Kubernetes Security Blueprint: Posture to Policy

Catch misconfigurations before they land, enforce intent with policy engines, wire everything into GitOps, and keep runtime observability tight. This path distills modern tooling so platform security teams can safeguard clusters without slowing developers.

Learning Objectives

• Baseline cluster risk with Kubescape, covering live clusters and manifests.
• Enforce guardrails with Kyverno and observe violations via Policy Reporter dashboards.
• Author alternative policies using OPA/Rego and JavaScript-based jsPolicy.
• Detect runtime threats with Cilium Tetragon and feed alerts into your monitoring stack.
• Document remediation workflows that keep developers in the loop without slowing delivery.

Videos in This Path

1. Hands-on Introduction to Kubescape

Why it matters: You can’t fix what you can’t see. Kubescape provides the posture baseline across clusters and YAML before enforcing anything.

What you’ll learn:

• Run Kubescape scans on live clusters and manifest directories.
• Map findings to frameworks (NSA-CISA, CIS) and prioritize remediation.
• Shift-left with the VS Code extension and early developer feedback.

Key takeaways:

• Misconfigurations remain the primary Kubernetes risk—automate detection at every stage.
• Kubescape centralizes scoring and contextual guidance so teams know where to start.

Hands-on drill: Scan a staging cluster + repo, export SARIF, and assign the top failing control to an engineer with remediation notes.

2. Kubescape Operator & SaaS

Why it matters: Continuous scanning surfaces trends and RBAC exposure across fleets.

What you’ll learn:

• Deploy the operator for ongoing CVE/config drift detection.
• Use Kubescape Cloud for multi-cluster dashboards and RBAC visualization.
• Filter vulnerabilities (e.g., RCE with fixes) and plan remediation waves.

Key takeaways:

• Continuous posture management ensures improvements stick over time.
• RBAC Visualizer untangles real-world permissions from sprawling YAML.

Hands-on drill: Install the operator, investigate the top RBAC risk via the visualizer, and document mitigating controls.

3. Introduction to Kyverno

Why it matters: Scans detect issues; policies prevent them. Kyverno’s Kubernetes-native approach keeps guardrails in YAML.

What you’ll learn:

• Install Kyverno and craft validate/mutate/generate policies.
• Roll policies out in audit mode before enforcing cluster-wide.
• Replace PodSecurityPolicy-era controls with Kyverno equivalents.

Key takeaways:

• Kyverno uses familiar CRDs/YAML, lowering the barrier to policy-as-code.
• Audit vs. enforce modes support safe adoption and phased rollouts.

Hands-on drill: Write a validate policy blocking privileged pods, deploy in audit mode, then enforce once violations drop to zero.

4. Hands-on with Policy Reporter

Why it matters: Policies are useless if you can’t observe violations. Policy Reporter surfaces audit/enforce metrics and alerts.

What you’ll learn:

• Deploy Policy Reporter and browse violation dashboards.
• Ship metrics to Prometheus/Grafana for compliance KPIs.
• Trigger notifications when policies fail or drift returns.

Key takeaways:

• Centralized telemetry turns policy-as-code into measurable outcomes.
• Audit mode + dashboards = smooth path to full enforcement.

Hands-on drill: Install Policy Reporter, create a Grafana panel showing Kyverno critical violations over time, and set a Slack alert.

5. Introduction to Open Policy Agent

Why it matters: Kyverno isn’t the only answer. OPA brings a general-purpose engine and Rego language for advanced scenarios.

What you’ll learn:

• Explore the OPA architecture and how policy decision/delivery is decoupled.
• Write basic Rego policies and evaluate them in the CLI/Playground.
• Understand admission, API authorization, and other OPA integration patterns.

Key takeaways:

• OPA’s flexibility makes it ideal for cross-cutting policy beyond Kubernetes.
• Rego encourages reusable policy libraries that multiple teams can share.

Hands-on drill: Author a Rego policy that blocks hostPath volumes, test it in the Playground, and integrate it with kubectl opa test.

6. Cilium Tetragon: Runtime Security for Kubernetes

Why it matters: Admission controls can’t catch runtime abuse. Tetragon observes syscalls via eBPF and reacts in real time.

What you’ll learn:

• Install Tetragon and monitor file/process activity for sensitive paths.
• Create policies that kill or alert on suspicious behavior (e.g., shell spawning from a pod).
• Stream security events into Prometheus or SIEM pipelines.

Key takeaways:

• Runtime visibility closes the gap between admission-time checks and live incidents.
• eBPF-powered policies have negligible overhead yet provide deep insight.

Hands-on drill: Configure a Tetragon policy blocking /etc/shadow access, trigger a violation, and capture the alert to confirm response.

7. Hands-on Introduction to jsPolicy

Why it matters: Not every team wants Rego. jsPolicy lets JavaScript/TypeScript developers write policies using npm modules and runtime controller hooks.

What you’ll learn:

• Write validating/mutating policies in TypeScript using familiar language constructs.
• Extend policies with npm dependencies for complex logic.
• Leverage controller policies to react to events (e.g., auto-label pods) outside admission flow.

Key takeaways:

• jsPolicy lowers the policy barrier for teams with JS expertise while keeping everything Kubernetes-native.
• Controller policies unlock automation patterns beyond traditional admission controllers.

Hands-on drill: Create a jsPolicy that denies privileged pods and tags non-compliant resources for follow-up.

Bonus Practice

• Kyverno + Cosign Signatures — enforce image signatures before deployment.
• OPA Gatekeeper Deep Dive — compare Gatekeeper auditing patterns with Kyverno.

Security Follow-ups

1. Treat policies and posture baselines as code: store everything in Git, wire Flux/Argo, and require reviews.
2. Pair runtime telemetry (Tetragon) with policy dashboards to feed incidents into your IR process.
3. Build a remediation backlog: automate PRs or GitHub issues for high-risk violations surfaced by Kubescape/Policy Reporter.