Study reveals companies are wasting millions on unused Kubernetes resources

Study reveals companies are wasting millions on unused Kubernetes resources

Graham Cluley Security News is sponsored this week by the folks at Sysdig. Thanks to the great team there for their support!

This move to the cloud has made it easier to scale up applications when they need to grow. However, there is a corollary to this: Budgeting!

Chances are, you’re probably overspending.

Estimating how much an app will cost to run is an exercise in judgment. According to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation FinOps For Kubernetes report, only 38 percent of developers can accurately predict their cloud spend within 10 percent.

Without proper real-time monitoring of utilization information for Kubernetes environments, you probably feel blind to where cloud resources are over or underallocated. A recent Sysdig 2023 Cloud-Native Security and Usage report found that businesses of all sizes could be overspending, and for large-scale deployments, the overspend can be upwards of $10 million on cloud consumption bills.

The same Sysdig report found that 59% of containers have no CPU limits defined, and 69% of requested CPU resources go unused. Similarly to fine tuning utilization, if you under-estimate the amount of CPU and memory that your containers need, then you will end up creating more containers within each cluster to fulfill your workload requirements. Each of these images will add to the overall bill.

To truly gain control over Kubernetes costs, you need a commercial solution like Sysdig Monitor, which has deep Kubernetes visibility that provides everything out-of-the-box, enabling you to get up and running in minutes with minimal configuration. Sysdig’s cost-savings estimates are based on utilization metrics to help teams prioritize rightsizing efforts to save an average of 40% on their cloud bills. Test drive Sysdig Monitor for free for yourself!

Looking for more information on cloud usage best practices? Take a look at the key takeaways from Sysdig’s report, which contains insights based on real-world data from billions of containers across global companies of all sizes and industries. The 6th annual report provides insight into reducing cloud costs by addressing unused Kubernetes resources — potentially saving millions of dollars.

Download Sysdig report

Download the full Cloud-Native Security and Usage Report to uncover the latest insights like:

  • How companies can save up to $10M in cloud costs
  • 87% of images include a high or critical vulnerability
  • 90% of accounts have excessive permissions

Learn More ➔

About Sysdig

Sysdig delivers cloud and container security so you can stop attacks with no wasted time. Detect threats in real-time using ML, curated rules and Sysdig Threat Research Policies. Prioritize vulnerabilities based on in-use risk exposure and fix fast with context. Gain agentless visibility combined with runtime security powered by eBPF and Falco.


If you’re interested in sponsoring my site for a week, and reaching an IT-savvy audience that cares about cybersecurity, you can find more information here.