Securing Microservices

SECURING MICROSERVICESPrabath Siriwardena, WSO2.Twitter: @prabath Blog: http://facilelogin.com

MICROSERVICES

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SOA TO MICROSERVICES• Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a design approach where multiple services collaborate to provide some end set of capabilities.

• A service is an isolated process — and the inter-service communication happens over the network

• Microservices is the SOA done right!• Provides focused, scoped and modular approach for application design.

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RECOMMENDED READING• Building Microservices by Sam Newman, http://www.amazon.com/dp/1491950358/

• Summary of the book: http://bit.ly/1sHXJMq

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KEY PRINCIPALS• Model around business concepts• Adopt the culture of automation• Hide internal implementation details• Decentralize all the things• Independently deployable• Isolate failures• Highly observable

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MONOLITHIC VS. MICROSERVICES

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CHALLENGES• Larger number of service-to-service interactions• Wider attack surface• Immutable servers• Service per host deployment model• Small team ownership

SERVICE TO SERVICE COMMUNICATION

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JSON WEB TOKEN (JWT)

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JSON WEB TOKEN (JWT)• JWT defines a container to transport data between interested parties

• A JWT can be used to• Propagate one’s identity between interested parties• Propagate user entitlements between interested parties• Transfer data securely between interested parties over a

unsecured channel• Assert one’s identity, given that the recipient of the JWT trusts the

asserting party.

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JSON WEB TOKEN (JWT)• A signed JWT is known as a JWS (JSON Web Signature)

• An encrypted JWT is known as a JWE (JSON Web Encryption)

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CLIENT CERTIFICATES• TLS Mutual Authentication• Trusted Sub-system Pattern• Certificate Revocation

• CRL• OCSP• OCSP stapling• OCSP stapling required

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SHORT-LIVED CERTIFICATES• Identical to a regular certificate, except that the validity period is a short span of time such as a few days.

• Used by Netflix• Addresses challenges with certificate revocation

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SHORT-LIVED CERTIFICATES @ NETFLIX

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XACML• Policy language, component architecture, request/response protocol

• The de facto standard for fine-grained access control• JSON profile for XACML

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XACML COMPONENT ARCHITECTURE

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ACCESS CONTROL

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ACCESS CONTROL (IN-PROCESS-PDP)

THE EDGE SECURITY

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API GATEWAY PATTERN

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OAUTH 2.0• Framework for access delegation• Doing something on behalf of someone else, preserving the identity of both

• Self-contained access tokens

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OAUTH 2.0

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EDGE SECURITY WITH OAUTH 2.0 / OIDC

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