The Dark Side of Microservices: Turn on the Lights with Kubernetes WAAP multi-layered defense

Traffic Inspection:
The Enforcer thoroughly examines incoming requests and based on predefined security policies, decides whether to allow, report, or block the request. This means that only legitimate and safe traffic makes it through, while potential threats are intercepted in real-time.

Data Protection:
Beyond its gatekeeping function, the Enforcer will also be responsible for inspecting server responses. It can mask or synthesize sensitive data to protect against data leakage and ensure data privacy and compliance.

Scalability:
In the ever-evolving landscape of Kubernetes, scalability is key. The Enforcer should scale in and out as needed, natively handled by Kubernetes’ scaling mechanisms. This ensures that your security measures remain efficient and responsive, no matter the scale of your microservices environment.

Behavioral Analysis:
In the realm of security, understanding behavioral patterns is vital. The Enforcer should collect behavioral data, enabling it to identify malicious actors. By analyzing these behaviors, it can discern patterns that suggest a “bad actor” and take the necessary actions, including blocking them.

Data Collection:
One of the Backend’s critical functions is to collect telemetry data from the Enforcers. It gathers all security events reported by the Enforcers and stores this data locally, creating a comprehensive repository of security incidents and anomalies. This information can also be shared with third-party Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) applications for further analysis.

Security Policy Management:
The Backend is responsible for managing all deployed Enforcers, ensuring they have the most up-to-date security policies. This ensures that your microservices are consistently protected against evolving threats.

Behavioral Data Analysis:
Behaviour data collected from the Enforcers is not just stored; it is analyzed. The Backend assesses this data, identifying trends, patterns, and anomalies. By understanding how your microservices and their users behave, it can adjust security policies dynamically, responding to emerging threats and maintaining a proactive stance against potential attacks.

Policy Control with Kubernetes CRDs:
The Backend should empower DevSecOps teams with the ability to implement security as code (SaC). The best way to achieve that is through Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs). This means you can define and control your security policies as part of your Kubernetes resources, streamlining security management and integration into your DevOps pipeline.

Protecting the “Crown Jewels”:
Your crown jewels are your most critical assets, deserving the utmost protection. In this case, you identify the microservices that expose an interface to these critical assets, such as a database or microservices accessing critical information. You can then define that all incoming traffic to these microservices will be inspected by an Enforcer. This approach not only examines requests coming from outside the environment but also requests generated from within, possibly by malicious code operating inside the environment.

This deployment option allows you to define a highly specific security policy tailored to these critical microservices. The Enforcers should support machine-to-machine protocols such as gRPC. Moreover, the Enforcers will collect specific behavioral data relevant only to these microservices and take actions to block suspicious requests. They can alert you to internal bad actors operating from inside the environment and can also mask or sanitize sensitive data leaving the microservices. This approach provides an intimate and accurate security policy that is highly relevant to these specific microservices, guaranteeing exceptionally low latency.

Protecting the Perimeter:
In this protection area, we explore the basic and traditional way to protect your application. You deploy an Enforcer that is responsible for inspecting and enforcing all incoming traffic originating from outside your environment. The Ingress Controller or API Gateway forwards traffic to the Enforcer, waiting for the Enforcer’s decision to block or pass the request. In this option, the security policy should be defined from the perspective of the entire application to cover all incoming Layer 7 threats.

Full Mesh Protection:
In the full mesh protection approach, you monitor all internal traffic between all microservices. This offers the highest level of protection with an intimate relationship with each microservice. This approach ensures that all inter-microservice communications are scrutinized, enhancing the security posture and enabling a proactive stance against potential threats.