GKE Security and Identity

Calendar February 22, 2026
Kubernetes
Intermediate
Gke-Security-Hardening, Workload-Identity-Federation, Binary-Authorization-Setup
Gke, Google-Cloud, Security, Workload-Identity, Binary-Authorization, Gvisor
Gcloud, Kubectl, Terraform

GKE Security and Identity#

GKE security covers identity (who can do what), workload isolation (sandboxing untrusted code), supply chain integrity (ensuring only trusted images run), and data protection (encryption at rest). These features layer on top of standard Kubernetes RBAC and network policies.

Workload Identity Federation#

Workload Identity Federation is the successor to the original Workload Identity. It removes the need for a separate workload-pool flag and uses the standard GCP IAM federation model. The concept is the same: bind a Kubernetes service account to a Google Cloud service account so pods get GCP credentials without exported keys.