Security & Infrastructure
Enterprise-grade security built into every layer. Kubernetes orchestration, mutual TLS, AES-256 encryption, HashiCorp Vault, gVisor sandboxes, and SOC 2-aligned security controls.
Defense in Depth
Security Architecture#
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ External Traffic (TLS 1.3, cert-manager, Let's Encrypt) │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Istio Ingress Gateway (TLS termination + rate limiting) │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Service Mesh (Istio — mutual TLS between ALL services) │
│ ┌──────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Control Plane (K8s) │ │ Agent Runtime (K8s) │ │
│ │ ┌────────────────┐ │ │ ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ Lobstack API │──│──│─▶│ Agent Pod │ │ Agent Pod │ │ │
│ │ │ (3+ replicas) │ │ │ │ (gVisor) │ │ (gVisor) │ │ │
│ │ └───────┬────────┘ │ │ └───────────┘ └───────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ NetworkPolicy: full isolation │ │
│ └──────────┼────────────┘ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ┌──────────▼────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ HashiCorp Vault │ │ Monitoring & Audit │ │
│ │ (HA Raft, 3 nodes) │ │ Falco · Prometheus · Audit │ │
│ │ Transit: AES-256-GCM │ │ OPA Gatekeeper Policies │ │
│ └───────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Kubernetes Cluster (encrypted etcd, RBAC, Pod Security) │
│ Encrypted Storage (AES-256-CBC at rest) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Security Pillars#
Kubernetes & Scaling
Production K8s orchestration with HPA, KEDA event-driven scaling, VPA, PDBs, and multi-zone topology spread.
AES-256 Encryption
Encryption at rest via K8s aescbc and Vault Transit. Encryption in transit via Istio mTLS and TLS 1.3.
Secrets Management
HashiCorp Vault with HA Raft, K8s auth, Transit encryption engine, and templated RBAC policies.
Sandbox Isolation
gVisor application kernel per agent, NetworkPolicies, resource quotas, and zero inter-agent communication.
Compliance Readiness
SOC 2-aligned controls mapping with audit logging, retention policies, and continuous monitoring.
Service Mesh & Mutual TLS#
All service-to-service communication runs through Istio's service mesh with strict mutual TLS (mTLS) enforced mesh-wide. Every pod authenticates via X.509 certificates — there is no unencrypted internal traffic.
| Layer | Protocol | Cipher | Enforcement |
|---|---|---|---|
| External → Gateway | TLS 1.3 | ECDSA P-256 (Let's Encrypt) | cert-manager auto-renewal |
| Service → Service | mTLS (Istio) | X.509 mutual auth | STRICT PeerAuthentication |
| API → Vault | TLS 1.3 | Internal CA | Vault TLS config |
| K8s etcd | AES-256-CBC | aescbc provider | EncryptionConfiguration |
| Vault Storage | AES-256-GCM | Raft integrated storage | Vault seal mechanism |
| Disk Volumes | AES-256 | Cloud provider managed | Encrypted StorageClass |
Zero-Trust Networking#
Lobstack enforces zero-trust at every level. No service is implicitly trusted — all access requires explicit authorization.
Istio AuthorizationPolicies
Only the control plane can reach agent pods. Only the ingress gateway can reach the API. Default-deny baseline for all namespaces.
Kubernetes NetworkPolicies
Agent pods cannot communicate with each other. Egress is restricted to AI APIs (port 443) and the Lobstack API only.
Vault Templated Policies
Each agent can ONLY read its own secrets. Templated on {{identity.entity.metadata.agent_id}} — no cross-agent access possible.
No ServiceAccount Tokens
Agent pods have automountServiceAccountToken: false — they cannot access the Kubernetes API.
Private Network Blocked
Agent egress blocks all RFC 1918 ranges (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16) — agents can only reach the public internet.
Runtime Security#
Falco monitors all container runtime activity with custom rules tailored for Lobstack. Detections include:
| Threat | Detection Rule | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| Container escape | Shell spawned in agent container | WARNING |
| Privilege escalation | setuid/sudo/su execution | CRITICAL |
| Crypto mining | Known miner processes or stratum protocol | CRITICAL |
| Secrets theft | Reading /var/run/secrets or vault tokens | CRITICAL |
| K8s API access | Agent connecting to kubernetes.default.svc | ERROR |
| Sensitive file access | /etc/shadow, /proc/1/, service account paths | CRITICAL |
| Unauthorized network | Outbound on non-443 ports | ERROR |
Admission Control#
OPA Gatekeeper enforces organizational policies at admission time — before any resource is created in the cluster.
Required Labels
All deployments must have app.kubernetes.io/name and app.kubernetes.io/part-of labels.
No Privileged Containers
Privileged: true is blocked for all pods in Lobstack namespaces.
Required Resource Limits
All containers must specify CPU and memory limits.
Non-Root Required
All pods must set runAsNonRoot: true in their security context.
No :latest Tag
Containers using the :latest image tag are flagged (warn mode, enforceable as deny).
Explore each area