Kubernetes Security
Hardening
A thorough security audit and hands-on hardening of your Kubernetes cluster — from RBAC and network policies to runtime threat detection and supply chain security. Production-safe. No guesswork.
Most Kubernetes clusters have critical security gaps out of the box. Default configurations allow unrestricted pod-to-pod traffic, store secrets in plaintext, and grant over-permissioned service accounts. If you've never done a security review, there's almost certainly something that needs fixing.
What's covered
Security hardening isn't a checklist — it's a layered approach. I work across six pillars, adapting depth and scope to your cluster's maturity and risk profile.
RBAC & Access Control
Most clusters are over-permissioned from day one. I redesign your Role-Based Access Control from scratch — least-privilege service accounts, scoped ClusterRoles, and namespace isolation that actually holds.
- Audit all existing roles and bindings
- Least-privilege redesign per workload
- Namespace-scoped vs cluster-scoped separation
- ServiceAccount token projection & automount disable
- Human user access via OIDC / SSO integration
Network Policies
By default, every pod in a Kubernetes cluster can talk to every other pod. I implement explicit allow-lists using Calico or Cilium network policies so your blast radius is minimized if something is compromised.
- Default-deny ingress and egress baseline
- Namespace and pod selector policy design
- Calico / Cilium implementation
- DNS egress allowlisting
- Policy testing and validation
Secrets Management
Kubernetes Secrets are base64 — not encrypted. I migrate your secrets to a proper secrets engine: HashiCorp Vault or External Secrets Operator synced from AWS Secrets Manager / GCP Secret Manager.
- Audit of current secrets exposure
- Vault installation and PKI setup
- External Secrets Operator (ESO) integration
- Secret rotation automation
- Removal of hardcoded secrets from code/config
Runtime Threat Detection
Static config is never enough. I deploy Falco to watch your cluster at runtime — detecting unexpected syscalls, privilege escalations, container escapes, and unusual network activity as they happen.
- Falco installation and custom rule authoring
- Alert routing to Slack / PagerDuty
- eBPF-based kernel-level monitoring
- Drift detection for container images
- Sysdig / Tetragon integration (optional)
CIS Benchmark & Audit
I run your cluster against the full CIS Kubernetes Benchmark and produce a prioritized remediation report. Every finding is scored by severity and mapped to a concrete fix.
- Full CIS Kubernetes Benchmark scan (kube-bench)
- API server, etcd, kubelet hardening
- Audit logging enablement
- Pod Security Standards (PSS) enforcement
- Written report with severity-ranked findings
Supply Chain & Image Security
A secure cluster is only as safe as the images running in it. I add image scanning to your CI/CD pipeline and enforce admission policies that block images with critical CVEs from ever reaching production.
- Trivy / Grype scanning in CI pipeline
- OPA Gatekeeper / Kyverno admission policies
- Image signing with Cosign
- Private registry enforcement
- SBOM generation
How it works
Discovery Call
Free 30-min call to understand your stack, team size, compliance requirements, and what keeps you up at night.
Audit & Report
Read-only access, full cluster scan, written report with every finding ranked by severity and a concrete remediation plan.
Hardening
Hands-on implementation of fixes — RBAC, network policies, secrets migration, Falco setup — with documentation your team can own.
Common questions
How long does a security audit take?
A full audit typically takes 3–5 days for a standard cluster. Larger multi-tenant environments or clusters with complex workloads may take longer. I'll give you a specific estimate after an initial conversation.
Do I need to give you access to my cluster?
For the audit phase, read-only access to the API server is enough. For remediation, we work together — I provide the configurations and your team applies them, or I apply them with you present. Nothing goes into production without your sign-off.
We're running managed K8s (EKS/GKE/AKS). Does that change anything?
Yes, but not in a way that reduces the scope. Managed Kubernetes handles the control plane for you, but RBAC, network policies, secrets, and runtime detection are entirely your responsibility regardless of provider. The audit adapts to your specific managed service.
What's the output at the end?
A written security report with every finding categorized by severity (Critical / High / Medium / Low), a description of the risk, and the exact remediation steps. Plus all the configs, policies, and Helm values we implement together.
Can you help us pass SOC 2 / ISO 27001?
The hardening work directly supports these certifications — RBAC, audit logging, secrets management, and network isolation are required controls. I don't provide the certification itself, but I've helped teams get their Kubernetes posture audit-ready.
Ready to lock down your cluster?
Book a free 30-minute call. I'll ask about your setup and tell you honestly what I think the most important risks are.
Book a Free Call