How to configure Kubernetes to encrypt the traffic between nodes, and pods?

Viewed 20498

In preparation for HIPAA compliance, we are transitioning our Kubernetes cluster to use secure endpoints across the fleet (between all pods). Since the cluster is composed of about 8-10 services currently using HTTP connections, it would be super useful to have this taken care of by Kubernetes.

The specific attack vector we'd like to address with this is packet sniffing between nodes (physical servers).

This question breaks down into two parts:

  • Does Kubernetes encrypts the traffic between pods & nodes by default?
  • If not, is there a way to configure it such?

Many thanks!

4 Answers

The replies here seem to be outdated. As of 2021-04-28 at least the following components seem to be able to provide an encrypted networking layer to Kubernetes:

  • Istio
  • Weave
  • linkerd
  • cilium
  • Calico (via Wireguard)

(the list above was gained via consultation of the respective projects home pages)

Related