Introduction
Every firm using Kubernetes or another cloud-based container platform must handle security and risk holistically.
Kubernetes is a compelling open-source container orchestration solution for automating containerized application deployment, scaling, and management.
Organizations, however, must carefully strike a balance between their enthusiasm to adopt Kubernetes’ dynamic, self-service nature and the practical requirement to manage and minimize security and compliance risks.
It is critical to have a comprehensive picture of your container architecture and setup, regardless of which cloud service providers or container services you use.
Table of Contents
Creating a Roadmap for Security and Compliance
A security and compliance plan must include three key components: culture, frameworks, and systems.
Combining these three elements allows you to achieve cloud operations maturity through automation.
To promote innovation resulting from self-service access to the public cloud, it is critical to reject the “command and control” strategy that was formerly successful in the traditional data center sector and replace it with a gentler “trust but verify” approach.
Corporate innovation initiatives are requiring security and GRC experts to adopt cloud and container technology at a rapid pace.
This uncompromising urge to innovate frequently presents a challenging scenario for security and GRC professionals, who must adapt swiftly to safeguard these new technologies on a large scale.
To further complicate issues, a team can only partially comprehend the potential effects of changes to the computing environment due to the rapid rate of change brought on by creative automation. Monitoring and security must be conducted effectively.
“Command and Control” is being replaced with “Trust but Verify”
To further complicate issues, a team can only partially comprehend the potential effects of changes to the computing environment due to the rapid rate of change brought on by creative automation. Monitoring and security must be conducted effectively in this new setting.
A sizable, centralized IT staff responsible for managing everything from user access to the server, storage, and network provisioning is frequently less efficient for enterprises.
Instead, many businesses are moving toward a self-service model where programmers build the computing infrastructure that users require as they require it.
As a result of this shift, system administrators are no longer the sole guardians of the IT infrastructure. Their new function is more analogous to that of a systems management consultant, to maximize business value from the investment.
While it may appear straightforward, many businesses need help with this change. Many system administrators need help to accept the idea of empowering developers to provision environments independently. As a result, some will only make the transition.
Others, however, see the usefulness of incorporating automated monitoring and repair technology into the IT architecture.
Allowing developers more autonomy fosters the agility, speed, invention, and feeling of experimentation that modern firms demand to maintain a competitive advantage.
By providing sophisticated automated monitoring and remediation tools, businesses can ensure that developers act correctly and do not introduce avoidable hazards.
Supporting the “trust, but verify” principle entails creating a culture that empowers developers to explore and innovate while simultaneously providing systems staff with the tools they need to ensure that developers work safely. As a result, automated monitoring and repair technologies are essential.
Improving Cloud and Container Security and Compliance Using CIS Benchmarks
Because it is a proven architecture for deploying containers on-premises or in the cloud, Kubernetes has become the orchestration platform of choice for many organizations.
Kubernetes is supported by all major cloud providers. Kubernetes is supported by AWS, Azure, and Openshift. As Kubernetes’ popularity has increased, so have concerns regarding the technology’s security and compliance.
These benchmarks are consensus-driven security criteria created by industry and government stakeholders for system and application administrators, security professionals, auditors, help desk workers, and platform deployment personnel.
The CIS Benchmarks for Kubernetes offer a standard for determining the security condition of a Kubernetes cluster running on-premise, AWS, GCP, or Azure. Furthermore, when security flaws are discovered, the benchmarks assist in correction.
Some regulations outline the configuration options that must be used to guarantee the security of a particular component.
There are also regulations to ensure that specific environmental conditions are met, such as mandating that a security context be applied to a pod or container.
Severity Levels
Level 1 standards must “be practical and prudent; give a clear security advantage; and not limit the technology’s utility beyond acceptable limits.”
Infringing on Level 2 regulations implies a significant security risk. They “may negatively affect the utility or performance of the technology,” according to the CIS Benchmarks for Kubernetes.
Cloud Native Tools to Aid in the Security and Compliance of Cloud and Container Environments
Once configured and targeted at the pertinent hosts and Kubernetes clusters,
it begins retrieving information about the resources used for container configuration, such as pods, containers, services, and deployments, that are made available via an API. Additionally, it assesses admission controllers like ingress and pod security policies concurrently.
Then, all this data is combined into a single data model that depicts the infrastructure and encompasses containment.
Then, all this data is combined into a single data model that depicts the infrastructure and encompasses containment.
Companies must have the proper personnel, procedures, and equipment to fully benefit from the cloud and the containerized computing paradigm.
However, many businesses will spend a lot of money hoping to succeed, only to fall short.
These businesses invest money in various software and training programs but must make the necessary process and cultural changes to fully adopt containerized computing on the cloud.
Companies that have successfully transitioned to containerized computing in the cloud recognize that you cannot simply purchase your way into a digital transformation.
A successful digital transformation necessitates a human contribution in terms of time and effort. It is transitioning from command and control management to one based on the operational principle of trust but verification.