Kubernetes security fundamentals: Introduction

This article introduces Kubernetes security fundamentals, explaining how security responsibilities span beyond Kubernetes itself to third-party integrations for authentication, runtime protection, vulnerability management, and observability. It contrasts managed and unmanaged distributions (e.g., EKS, AKS, GKE) and outlines key focus areas for securing clusters, including API security, authentication and authorization, admission control, network controls, PKI, secrets management, container image hardening, runtime security, and monitoring/auditing.