes (KSPM) coverage; how the two models combine without double-counting; performance impact and deployment friction

20%

Multi-Cloud & Platform Consolidation (CNAPP)

Depth and parity across AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, and Kubernetes from one console; how many of CSPM, CIEM, CWPP, DSPM, KSPM, and code/IaC security are genuinely unified on one data model versus bolted-on acquisitions; single policy and one risk score across domains

15%

Identity & Entitlements (CIEM)

Effective-permission analysis across human and machine identities, cross-account and federated role mapping, detection of unused and over-privileged entitlements, least-privilege right-sizing recommendations, and privilege escalation / lateral-movement path discovery

10%

Remediation, Automation & Developer Workflow

Guided and auto-remediation, IaC and pull-request fixes (shift-left to code), guardrails that prevent drift, ticketing/SOAR integration, ownership routing to the right team, and API/Terraform coverage for security-as-code

10%

Compliance, Reporting & SOC Integration

Out-of-the-box frameworks (CIS, PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, NIST) with custom policy authoring, audit-ready evidence and drift history, RBAC/SSO on the console, and clean export of correlated cloud risk into the SIEM/SOC rather than a siloed dashboard

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