KUBERNETES SECURITY
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PROTECTING CLOUD-NATIVE DEPLOYMENTS
We are in the midst of explosive growth in containerized applications, and Kubernetes has emerged as the leading container management platform. This rise of containers, alongside microservices architecture and CI/CD practices, has transformed the development, operation, and security of distributed applications.
The security team is now tasked with protecting a highly dynamic application environment in which both the application code as well as the infrastructure on which it runs changes constantly. And the stakes are getting higher with increased hacker attention on Kubernetes, driven by companies deploying business-critical applications with access to sensitive data on their Kubernetes clusters.
Security and Operations teams looking to secure their Kubernetes deployments face four key challenges:
KEY CHALLENGES IN SECURING KUBERNETES
Complexity
Multiple components and levels of security needed
Rapidly evolving platform and surrounding security ecosystem
Confusion
Explosion of commercial and open source security options
Confusing, overlapping and misleading vendor marketing messages
Silos
Difficult to secure multiple layers operating in silos
Silos create blind spots and promote security gaps
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Agility Impact
Stronger security measures typically end up lowering agility
DevOps agility is a top organizational priority
THE CLOUD DEFENSE DIFFERENCE
EXPERTISE
Quite simply put, we have been intimately involved with Kubernetes’ ecosystem and security from its early days. Our team of certified experts in Kubernetes and Cloud security comes from reputed silicon valley technology companies such as Cisco, Citrix, Palo Alto Networks and Oracle, where they led and contributed code to commercial and open source cloud and security projects, and authored a leading book on cloud security.
HOLISTIC APPROACH
Our team has experience in securing a variety of Kubernetes deployment architectures - cloud, or on-premise, via upstream, packaged, or managed Kubernetes) and application types. We approach Kubernetes security, not just as a silo by itself, but more holistically, in conjunction with related areas such as Cloud infrastructure security and DevSecOps to optimize security coverage, while minimizing gaps and overlaps.
TRUSTED PARTNER
We leverage our research and real-world experiences to bring the most appropriate technologies and tools to the table for the particular use case. We help clients cut through the marketing fog, and strive to earn their trust and lay the foundation of a long-term partnership. We become the go-to partner for advise and help when our clients face change due to new capabilities or a regular upgrade or the release of a high-severity issue.
WHAT TO EXPECT DURING ENGAGEMENT
We have engaged with clients at every step of their journey in securing cloud-native technologies. In some cases, we have engaged right from assessment and training activities to design and implementation of security features, and then going on to provide ongoing support and continuous improvement. While in other cases, we have focused on a subset of these activities, based on the open dialogue we have with the client. More details on our engagement model can be found here.
Below are some of the Kubernetes security related services that we have typically provided.
NETWORK VISIBILITY AND POLICY CONTROL
Monitor and control app-level communications between ephemeral containers/pods, as well as with external systems. Learn dependencies, protect databases, and enable compliance capabilities
IDENTITY MANAGEMENT AND ACCESS CONTROL
Integrate Kubernetes with existing enterprise Identity management systems. Deploy Role Based Access Controls with principles of least privileges which is key to limiting the blast radius in the event of compromised credentials
IMAGE SECURITY AND TRUST
Image security involves automated vulnerability scanning of container images, and securely storing images in an access-controlled repository. The mandatory multi-party signing of an image before allowing it to run in production boosts trust in the image
ENCRYPTION AT REST AND IN MOTION
Encrypt Secrets by default, and for large datasets, deploy advanced encryption with performance, scale, and key management. Ensure enterprise-grade encryption for all internal and external cluster communications
RUN-TIME SECURITY
Continuously scan for anomalies in the behavior of pods versus their baseline behavior model. Leverage Kubernetes Pod Security Profiles and scheduling/placement algorithms to shrink pod attack surface at runtime.
SECURING ADJACENT SYSTEMS
The security of kubernetes clusters is intricately linked to adjacent systems:
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Secured CI/CD pipeline with DevSecOps
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Centralized Logging and Monitoring
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Service Mesh – Istio, Linkerd
If you have questions about these or other Kubernetes security services, just send us a note!
Download Kubernetes Security Consulting Datasheet.