Authentication using mutual TLS

Mutual TLS (mTLS) is a technique for authenticating two parties at each end of a network connection. Through mTLS, each party can verify that the other party is what they are claiming to be. Certificate authorities play a critical role in mTLS, and hence we had the previous section on Istio security architecture describing certificate authorities and secure naming in Istio.

mTLS is one of the most frequently used authentication mechanisms for implementing the zero-trust security framework, in which no party trusts another party by default, irrespective of where the other party is placed in the network. Zero trust assumes that there are no traditional network edges and boundaries and hence every party needs to be authenticated and authorized. This helps to eliminate many security vulnerabilities that arise because of the assumption-based trust model.

In the following two subsections, we will look at how Istio helps you implement mTLS for service...