The Kubernetes Bible

Chapter 18: Authentication and Authorization on Kubernetes

In software systems, authentication and authorization play a significant role in providing security. These terms may seem similar but they are very different security processes that work together to provide identity and access management. In short, authentication determines whether a given user of a system is indeed who they claim to be – the easiest way to visualize this is using a username and password to complete an authentication process. Authorization, on the other hand, determines what the user can and cannot do or access in the system. This also means that in secure systems, authentication is the first step and authorization must always follow authentication. One of the approaches ...