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Runtime Security

Runtime security enforces policies on running workloads. Pod Security Standards prevent privilege escalation. Admission controllers validate manifests before deployment. Runtime monitoring detects anomalous behavior.

Runtime Security Layers

  1. Pod Security Standards - Baseline and restricted policies
  2. Admission Controllers - Pre-deployment validation
  3. Runtime Monitoring - Behavioral analysis and alerting

Overview

This section covers runtime security for GKE clusters:

  • Pod Security Standards: Namespace-level security policies (baseline, restricted)
  • Admission Controllers: Pre-deployment validation and policy enforcement
  • Runtime Monitoring: Behavioral detection with Falco or GKE Cloud Logging

Security Principles

Defense in Depth

Multiple layers of runtime security controls:

  • Pod Security Standards enforce secure defaults
  • Admission controllers block invalid configurations
  • Runtime monitoring detects anomalous behavior
  • Audit logging captures all activity

Secure by Default

Production workloads must meet strict security requirements:

  • Run as non-root user
  • Read-only root filesystem
  • Drop all Linux capabilities
  • No privilege escalation
  • Resource limits defined

Continuous Monitoring

Runtime monitoring provides visibility into pod behavior:

  • Process execution tracking
  • File access monitoring
  • Network connection detection
  • System call auditing

Prerequisites

  • GCP project with billing enabled
  • Terraform 1.0+
  • kubectl configured for cluster access

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