How to filter traffic in east-west traffic control?

To filter traffic in east-west traffic control, you need to implement security policies and monitoring mechanisms within the internal network to secure communication between services or nodes. East-west traffic refers to data flows between servers, applications, or microservices inside a data center or cloud environment, as opposed to north-south traffic, which involves external clients accessing internal resources.

Key Methods for Filtering East-West Traffic:

1. Microsegmentation: Divide the network into smaller, isolated segments and apply security policies to each segment. This limits lateral movement of threats.

   • Example: In a Kubernetes cluster, use network policies to restrict pod-to-pod communication based on labels.

2. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Enforce strict identity verification and least-privilege access for every internal request.

   • Example: Require mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication between microservices.

3. Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems (IDS/IPS): Monitor and block suspicious traffic patterns within the network.

   • Example: Deploy an IDS to detect abnormal API calls between services.

4. Service Mesh: Use a service mesh (e.g., Istio) to manage traffic flow, enforce policies, and encrypt communication.

   • Example: Configure Istio to allow only specific HTTP methods between services.

5. Cloud-Native Security Tools: Leverage cloud provider solutions for visibility and control.

   • Recommendation: Tencent Cloud’s Tencent Cloud Network Security and Tencent Cloud Container Security services can help monitor and filter east-west traffic in cloud environments. For Kubernetes, Tencent Cloud TKE (Tencent Kubernetes Engine) integrates with security policies for pod-level control.

By combining these methods, you can effectively filter and secure east-west traffic to prevent unauthorized access and lateral attacks.