In today’s digital business landscape, securing sensitive data is a top priority, especially when extending SAP applications with cloud-native solutions. SAP Kyma, as a Kubernetes-based platform for building and running extensions and microservices, must ensure robust data protection mechanisms. One of the foundational pillars of security is encryption, which safeguards data both at rest and in transit.
This article explores the key concepts, tools, and best practices for implementing encryption in SAP Kyma, helping organizations maintain data confidentiality and compliance.
Kyma enables developers to create cloud-native applications that interact with SAP core systems, process business data, and communicate across multiple services and APIs. This data often includes sensitive information such as customer details, financial records, and intellectual property.
Encryption helps protect this data against unauthorized access, data breaches, and interception during communication, ensuring:
Data traveling between services, users, and external systems must be encrypted to prevent interception or man-in-the-middle attacks.
Data stored on persistent storage, such as databases or file systems, should be encrypted to protect against unauthorized physical access.
Configure Kyma’s API Gateway to enforce HTTPS connections for all inbound traffic. Obtain and manage TLS certificates using tools like cert-manager integrated with Kubernetes.
Enable Istio’s mutual TLS to automatically secure communication between microservices and functions inside the Kyma cluster without application changes.
Enable Kubernetes Encryption Providers in your cluster configuration to encrypt Secrets stored in etcd, protecting sensitive data from cluster breaches.
Ensure persistent storage used by Kyma components supports encryption at rest, either natively or through cloud provider services (e.g., AWS EBS encryption).
When Kyma extensions connect to external systems or databases, use encrypted channels (TLS) and enable encryption at rest on those systems.
Implement automated processes for certificate renewal and key rotation to reduce the risk of compromise.
Kyma integrates with observability tools such as Prometheus and Grafana to monitor the health of the cluster and services. Additionally:
Implementing encryption in SAP Kyma is essential for protecting sensitive business data and maintaining compliance with security standards. By leveraging built-in Kubernetes features, Istio service mesh capabilities, and cloud provider encryption services, organizations can secure data both at rest and in transit effectively.
Adopting these encryption best practices empowers SAP customers and developers to confidently build and operate secure cloud-native extensions on the Kyma platform.