The Most Important Conversation We Have With Customers
Digital Minion has been helping companies in the “Big Data” space solve problems since its inception, in 2015 the company narrowed its focus to helping companies with the complexities of scaling Big Data Platforms while simultaneously maintaining security and regulatory requirements. In all this time one of the most important conversations we still have with customers is about setting up well architected identity controls which in any secure Big Data environment usually means turning on Kerberos.
Deploying big data tools without using Kerberos can be a serious security risk for any organization. Kerberos is a network authentication protocol that provides secure communication over a non-secure network. In the context of the Hadoop ecosystem, Kerberos is used to authenticate users and services, encrypt network traffic, and ensure data privacy and integrity.
Without Kerberos, the Hadoop cluster is vulnerable to several security threats, such as unauthorized access to sensitive data, data breaches, and data tampering. These security risks can lead to severe consequences for an organization, including loss of reputation, legal action, and financial penalties.
Here are some reasons why it is bad for an organization to deploy big data tools without using Kerberos:
Lack of Authentication and Authorization: Kerberos provides a centralized authentication and authorization mechanism that verifies the identity of users and services and grants or denies access to the cluster resources based on their roles and privileges. Without Kerberos, anyone can access the Hadoop cluster and perform any operation, including reading, writing, and deleting data, without any restrictions.
Insecure Communication: Hadoop services communicate with each other over a network, which can be intercepted and manipulated by attackers. Kerberos provides end-to-end encryption and message integrity verification to prevent eavesdropping, data tampering, and replay attacks. Without Kerberos, the network traffic is transmitted in plain text, exposing sensitive data and credentials to interception and unauthorized access.
No Audit Trail: Kerberos provides a centralized logging mechanism that records all the authentication and authorization events, including successful and failed login attempts, user and service activities, and security policy violations. This audit trail can be used to detect and investigate security incidents, track user behavior, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Without Kerberos, there is no way to monitor and audit the Hadoop cluster activities, making it difficult to identify and mitigate security threats.
Difficulty in Integration with Other Security Tools: Kerberos is a widely adopted security protocol that integrates with many security tools, such as Active Directory, LDAP, and SSO. By using Kerberos, organizations can leverage their existing security infrastructure and policies to secure the Hadoop cluster. Without Kerberos, organizations need to develop custom security solutions, which can be time-consuming, costly, and error-prone.
Deploying big data tools without using Kerberos can expose organizations to significant security risks that can have severe consequences. This makes it is essential to use Kerberos to secure the Hadoop cluster and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data.
