Use Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tools like AWS Security Hub detect misconfigurations.
Centralized, organization-wide security overview.
Runs security checks based on industry standards.
Integrates with other AWS services like:
GuardDuty (threat detection service that monitors for malicious activity and unauthorized behavior in your AWS environment).
Inspector, and many more.
Implement AWS Foundational Security Best Practices v1.0.0
Adopt Zero Trust models for strict access control.
Regularly audit and refine cloud configurations to prevent breaches.
Runs checks against predefined security standards, such as the AWS Foundational Security Best Practices, CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark, or PCI DSS. It continuously assesses your environment against these standards to identify misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, or policy violations.
Secrets Management:
Adopt a centralized secrets management solution: Platforms like HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager to handle sensitive information.
Regularly rotate secrets.
Avoid hardcoding secrets in code: Always use environment variables or secrets management platforms to inject secrets into applications, ensuring they are not exposed in the codebase or version control systems.
Version Control:
Use platforms like GitHub and Bitbucket for version tracking.
Implement .gitignore for sensitive files and use pre-commit hooks to avoid committing secrets.
Automated Testing:
Integrate Open Source Application Security Tools (OWASP) tools into CI/CD pipelines to catch vulnerabilities early.
Regularly update test cases to reflect the latest security risks.
Dependency Management:
Use tools like Dependabot (it is a GitHub feature that helps developers keep track of their project's dependencies and automatically update them) to automatically manage and update dependencies.
Container Security:
Scan container images regularly for vulnerabilities using tools like Clair or Trivy by aquasec, its free and open source.
Use minimal base images to reduce the attack surface.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC):
Scan IaC templates with tools like Checkov or Terrascan to find security issues.
Periodically review IaC templates to avoid misconfigurations.
Access Control:
Implement RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) to assign permissions based on roles.
Regularly review and update access permissions to ensure only authorized individuals have access.
Kubernetes security
Restricting Access To etcd
Restricting access to etcd is critical because it stores Kubernetes states and secrets.
Write access to etcd is equivalent to root access on the entire cluster.
Even read access to etcd can allow privilege escalation.
The Kubernetes scheduler searches etcd for pod definitions and schedules them to available nodes.
Malicious users writing directly to etcd can bypass security mechanisms, like PodSecurityPolicies.
Administrators should use strong credentials (e.g., mutual TLS client certificates) for communication between the API server and etcd.
Isolating etcd behind a firewall that only API servers can access is recommended.
Limiting access to the primary etcd instance is crucial; granting access is like providing cluster-admin privileges.
Use separate etcd instances for other components or implement etcd ACLs to restrict access to a subset of the keyspace.
1. Network Policies
Use Network Policies to control traffic between pods.
Deny all traffic by default, then open necessary traffic paths.
2. RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)
Implement least privilege for users, service accounts, and applications.
Only allow specific actions (e.g., get, list) for resources like Pods.
3. Secrets Management
Use Kubernetes Secrets for sensitive data, but avoid storing secrets in plain text.
