Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)

The CKS certification demonstrates expertise in securing container-based applications and Kubernetes platforms during build, deployment, and runtime. It is the most advanced Kubernetes certification and requires an active CKA certification to attempt. It validates skills in supply chain security, cluster hardening, system hardening, and monitoring for threats.

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What is the Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)?

Who Should Take This Course?

Security engineers specializing in container security
DevSecOps engineers integrating security into pipelines
Cloud architects designing secure Kubernetes platforms
Site Reliability Engineers managing secure clusters
Platform engineers hardening production Kubernetes clusters
IT security professionals expanding into cloud-native security

What You Will Learn in the CKS Course

A comprehensive curriculum covering all exam objectives with hands-on labs and real-world practice.

Cluster Setup and Hardening

Secure Kubernetes cluster components and API access.

Network policies for cluster-wide traffic control
CIS Benchmarks for Kubernetes hardening
Securing the Kubernetes API server and etcd
Node security and kernel hardening techniques

System Hardening

Reduce the attack surface at the OS and container level.

AppArmor and Seccomp profiles
Least privilege principles and Linux capabilities
OS-level security and package minimization
Container image hardening and distroless images

Minimizing Microservice Vulnerabilities

Secure workloads and service communication.

Pod Security Admission and Security Standards
Open Policy Agent (OPA) and Gatekeeper
Secrets management with Vault integration
mTLS with service mesh (Istio/Linkerd overview)

Supply Chain Security

Secure the container image supply chain.

Image scanning with Trivy and Snyk
Signing images with Cosign and Notary
Admission control for image policies
Securing image registries and pull policies

Monitoring, Logging, and Runtime Security

Detect and respond to threats in real time.

Falco for runtime threat detection
Audit logging configuration and analysis
Immutable container filesystems
Behavioral activity monitoring in Kubernetes

Course Prerequisites

Pre-requisites training is free when you purchase the course from ProSupport

Active CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator) certification — mandatory
Strong Linux command-line skills
Experience securing Kubernetes clusters in production
Familiarity with security tools like Trivy, Falco, OPA

Exam Information

Everything you need to know about the CKS certification exam.

Exam Component	Details
Exam Name	Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist
Exam Code	CKS
Exam Type	Performance-based (hands-on lab)
Total Questions	15-20 tasks
Passing Score	67%
Exam Duration	120 minutes
Language	English
Exam Provider	Linux Foundation / PSI
Exam Focus	Securing Kubernetes clusters, workloads, and container supply chains
Exam Registration	Linux Foundation Training Portal (training.linuxfoundation.org)
Retake Policy	One free retake included
Certification Validity	3 years