Preparation to Take Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKSS)
This is my first publication in Medium, so I want to share some tips with all of you about preparation for taking the CKSS exam. Enjoyed!
Last year in November, The Linux Foundation and CNCF added a new certification for Kubernetes topic called “Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist” which provides a security concern in Cloud-Native environment. To take this certification you need to pass the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) certification, to make sure you’re able to demonstrate Kubernetes expertise and ready to take CKSS because most of the tasks required understanding the basics concept, how Kubernetes component work, and how to operate.
CNCF already share the curriculum what topics will be covered on the exam, you can check out this link https://github.com/cncf/curriculum. As I said before, we need CKA before taking CKSS and previously I have taken the CKA certification last month in December 2020 by following available resources on google with the keyword “How to prepare Certified Kubernetes Administrator” then you will get a lot of resources about it like from the article or GitHub repository which useful to expertise your knowledge about Kubernetes and play with kubectl command.
Tips #1: Setup your playground
The exam is performance-based, so you need to make yourself comfortable with the kubectl command, read the documentation also setup your cluster with kubeadm both local or cloud. I recommended you to set it up on local machine using minikube, KinD, and Docker desktop, we won’t play much with LoadBalancer which needs an IP address to expose it to the public.
Tips #2: Take a course
If you buy a course + certification bundle from Linux Foundation last year with a Cyber Monday coupon, you can read the course lab guide and follow their lessons until finish then review it more than once to make sure you understand all domains. Another thing is buying a session from https://killer.sh to test your knowledge after finish learning from the course because this environment will make you feel like the real exam.
Tips #3: Get very familiar with kubectl!
I’ve learned Kubernetes for research and expand my knowledge about Cloud Native environment so I need more hands-on with Kubernetes cluster mostly create a Kubernetes cluster by myself with some automation as well, maybe if you’re SysOps, DevOps, or whatever it is which always use Kubernetes for daily basis is fine because you learn it case by case and use kubectl command every day. But if you are like me, always use the kubectl command to create a resource with help argument to know more whats options provided when we use it for example we want to create a role with kubectl role and we don’t know how to define a resource, verb or anything else instead of using YAML file from Kubernetes documentation.
Tips #4: Make a schedule for studying
This is the important things, you can make your schedule every day and how much time are you willing to spend to studying and set the target like you want to study within 1 week or 1 month and schedule the exam with your best time maybe weekday or workday in the morning or night time. I schedule the exam in the night because this is my productive time to learning or spend time outside of work.
Tips #5: Don’t be panic when the exam has started
Keep calm and make sure you’re ready with what you’ve learned, drink water before the exam started. If you have any appointments, I suggest you reschedule the exam so you can do any tasks without a problem.
Bonus
- Practicing more with Role-based access control (RBAC).
- Learn about CIS Benchmark for Docker and Kubernetes.
- Hands-on with Trivy to Minimize Microservice Vulnerabilities and Falco as Runtime Security.
- Check out the following link: https://github.com/walidshaari/Certified-Kubernetes-Security-Specialist
I wish you the best of luck in getting your CKSS certification!
