Course guide

Kubernetes Runtime Security: Falco, Tetragon, and eBPF

Detect container escapes, unauthorized syscalls, and runtime threats in Kubernetes using Falco, Tetragon, and eBPF-based enforcement.

Identity and network policies prevent unauthorized access. But what about threats that happen inside an authorized workload? A compromised container attempting privilege escalation, an attacker running a cryptominer, or malware modifying system files - these are runtime threats.

Runtime Security Tools

  • Falco: CNCF graduated project that detects abnormal behavior by monitoring Linux syscalls. Detects: shell spawned in container, sensitive file read, unexpected network connections.
  • Tetragon: Cilium-based runtime enforcement using eBPF. Goes beyond detection - can block malicious actions in real-time at the kernel level.
  • eBPF: The underlying technology that makes modern runtime security possible. Runs sandboxed programs in the Linux kernel without kernel modules.

Learn Runtime Security - Free

Module 10 of our free Cloud Native Security Engineering course covers Falco, Tetragon, and eBPF with hands-on detection and response labs.

Learning path

Continue from concept to implementation

These course modules place this topic in context, connect it to adjacent decisions, and provide the practical next step.

Practical outcomes

What the recommended module teaches

  • Understand runtime threat categories in Kubernetes
  • Deploy Falco for syscall-based threat detection
  • Use Tetragon for eBPF-based enforcement
  • Build incident response procedures for runtime events