In enterprise IT, Kubernetes has emerged as the preferred container orchestration platform, providing an open-source, portable, and flexible solution. As businesses increasingly turn to Kubernetes to manage their container workloads and services, the expansive ecosystem signifies both opportunities and challenges.
Kubernetes security, therefore, becomes a critical aspect of this container-driven paradigm, encompassing services, tools, and support to ensure robust protection against runtime incidents, misconfigurations, and vulnerabilities. In this article, let’s explore what Kubernetes Security is and why it is important.
What Is Kubernetes Security?
Kubernetes security, often referred to as Kubernetes container security, revolves around addressing vulnerabilities at different phases of the container lifecycle. Whether responding to threats during runtime, preventing misconfigurations in the deploy and build phases, or addressing known vulnerabilities during the build phase, Kubernetes security best practices are integral to safeguarding cloud-native infrastructure and applications.
What Is A Container?
Containers in Kubernetes can be likened to virtual machines but possess distinct characteristics that make them lightweight and versatile. Despite sharing similarities, Kubernetes containers exhibit lightweight attributes due to their weak isolation qualities, allowing applications to share the Operating System.
They are also detached from the underlying framework, making them cloud-capable and compatible with various OS versions. Every Kubernetes container operates on repeatability, ensuring consistent behavior regardless of the environment it is placed in. This repeatability is achieved through standardized dependencies, streamlining performance, and facilitating deployment across different OS or cloud settings.
Why Is Kubernetes Security Important?
By automating container management and orchestration at scale, Kubernetes is fundamental to achieving the goals set by DevOps teams in establishing continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.
However, as the human component diminishes, the reliance on a system to control the environment introduces security vulnerabilities. Kubernetes security becomes crucial to ensuring that applications adhere to compliance, detecting and handling deviations or suspicious activities effectively.
Security Issues With Kubernetes
Some of the security Challenges in Kubernetes include:
Runtime Observation
When an app is in production, it is monitored by this process throughout runtime in order to prevent possibly harmful behavior. While automating this process enhances efficiency, it introduces challenges in finding relevant information, such as alerts and threat discoveries.
These results frequently lack a significant amount of the context required to act fast and confidently to carry out appropriate investigations. The efficiency of a DevSecOps team can be increased by automating the continuous monitoring process, but doing so requires giving up some control, which raises security risks.
Configuring Security Controls
Minor configuration errors can lead to major vulnerabilities. If modifications made to Kubernetes resources in one instance are not recorded, they may be overwritten in another.
That can result in unexpected vulnerabilities even in cases where security checks are operating as intended. In the event that a vulnerability or security issue is discovered, version control allows for a prompt restoration to a previous configuration state.
Deployment of Workloads Securely
Securing the deployment of numerous containers is a complex task. Naturally, there are numerous solutions available on the market to lessen any weaknesses or threats that can arise during this procedure.
Securing the deployment of numerous containers at once can be particularly challenging. A single-policy framework across all Kubernetes workloads helps in identifying threats and preventing malicious attacks from impacting cloud deployment.
Misuse of Images and Registry
Utilizing container images from registries can expedite operations, but it introduces the risk of including malicious code. Integrating vulnerability scanning tools and privately storing container images helps mitigate this risk, ensuring a secure development pipeline.
Additionally, speed may be a problem if a team neglects to correlate image vulnerabilities with container images that have already been deployed. In order to comprehend the risk that your network is facing, this comparison is essential.
