How To Secure Kubernetes: 4 Tips for an Airtight Security Policy

Kubernetes is the preferred environment used by developers to deploy, manage, scale, and release containerized apps. As of 2021, more than 5.6 million developers utilize Kubernetes.

Red Hat’s 2021 State of Kubernetes Security report demonstrated that security was the biggest issue faced regarding container strategies. Shockingly, 94% of respondents surveyed stated they had experienced a security incident in their Kubernetes environment in the past year.

This article will discuss some important security tips related to Kubernetes and the four best ways to ensure Kubernetes security.

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Why Kubernetes Security Should be a Top Priority for Organizations

Kubernetes security isn’t just about being a developer and keeping your code secure. It’s also essential for ensuring the top performance of your business. 

Information technology security, including cloud security, is key to preventing unauthorized data access, loss of operational capabilities, and other IT infrastructure considerations. Data breaches cost on average $4.24 million, which is a huge price tag to pay if it results from an easily correctable error.

What Are Common Security Issues With Kubernetes?

It’s important to start with understanding the security issues experienced by Kubernetes users to create an airtight security policy. The most common security concerns cited in a recent Red Hat report were:

Misconfigurations

Because Kubernetes relies on container orchestration, bad actors can easily exploit misconfigured systems that rely on Kubernetes. When you have misconfigurations, you increase the attack surface of your cloud-based applications and can even accidentally expose sensitive data.

Runtime Security Incidents

Another concern for developers is that these misconfiguration errors in the build phase may only become evident during runtime. Once all your containers are deployed, security incidents like hidden malware activating, privilege escalation attacks, or weak access controls allowing unauthorized containers to run can all occur. It’s vital to establish controls for preventing and identifying runtime security incidents.

Major Vulnerabilities

Major vulnerabilities are software flaws that can include zero-day exploits. These vulnerabilities often result in data loss and breach or extended application downtime.

Compliance Violations Discovered on Audit

A final security concern is that data audits can reveal compliance issues in container ecosystems. Improperly configured Kubernetes can result in improperly sharing data between containers and cause compliance issues.

How To Strengthen Kubernetes Security

To make the most of your Kubernetes security, consider implementing the following four tips into your development cycle. Kubernetes is used across all industries, including developing crypto. It’s important to utilize security at all levels, especially when it comes to your crypto wallet, where you host your assets. These simple implementations will give you a superior foundation for a secure container ecosystem.

1. Start With Security During Development

Many developers focus on Scrum as their development style of choice. However, agile and Scrum-style development can ignore security in favor of meeting development deadlines. Many people, unfortunately, believe that security slows agile development. Building security into your development cycle will help avoid delays later that could have been avoided.

Utilizing a DevSecOps approach that places security as a fundamental aspect of all stages of application life can help eliminate this issue. DevSecOps implementations utilize early-stage automation to help identify security issues early on. Utilizing automated code security tools can aid developers in finding security errors in their code. It can also help identify misconfigured Kubernetes silos, all while helping advance development.

2. Check Configurations and Identify Misconfigurations

The number one way to avoid Kubernetes security flaws is to ensure that your system is properly configured. This means ensuring that your control pane, worker nodes, and custom containers from your code are all double-checked for misconfiguration.

Common errors include insecure ports and granting excessive permissions. Utilizing manual processes to identify misconfiguration issues in your Kubernetes architecture is impractical. Depending on the number of workloads your architecture runs, you may have multiple configurations for each individual workload. This means hunting through dozens of workloads and configurations to find security flaws.

Today, many developers utilize AI to monitor and detect security misconfigurations. This process will help fast-track your Kubernetes development and identify potential security flaws.

3. Leverage Kubernetes Secrets

Kubernetes Secrets work much like ConfigMaps, but they are specifically designed to hold confidential information. This means that Kubernetes Secrets excel in storing authorization, authentication, and other security keys that allow you access to the resources necessary for running applications.

This also includes sensitive databases and infrastructures. Secrets are stored as objects and are decoupled from your application’s code - your application doesn’t store this data itself, leading to higher levels of security.

4. Utilize Longterm Security Strategies and Tooling

Finally, securing Kubernetes doesn’t just mean implementing security in your application development. Developers and stakeholders should utilize security at all levels of their organization and development process. This means using automated code security to scan for risks in real-time. Developers should utilize a data management platform that can protect data and enable disaster recovery.

Additionally, staying apprised of current vulnerabilities in other software that Kubernetes relies on is also key. Developers should leverage a zero trust architecture and implement multi-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access.