Introduction to Supply Chain Security
Modern Kubernetes environments depend on a complex chain of tools, images, dependencies, and external services to build and run applications. This software supply chain can be a powerful enabler—but also a dangerous attack vector if not properly secured.
Supply chain attacks can compromise images, inject malicious code during CI/CD processes, or tamper with dependencies long before a workload reaches production. Protecting this chain is a critical part of Kubernetes security hardening.
Why Supply Chain Security Matters
Attackers increasingly target:
- Container base images with known vulnerabilities
- Insecure build pipelines or misconfigured CI/CD tools
- Open-source packages with hidden backdoors
- Signing and verification steps that are skipped or misapplied
A successful supply chain attack may lead to:
- Compromised workloads
- Credential exfiltration
- Unauthorized code execution inside your cluster
- Complete cluster takeover
What You'll Learn in This Section
This section covers best practices to secure your Kubernetes supply chain, including:
- Detecting and preventing use of vulnerable container images
- Using image signing and verification (e.g., with Cosign or Notation)
- Enforcing trusted builds with reproducible pipelines
- Securing CI/CD pipelines to prevent credential leaks and unauthorized image pushes
- Auditing dependencies and scanning for vulnerabilities in third-party libraries
- Understanding and generating SBOMs (Software Bill of Materials) to gain visibility into what's inside your workloads
Key Articles
- Supply Chain Security Best Practices
- Syft – SBOM Generator
- Grype – Vulnerability Scanner
- Cosign – Image Signing
- Notation – OCI Image Signing
- Snyk – Dependency Scanning
- Understanding SBOM
Who Should Read This
This content is designed for:
- Platform engineers and DevSecOps teams building or maintaining CI/CD infrastructure
- Developers packaging and deploying workloads in containers
- Security professionals validating the integrity of containerized applications in Kubernetes
By following these supply chain security practices, you reduce the attack surface and build trust in every step of your application lifecycle.
Learn more by reviewing the CNCF Supply Chain Security Whitepaper.