Securing and Simplifying Kubernetes Cluster Access with Dynamic Cloud PAM

The Challenges

As the orchestration of containerized application management becomes increasingly necessary in cloud-native and hybrid environments, solutions like Kubernetes (K8s) are staples in managing application development. 

Securing access to these clusters is critical. But when clusters can be created and taken down quickly, the speed (or lack thereof) in provisioning the right types of access leads to several challenges: 

• Access typically exists as static, hardcoded OIDC tokens with bundled authentication and authorization information for the cluster. These tokens are at risk of exploitation for unauthorized access and permissions in their corresponding clusters. 
• OIDC tokens can grant access to all the clusters and namespaces a user is entitled to access, rather than the cluster they currently need access to.
• End-users can share static tokens to circumvent slow access request and provisioning processes, leading to over-provisioned users and lack of visibility into who has access to what. 
• Legacy IdPs and PAM solutions that create OIDC for cluster access and authorization often provide end-users with access to all the groups and role bindings that their ID has authorization for. 

True Role-Based Access to Kubernetes Clusters

Automating and securing access to Kubernetes clusters requires a more dynamic approach to OIDC token creation. Britive’s cloud-native platform expands to serve organizations looking to secure the orchestration of containerized applications, deployment, management, and scaling.

Outcomes

Dynamic Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for Any K8s Cluster

• Whether your organization uses lightweight edge distributions or managed clusters like EKS, GKE, or another “flavor” of Kubernetes, Britive provides support for unified control access across all cluster environments.

Enhanced Security and Governance

• Britive brings dynamic, cloud-native JIT access and fine-grained permissions to every K8s environment to eliminate static or long-lived tokens and over-provisioned access commonly found in K8s clusters.

Policy-Driven Access Management

• Teams gain full visibility and control over Kubernetes access from provisioning to off-boarding. Approval workflows allow for streamlined, auditable, policy-driven management of access and entitlement changes.

Simplified, Transparent Kubernetes Access for End-Users

• Development, DevOps, and cloud teams can continue to work within their existing tools and workflows. Britive integrates seamlessly with native Kubernetes management tools for easy, efficient access across multiple clusters and namespaces with different levels of permissions.