If two modules in a monolith are to communicate with each other, it is generally a simple in-memory method call. Microservices, unlike monoliths, rely on an external transport (such as a network) to communicate with each other (since modules are decomposed into independent services possibly running on different machines).
External communication channels are more likely to be vulnerable to potential threats from malicious actors compared to in-memory calls. Thus, by definition, external communication channels run with a higher aggregate risk.
To illustrate this point, I will use an example of an ecommerce application’s checkout process, as outlined in Figure 7-1. Imagine that the checkout process involves the application calculating the item’s price and charging the customer by looking it up in a repository. Upon checking out, the company then decrements this item’s available inventory.
Since an external communication channel inherently increases the aggregate risk of the application, security professionals need to add controls to ensure that potential threats are minimized. Encryption in transit is the most commonly used control that reduces the potential threat of messages being intercepted, tampered with, or spoofed. (Encryption is covered in detail in Chapter 3).
Figure 7-1. In the case of microservices, calls to external services happen over ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month, and much more.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
