Kubernetes Security Best Practices
Overview of Kubernetes Security Best Practices
A core step in delivering Kubernetes network security is defining and implementing network policies to control how pods communicate with each other and the wider network infrastructure beyond the Kubernetes environment. Another crucial step is the isolation of sensitive workloads using network segmentation techniques.
Network security best practices for Kubernetes deployments occur at multiple levels and via various techniques such as:
The API Server.
The central management interface for a Kubernetes deployment. It is critical to protect it against unauthorized access.
Authentication and Authorization Controls.
Implement robust access control to provide granular access control for managing user and service account permissions.
Network Security Settings.
Use network policies and segmentation to control traffic flow, isolate sensitive workloads, and limit the potential attack surface available to cyber attackers.
Strong Secrets Management.
Use Kubernetes Secrets or third-party secret stores to enable the secure storage and use of sensitive security access data such as passwords and API keys.
Pod Security Policies.
Deploy well-tested Pod security policies to enforce security settings within the container environments to ensure secure configurations get deployed and limit potential attack vectors.
Image Security.
Regularly scan container deployment images for known vulnerabilities and ensure that security patches for all components that comprise a container package get updated with the latest security updates.