Securing a Kubernetes environment is a critical task for any team. To help you navigate this complex landscape, we've compiled a list of essential guides and resources on information security for the popular orchestrator. This collection covers everything from beginner basics to advanced best practices, making it a valuable read for system administrators, DevOps engineers, and developers working with Kubernetes.

An Interactive Infrastructure Reference

Engineer Lars Solberg created a detailed visual diagram to simplify discussions about Kubernetes security within his team. The interactive chart maps out key components like clusters, virtual machines, and pods, along with system logic such as ACME API and BGP integration. Hovering over markers reveals tooltips with component descriptions.

While the author notes that his "cheat sheet" can be dense, its level of detail makes it invaluable for in-depth analysis. Published under an MIT license, the diagram can be modified for your own needs, with the full history and contribution instructions available in the GitHub repository.

Building a Self-Healing Infrastructure

In a detailed article, engineers from City Storage Systems share their experience building a self-healing infrastructure on Kubernetes. Their solution evolved from a monolith into a modular framework with two core components: one for detecting problems and another for resolving them.

This framework automates recovery processes at both the cluster and node levels, handling issues like StatefulSet errors on unavailable nodes, network failures, and OS migration problems. According to the authors, this self-healing architecture cut their infrastructure support time in half. They plan to expand the framework to handle more complex issues and scale the platform with minimal maintenance overhead.

The 'Shift-Down Security' Concept

The Shift-Down Security paper, published by a CNCF working group with specialists from Google, PwC, and IBM, argues that traditional container security methods are insufficient for dynamic cloud environments. It proposes a new, integrated approach for security experts, architects, and developers.

The document addresses key ecosystem challenges like vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and software supply chain risks. It offers concrete recommendations, such as creating "golden images" for containers to reduce vulnerabilities and using admission controllers to prevent configuration errors.

Five Common Security Mistakes

Thorsten Volk, a researcher in AI, machine learning, and DevOps, outlines the most common mistakes that lead to security incidents in Kubernetes. One major issue is alert fatigue, where security systems generate a flood of unprioritized notifications, making it difficult for teams to distinguish real threats from noise.

Even something as simple as incorrect indentation in YAML files can lead to serious security problems, including unauthorized access to the cluster.
Thorsten Volk

To combat these issues, Volk recommends using Extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) to run sandboxed programs directly in the Linux kernel. By analyzing system calls and network traffic, eBPF helps differentiate false alarms from genuine threats and can also detect configuration errors. Volk's insights are particularly valuable for DevOps engineers, security specialists, and microservice developers.

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