What is cloud detection and response (CDR)?
Definition and purpose
Cloud detection and response (CDR) provides real-time monitoring, detection, analysis, and response to security threats in cloud environments. CDR evolved from traditional threat detection and response (TDR) to meet the specific needs of cloud infrastructure and services.
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What are some key capabilities of CDR solutions?
To address cloud security gaps, a CDR solution should offer:
Continuous monitoring of cloud resources, services, and activities
Real-time threat detection across multi-cloud environments
Behavioral analysis to identify red flags for potential attacks
Automated response capabilities to stop threats as soon as they’re detected
Deep visibility into cloud workloads, APIs, identities, and network traffic
How will CDR benefit my organization?
Organizations using CDR enjoy better visibility into runtime cloud activities and potential threats. This slashes mean time to detect (MTTD), an important security metric.
Because CDR uses behavioral analysis rather than signatures, it can detect novel or unknown threats. It can also correlate security signals to identify complex attack patterns. Finally, it provides contextual alerts that give your security teams actionable information to bring down mean time to respond (MTTR), another essential security metric.
What is a cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP)?
Definition and purpose
A cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP) is a unified security platform that combines multiple cloud security functions to protect cloud-native applications throughout their lifecycle.
Modern cloud-native development and deployment presents unique challenges like scale and distribution of processes. Separate security tools create “silos”—adding management overhead while hiding data from other tools. To solve this, a CNAPP brings together separate security tools into a unified, cohesive security approach.
What are the main components of a CNAPP solution?
Even though CNAPP components vary from vendor to vendor, a solid CNAPP should include at least the following:
1. ASPM – Application Security Posture Management
Goal: Shift security left and embed it into the software development lifecycle.
Key components:
Code and IaC scanning – Identify vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in infrastructure-as-code, containers, and app code.
CI/CD integration – Ensure automated security checks are part of the build and deploy process.
Image and registry scanning – Detect risks in container images and third-party dependencies before they reach production.
Developer-focused remediation – Provide actionable guidance directly in development workflows.
2. Security Posture Management
Goal: Provide full-stack, agentless visibility and prioritize risk using cloud context.
Key components:
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) – Continuously evaluate configurations and policies across cloud accounts.
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) – Map and manage effective permissions across identities and resources.
Security graph and attack path analysis – Understand how risks are connected across identities, workloads, and data.
Compliance monitoring – Map cloud environments to compliance frameworks and enforce custom policies.
Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) – Discover sensitive data, assess exposure risk, and enforce data access governance.
3. Cloud Threat Detection and Runtime Security
Goal: Monitor and respond to active threats in production environments.
Key components:
Runtime threat detection – Identify anomalous behavior, malware, and active exploitation attempts in workloads.
Cloud-native threat intelligence – Enrich findings with up-to-date threat data relevant to cloud environments.
Incident response support – Accelerate investigations with context-aware alerts and integrations into SOC workflows.
Workload protection (CWPP) – Protect VMs, containers, and serverless functions at runtime.
How will CNAPP benefit my organization?
For many users, the biggest benefit of a CNAPP is that it provides unified visibility across their entire cloud environment and application lifecycle—comprehensive protection from code to cloud. A key advantage of a CNAPP is its ability to shift security left, embedding security earlier in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). By scanning infrastructure as code (IaC), containers, and cloud configurations before deployment, a CNAPP helps prevent security issues rather than just detecting them at runtime. This also provides consistent policy enforcement across development and production.
A CNAPP uses contextual risk assessment. That means it considers multiple security factors together, all in one place, so teams don’t have to check and manage multiple tools to get the full picture when it comes to risk.
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What are the biggest differences between CNAPP and CDR?
| Column A | CNAPP | CDR |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Comprehensive lifecycle security | Runtime threat detection and response |
| Scope | Development through runtime | Primarily runtime environments |
| Approach | Preventative and protective | Detection and response oriented |
| Coverage | Broad: Entire cloud environment | Deep: Runtime activity analysis |
| Implementation | Comprehensive platform-based approach with multiple capabilities | Typically a standalone tool, but increasingly embedded as a CNAPP component |
What are some good use cases for CNAPP and CDR?
When it comes to security, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Understanding your organization’s needs and security maturity will help make the best choice.
CDR is a good fit if…
Your organization needs deep runtime visibility into specific cloud threats
Your biggest concern is rapid response to active threats
You’re satisfied with existing security tools but want to add better detection capabilities
Your teams have strong cloud security fundamentals but need better threat detection
A CNAPP is a good fit if…
Your organization needs comprehensive cloud security across the lifecycle
You’re looking to cut tool sprawl and unify security
You’re prioritizing preventative security right up there with reactive security
Your teams need a foundation for cloud security maturity growth
The evolution of cloud security thinking
Cloud security has undergone a significant transformation over the years. Initially, security solutions were retrofitted from on-prem environments, leading to cloud security tools that functioned in silos. This approach created fragmented visibility, requiring security teams to correlate data manually across multiple disconnected tools.
To address these limitations, organizations adopted point solutions like CSPM for misconfigurations and CWPPs for runtime security. But this tool sprawl introduced operational complexity—teams had to juggle multiple dashboards, manage separate alerts, and still lacked full context on cloud risks.
Today, leading security teams are shifting to unified security platforms like CNAPPs. Instead of treating security as disjointed phases, a CNAPP delivers end-to-end visibility from code to cloud. This means security is no longer an afterthought—it's integrated from development through runtime to proactively prevent, detect, and respond to threats with full contextual awareness.
A key part of this evolution is embedding CDR within a CNAPP. Threat detection and response alone is reactive and incomplete without the full picture of an organization's cloud security posture. A modern security strategy doesn’t separate CDR from CNAPPs—it unifies them, providing runtime threat detection that’s enriched with configuration, identity, and vulnerability insights to reduce noise and accelerate remediation.
Should you choose CDR or CNAPP?
The truth is that framing CDR and CNAPP as competing alternatives creates a false choice. Asking whether to choose CDR or CNAPP fundamentally misunderstands modern cloud security requirements.
The question isn't which approach to choose, but rather how to implement them in an integrated fashion that maximizes security effectiveness while minimizing operational complexity.
Why integration matters: The security lifecycle perspective
Cloud security is a continuous cycle that includes:
Building securely (shift-left security in development)
Deploying securely (secure configuration at deployment)
Running securely (runtime protection of production workloads)
Responding effectively (threat detection and incident response)
Improving continuously (feeding lessons back into the cycle)
CNAPPs provide comprehensive coverage across the first three stages, while CDR capabilities are essential for the fourth. Without CDR functions, even the most robust CNAPP implementation leaves a critical gap in runtime threat detection.
Similarly, CDR solutions without CNAPP capabilities can detect threats but lack the context and preventative controls needed to address root causes and prevent recurrence.
The costs of fragmentation
Organizations that implement a CNAPP and CDR as separate, disconnected solutions face significant challenges:
Correlation gaps between preventative and detective controls that attackers can exploit
Context loss that makes threat detection less effective and incident response more difficult
Operational inefficiency from managing multiple tools with different interfaces and workflows
Alert fatigue from receiving similar but disconnected alerts from multiple systems
Increased time-to-value from implementing and integrating separate solutions
Higher total cost of ownership from licensing, maintaining, and staffing multiple platforms
The integrated approach advantage
In contrast, organizations that implement CDR capabilities within a comprehensive CNAPP realize substantial benefits:
Complete security coverage across the entire application lifecycle
Enhanced detection effectiveness through contextual awareness of cloud configurations
Faster incident response with immediate access to complete environment information
Operational efficiency from unified workflows and consistent interfaces
Reduced alert noise through correlation and prioritization of findings
Lower total cost of ownership from consolidated licensing and operations
Making the right decision for your organization
The most forward-thinking security leaders no longer view CDR and CNAPPs as separate domains requiring separate solutions. Instead, they seek platforms that seamlessly integrate these capabilities to provide comprehensive protection.
When evaluating cloud security solutions, prioritize platforms that:
Provide genuine integration rather than superficial bundling of separate products
Offer comprehensive visibility across configurations, vulnerabilities, identities, and runtime activity
Support unified workflows that span prevention, detection, and response
Deliver contextual insights that connect runtime threats to underlying configurations
Enable automated remediation to close security gaps quickly and effectively
By selecting a truly integrated platform, you'll avoid the false choice between CDR and a CNAPP, gaining instead a solution that delivers the benefits of both approaches without the limitations of fragmented implementation.
Remember that cloud security isn't about choosing between different types of protection—it's about implementing a comprehensive strategy that addresses risks across the entire application lifecycle from code to cloud.
Conclusion: The Wiz approach
Wiz offers a unified cloud security platform that embodies the integration philosophy by combining comprehensive CNAPP capabilities with built-in, G2 award-winning CDR functionality.
This unique approach gives you…
Protection across the entire cloud-native software development lifecycle
A unified security graph that correlates all security signals
Hassle-free integration with cloud providers' security services
Contextual insights that eliminate alert fatigue
Rapid response capabilities powered by complete visibility
With Wiz, you get a true CNAPP with native CDR capabilities, ensuring proactive security from development to runtime—without adding extra tools, complexity, or alert fatigue.
Sign up for a Wiz demo and discover how simple it is to secure the entire cloud-native application lifecycle from code to cloud and beyond.
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