My attempt on Certified Kubernetes Security beta Exam

As a Senior Engineer at EPAM who works with Kubernetes on a daily basis I was invited to take CKS beta exam. I didn’t have time to prepare for the exam and, considering that there were almost no information at the time except for curriculum, I think I did pretty well.

I didn’t pass the exam, but I’ve scored 61 out of 67, required to pass the exam. As exam beta tester, I have free retake and I have already started my preparations.

Compared to old CKA version, which I pass in Feb 2020, CKS is:

• 2 hours long
• Tasks are more ambiguous
• Certification lasts only 2 years
• The CKS environment is currently running Kubernetes v1.19
• Active CKA certification is a prerequisite.

I will share a few thoughts on exam preparations below.

Important topics

• Make sure you’re familiar with kube-bench and CIS k8s Benchmarks. You must know how to apply kube-bench recommendations to secure you kube-api, kubelet and other k8s components
• Make sure you have a good knowledge of RBAC. How to map role to entity, how to minimize user/serviceaccount permissions.
• Usage of Admission controllers is also a must.
• NSP, PSP, Audit Policies
• Other topics in CKS Curriculum

Materials

At the time of writing, first CKS courses start to appear, but materials are still not enough. Here’s what I have in my list:

• CKS Curriculum
• Important Instructions
• Aqua Security Liz Rice:Free Container Security Book - must read, even though it’s a bit outdated.
• Kubernetes-security.info
• Udemy CKS course - didn’t take it, but looks promising
• CKS by walidshaari - Extensive list of CKS resources, regularly updated.
• WIP Kubernetes Security Essentials (LFS260)
• Kubernetes Documentation - official k8s documentation. Since it’s the only documentation you’ll have available at exam, try to use it as much as possible and be able to find relevant topic quickly.

Conclusion

As always, CKS is practice exam. Speed is everything. Create your own cluster, break it, fix it, prepare different practice questions and test them until you’re comfortable with it.