By name: gke-security-hardening-guide description: >- GKE security hardening guide with Pulumi. Private clusters, Workload Identity, Binary Authorization, network policies, IAM configuration, and runtime security enforcement.
GKE Security Hardening Guide
When to Use This Skill
Defense in Depth
GKE security hardening follows a layered approach:
- Control plane - Private clusters, authenticated access, audit logging
- Network - VPC-native networking, network policies, egress controls
- Identity - Workload Identity Federation, least-privilege IAM, audit trails
- Runtime - Pod Security Standards, admission controllers, monitoring
This guide uses Pulumi for Infrastructure as Code, enabling repeatable, auditable cluster deployments across environments (QAC, DEV, STG, PRD).
Environment Promotion Order
Always promote changes through: QAC → DEV → STG → PRD → OPS
Never skip environments in the promotion pipeline.
Prerequisites
- GCP project with billing enabled
gcloudCLI installed and authenticated- Pulumi 3.0+
- kubectl configured for cluster access
- Appropriate IAM permissions (Project Editor or Security Admin roles)
Production Warning
These configurations enforce strict security controls. Test in QAC/DEV before production deployment.
Implementation
See examples.md for detailed code examples.
Verification
After deployment, verify the security posture using the verification checklists in each configuration module.
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
| Misconfiguration | Risk | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Public cluster endpoint | Exposed API server | Set privateClusterConfig.enablePrivateNodes = true |
| Metadata server enabled | Pod can access node credentials | Set workloadMetadataConfig.mode = "GKE_METADATA" |
| No network policies | All-to-all traffic | Apply default-deny + explicit policies |
| Privileged containers | Root container escape | Set securityContext.privileged = false |
| No admission controllers | Insecure pods deployed | Deploy validating/mutating webhooks |
| No audit logging | Compliance blind spot | Enable GKE Cloud Logging sink |
| Overpermissioned service accounts | Lateral movement | Use Workload Identity + least-privilege IAM |
| Public container registry | Image tampering | Use private Artifact Registry + Binary Auth |
Attack Surface Reduction
Each misconfiguration listed above represents a verified attack vector. Fix all items before production deployment.
Examples
See examples.md for code examples.
Full Reference
See reference.md for complete documentation.
Related Patterns
- Enforce
- Secure
- Patterns