Security Guide

This document outlines the security features and best practices for deploying Scout in production.

🔒 Security Features

Network Policies

Scout uses network policies to restrict pod-to-pod communication:

• Frontend → Backend: Frontend can only communicate with Backend on port 8000

• Nginx → Frontend/Backend: Nginx can communicate with Frontend (port 3000) and Backend (port 8000)

• Backend → Redis: Backend can only communicate with Redis on port 6379

• Prometheus → Backend: Prometheus can scrape Backend metrics on port 8000

• External Access: Configurable external access to Nginx on port 80

Pod Security Standards

All Scout containers follow security best practices:

• Non-root execution: All containers run as user ID 1000

• Read-only filesystem: Root filesystem is read-only (except /tmp)

• Dropped capabilities: All Linux capabilities are dropped

• No privilege escalation: Containers cannot escalate privileges

RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)

• Service Account: Dedicated service account for Backend

• Minimal permissions: Only necessary permissions granted

• Namespace-scoped: All permissions limited to Scout namespace

Secrets Management

• Kubernetes Secrets: Sensitive data stored in encrypted secrets

• Base64 encoding: All secret values are base64 encoded

• Configurable authentication: Token-based API protection

• Redis authentication: Optional Redis password protection

🚀 Deployment Security

Enable Security Features

# Enable all security features
kubectl apply -f k8s/security/
kubectl apply -f k8s/

Generate Secure Tokens

# Generate API authentication token
openssl rand -base64 32

# Generate Redis password
openssl rand -base64 32

Production Security Checklist

• Network policies enabled

• Pod security standards enabled

• RBAC enabled with minimal permissions

• Authentication token configured

• Redis authentication enabled

• Secrets used instead of ConfigMaps

• Resource limits configured

• Health checks enabled

• Non-root containers running

🔧 Security Configuration

Network Policy Configuration

networkPolicy:
  enabled: true
  allowExternalAccess: true  # Allow external access to nginx

Pod Security Configuration

security:
  podSecurity:
    enabled: true
    runAsNonRoot: true
    readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
    dropAllCapabilities: true

RBAC Configuration

rbac:
  create: true
  minimalPermissions: true

Authentication Configuration

auth:
  protectedAPI: true
  token: "your-secure-token"
  tokenExpiration: 24  # hours

Redis Security

redis:
  authEnabled: true
  password: "your-redis-password"

🛡️ Security Best Practices

1. Use Strong Authentication

• Generate secure tokens using openssl rand -base64 32

• Rotate tokens regularly

• Use different tokens for different environments

2. Enable Network Policies

• Restrict pod-to-pod communication

• Only allow necessary ports

• Monitor network traffic

3. Implement Pod Security

• Run containers as non-root

• Use read-only filesystems

• Drop unnecessary capabilities

4. Manage Secrets Properly

• Use Kubernetes secrets, not ConfigMaps

• Rotate secrets regularly

• Use external secret management for production

5. Monitor and Audit

• Enable Prometheus metrics

• Set up alerting for security events

• Review logs regularly

🔍 Security Monitoring

Prometheus Metrics

Scout exposes security-related metrics:

• scout_api_requests_total: API request count

• scout_auth_failures_total: Authentication failures

• scout_redis_connections: Redis connection status

Health Checks

• Liveness probe: /docs endpoint

• Readiness probe: /docs endpoint

• Startup probe: Configurable delay

Logging

• Structured logging: JSON format

• Security events: Authentication and authorization logs

• Error tracking: Failed requests and errors

🚨 Incident Response

Security Breach Response

1. Isolate affected pods: Scale down to 0 replicas

2. Rotate secrets: Update all authentication tokens

3. Review logs: Analyze security event logs

4. Update security: Patch vulnerabilities

5. Monitor: Watch for additional attacks

Recovery Procedures

1. Backup restoration: Restore from secure backups

2. Secret rotation: Update all credentials

3. Network isolation: Review and update network policies

4. Audit review: Analyze security logs

📚 Additional Resources

• Kubernetes Security Best Practices

• Pod Security Standards

• Network Policies

• RBAC Authorization

🤝 Contributing to Security

If you discover a security vulnerability:

1. Do not disclose publicly

2. Report privately to the maintainers

3. Provide detailed information about the issue

4. Allow time for patching before disclosure

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Remember: Security is an ongoing process. Regularly review and update security configurations as threats evolve.