Linux Foundation Planning Kubernetes Security Certification

The Linux Foundation and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) have teamed up on a new certification combining best security practices with Kubernetes expertise.

The Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) certification centres on a performance-based exam testing competence across a broad range of best practices for securing container-based applications and Kubernetes platforms during build, deployment and runtime, the groups said.

Kubernetes was originally designed by Google as an open source container-orchestration system for automating cloud applicaiton deployment, scaling and management, and is now maintained by the CNCF.

Many cloud services offer a Kubernetes-based platform or infrastructure-as-a-service on which Kubernetes can be deployed as a platform-providing service, with some vendors also providing their own branded Kubernetes distributions.

Cloud security

Candidates for the CKS certification must already hold a current Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) certification to demonstrate their Kubernetes expertise before sitting for the CKS exam, the Linux Foundation and the CNCF said.

The exam tests competencies ranging from cluster setup and hardening to securing supply chains and monitoring, logging and runtime security.

The Linux Foundation said the accelerating adoption of containers and other cloud-native technologies is spurring concerns over those technologies’ security.

Linux Foundation senior vice president Clyde Seepersad said the new certification would help increase the pool of qualified talent while giving employers confidence their teams are able to handle the challenge of security cloud technologies.

Kubernetes management

“As the use of Kubernetes in production soars, it is critical that those who are managing it understand how to do so securely,” said CNCF general manager Priyanka Sharma.

The CKS exam is set for enrollment availability in November.

The two open source consortia also said they have made available a new training course focused on managing Kubernetes applications with Helm.

Helm has emerged as an alternative to manually configuring YAML files to deploy software on Kubernetes clusters.

The $299 (£237) CNCF course , “LFS244 – Managing Kubernetes Applications with Helm“, takes about 25 to 30 hours to complete, with those enrolled given unlimited access to the course for one year, including all content and labs.