Network Security

Network security in Kubernetes controls how pods communicate with each other and external services. It provides defense in depth by restricting network traffic at the pod level.

Why Network Security?

By default, all pods can communicate with all other pods. Network security:

• Isolates workloads - Prevents unauthorized communication
• Reduces attack surface - Limits lateral movement
• Enforces segmentation - Separates different environments
• Compliance - Meets regulatory requirements

Network Security Components

Network Policies

Kubernetes-native way to control pod-to-pod communication:

• Ingress rules - Control incoming traffic
• Egress rules - Control outgoing traffic
• Pod selectors - Target specific pods
• Namespace isolation - Separate environments

TLS/SSL

Encrypt traffic in transit:

• Ingress TLS - HTTPS for external access
• Gateway TLS - TLS for Gateway API
• mTLS - Mutual TLS for service-to-service

Topics

• Network Policies - Pod-to-pod network isolation
• TLS for Ingress/Gateway - Encrypting traffic in transit

See Also

• Services & Networking - Kubernetes networking overview
• Policy Enforcement - Automated policy enforcement