Security Hardening a Kubernetes Cluster: End-to-End Operational Sequence

Calendar February 22, 2026
Kubernetes
Intermediate
Cluster-Hardening, Security-Assessment, Policy-Enforcement, Runtime-Security
Security, Hardening, Rbac, Pod-Security, Network-Policies, Audit-Logging, Falco, Kyverno, Image-Scanning, Etcd-Encryption
Kubectl, Kube-Bench, Trivy, Kyverno, Falco, Etcdctl

Security Hardening a Kubernetes Cluster#

This operational sequence takes a default Kubernetes cluster and locks it down. Phases are ordered by impact and dependency: assessment first, then RBAC, pod security, networking, images, auditing, and finally data protection. Each phase includes the commands, policy YAML, and verification steps.

Do not skip the assessment phase. You need to know what you are fixing before you start fixing it.

Phase 1 – Assessment#

Before changing anything, establish a baseline. This phase produces a prioritized list of findings that drives the order of remediation in later phases.