Confidential Kubernetes
We use the term Confidential Kubernetes to refer to the concept of using confidential-computing technology to shield entire Kubernetes clusters from the infrastructure. The three defining properties of this concept are:
- Workload shielding: the confidentiality and integrity of all workload-related data and code are enforced.
- Control plane shielding: the confidentiality and integrity of the cluster's control plane, state, and workload configuration are enforced.
- Attestation and verifiability: the two properties above can be verified remotely based on hardware-rooted cryptographic certificates.
Each of the above properties is equally important. Only with all three in conjunction, an entire cluster can be shielded without gaps.