Security best practices in Kafka - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is the purpose of enabling SSL/TLS in Kafka?

SSL/TLS encrypts data in transit between Kafka clients and brokers, protecting it from eavesdropping and tampering.

beginner

Why should Kafka use SASL for authentication?

SASL provides a way to verify the identity of clients and brokers, ensuring only authorized users can connect.

intermediate

What is the role of ACLs (Access Control Lists) in Kafka security?

ACLs control which users or clients can perform actions like reading or writing to topics, helping to enforce permissions.

intermediate

How does Kafka ensure data integrity during transmission?

Kafka uses SSL/TLS to encrypt data and checksums to detect data corruption, ensuring data is not altered in transit.

beginner

What is a best practice for managing Kafka credentials securely?

Store credentials in secure vaults or environment variables, avoid hardcoding them in code or config files, and rotate them regularly.

Which protocol is commonly used to encrypt Kafka client-broker communication?

A TCP

B HTTP

C FTP

D SSL/TLS

SSL/TLS encrypts data between clients and brokers to secure communication.

What does SASL in Kafka help with?

A Authentication

B Data storage

C Message formatting

D Load balancing

SASL is used to authenticate clients and brokers in Kafka.

What is the main purpose of Kafka ACLs?

A Control access permissions

B Encrypt messages

C Compress data

D Monitor performance

ACLs define who can read or write to Kafka topics.

Which of these is NOT a recommended Kafka security practice?

A Using SSL/TLS encryption

B Hardcoding passwords in config files

C Implementing ACLs

D Rotating credentials regularly

Hardcoding passwords is insecure and should be avoided.

How can Kafka data integrity be verified during transmission?

A Using JSON format

B Using HTTP headers

C Using checksums

D Using load balancers

Checksums detect data corruption during transmission.

Explain the key security features you should enable when setting up Kafka to protect data and access.

Think about how to protect data in transit, verify users, and control permissions.

Describe best practices for managing Kafka credentials and why they are important.

Consider how to keep passwords safe and reduce risk if leaked.