Service Mesh Security

A service mesh provides secure service-to-service communication within a Kubernetes cluster. Tools like Istio, Linkerd, and Consul enable mTLS (mutual TLS), traffic encryption, and policy enforcement.

Security Features of a Service Mesh

1. Mutual TLS (mTLS)

Encrypts all service-to-service traffic within the cluster.

apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: PeerAuthentication
metadata:
  name: default
spec:
  mtls:
    mode: STRICT

2. Zero-Trust Networking

• Enforce identity-based access controls between services.
• Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) at the service level.

3. Monitor and Audit Service Traffic

• Use Istio’s observability features to monitor all inter-service communication.

Service Meshes strengthen Kubernetes security by providing encryption, access control, and monitoring.