Istio

Jan 1, 0001

Definition

Istio is an open-source service mesh that provides a uniform way to secure, connect, and observe microservices. It operates by deploying a sidecar proxy alongside each service instance, which intercepts network communication, enabling features like traffic management, security, and observability without requiring changes to the application code. Istio supports advanced traffic routing, mutual TLS authentication, and fine-grained access control, making it a powerful tool for managing microservices in a Kubernetes environment.

Secure Settings Example

apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: PeerAuthentication
metadata:
  name: default
  namespace: default
spec:
  mtls:
    mode: STRICT

This configuration enforces mutual TLS (mTLS) for all services in the default namespace, ensuring that all service-to-service communication is encrypted and authenticated.

Insecure Settings Example

apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: PeerAuthentication
metadata:
  name: permissive
  namespace: default
spec:
  mtls:
    mode: PERMISSIVE

In this configuration, mTLS is set to PERMISSIVE, which allows both encrypted and unencrypted traffic. This can lead to insecure communication if not all services are configured to use mTLS, potentially exposing sensitive data.