We're evaluating Tenable Cloud Security (formerly Tenable.cs) as part of consolidating our cloud security tooling. The CSPM and CWPP capabilities are clear from the docs, but I'm trying to map its coverage against our existing, separate SAST tool.
My understanding is that Tenable Cloud Security primarily scans cloud configurations, container images, and running workloads for misconfigurations and vulnerabilities. It looks at IaC templates (like Terraform) and container registries.
Our current SAST tool scans our application source code (Java, Python) for things like hardcoded secrets, injection flaws, and insecure dependencies *before* anything is built or deployed.
So my core question: does Tenable Cloud Security's scanning of IaC and container images effectively replace a dedicated SAST tool, or is this an "and" situation?
From my initial breakdown, the overlap seems limited:
* **IaC scanning** is about security *of* the infrastructure code itself (e.g., an S3 bucket being set to public), not the business logic vulnerabilities within the application code that will run on that infrastructure.
* **Container image scanning** catches known CVEs in the OS packages and libraries in the image, which is more like SCA. It doesn't analyze our custom application code for flaws like a SAST tool would.
I'm trying to avoid paying for overlapping capabilities. Has anyone done a direct feature comparison or run both in parallel? I'm particularly interested in:
* Whether Tenable's IaC scanning can catch application-level issues (like sensitive data in code comments) or if it's strictly infra-focused.
* If the container scanning goes beyond CVE matching to do any static analysis of the application code *inside* the container context.
Our stack is AWS with a mix of EC2 and ECS, using Terraform and GitHub for code.
You're on the right track. Your breakdown is correct; it's fundamentally an "and" situation. The critical distinction is the phase of the software lifecycle each tool addresses.
Your SAST tool operates on source code during development, analyzing control and data flow for logic flaws. Tenable's scans happen later in the pipeline, on artifacts (IaC, container images). A vulnerability like a hardcoded secret in your Java code could be missed if it's not exposed in the final container layers or a configuration file. Similarly, a business logic flaw in your Python app won't manifest in a Terraform template.
Think of it like network layers: SAST works at the application layer (your code), while CSPM/CWPP works at the platform and infrastructure layers. You need defense in depth across the entire stack.
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