CIS Benchmark gaps
Default Kubernetes installs fail most CIS benchmarks. We baseline clusters with Pod Security Standards, RBAC least-privilege and network policies before the first workload deploys.
EKS / AKS / GKE Argo CD SOC 2-ready Karpenter
Kubernetes Engineering Services for Production-Grade Container Workloads
Twenty-three production Kubernetes clusters managed — ANT's PropTech marketplace on EKS with Karpenter, LiMP's consumer VPN on a hardened cluster, ArgoView's clinical workstation on an AKS cluster compliant with HealthTech controls. GitOps with Argo CD, Cilium network policies, Falco runtime protection and PITR backup from day one.
We deliver Kubernetes engineering for product teams scaling past single-server deployments, regulated industries requiring network-policy isolation and audit-grade access controls, multi-tenant SaaS platforms needing namespace or vCluster isolation, and organisations migrating from Docker Compose or Nomad. EKS, AKS and GKE are all in production for us. Argo CD handles GitOps deployments. Karpenter handles cost-efficient node scaling. Falco and Trivy handle runtime security.
Challenges
Industry challenges we solve
Persistent storage on EKS/AKS
StatefulSets with dynamic PVC provisioning across AZs require careful storage class design. We configure topology-aware provisioning and PodDisruptionBudgets for safe rolling updates.
HPA tuning for bursty workloads
Default CPU-based HPA reacts too slowly to event-driven spikes. We wire KEDA with queue-depth metrics for sub-minute scale-out.
Multi-cluster secrets management
Rotating secrets across clusters manually introduces drift and outages. We centralise on External Secrets Operator pulling from a single secrets backend.
Upgrade downtime risk
In-place upgrades on production clusters cause kubelet restarts and potential pod evictions. We use blue-green cluster upgrades for stateless workloads and test upgrades in staging first.
Cost visibility across namespaces
Pod resource requests and limits set too high waste node capacity. We implement OpenCost for per-namespace cost allocation and Goldilocks for VPA recommendations.
Solutions
Solutions we build
Greenfield cluster setup
Production-ready EKS/AKS/GKE with Karpenter, Argo CD, Cilium, Prometheus stack, Falco and CIS Benchmark baseline — in two weeks.
Cluster security hardening
Pod Security Standards, network policies, RBAC audit, Trivy CI scanning, Falco runtime rules and CIS Benchmark remediation.
GitOps migrations
Migration from kubectl apply or Helm CI scripts to Argo CD ApplicationSets — full GitOps with rollback, sync status and Slack alerts.
Multi-tenant platforms
Namespace RBAC, network isolation and vCluster virtual clusters for SaaS platforms with strict tenant separation requirements.
FinOps and right-sizing
OpenCost per-namespace cost reports, Karpenter spot consolidation, Goldilocks VPA recommendations and cluster bin-packing audits.
Cluster upgrades and migrations
Blue-green cluster upgrades, namespace migration playbooks and version-upgrade path documentation with rollback procedures.
Stack
Technology stack
Kubernetes 1.31, EKS, AKS, GKE, Helm, Argo CD, Karpenter, Cilium, Istio, kube-prometheus-stack, OpenTelemetry, Falco, Trivy, External Secrets Operator, OpenCost.
Compliance
Compliance & regulations
GDPR-aligned · SOC 2-capable · HIPAA-eligible · PCI DSS-aware
EU
- GDPR — namespace-level data residency, network policy enforcement.
- DORA — resilience testing, multi-AZ failover, incident logging.
- NIS2 — network segmentation, runtime threat detection.
- ISO 27001 — RBAC evidence, audit logging, access review.
US
- SOC 2 Type II — RBAC, CloudTrail/audit logs, change control evidence.
- HIPAA — network isolation, encryption in transit, audit logging.
- PCI DSS — network segmentation, pod security, scan evidence.
- FedRAMP-adjacent — FIPS-mode nodes, GovCloud EKS.
Shared: CIS Kubernetes Benchmark, SBOM via Trivy SBOM, SLSA supply-chain controls.
Cases
Selected Kubernetes case studies
PropTech · Marketplace
ANT
Property marketplace web platform with listing CMS, search and B2B admin console for US and EU operators.
Consumer Privacy · Mobile
LiMP
Consumer WireGuard VPN app for iOS and Android with zero-log architecture, launched across the US and EU.
HealthTech · Endoscopy
ArgoView
Tablet-first endoscopy recording, patient records, and DICOM/HL7 export — built on Laravel + React with browser-tier WebRTC capture for US & EU clinics.
Why YuSMP
Why teams choose YuSMP for Kubernetes
CIS Benchmark from day one
We do not ship Kubernetes clusters without a CIS Benchmark baseline. Pod Security Standards, network policies and RBAC least-privilege are part of the initial cluster setup, not a post-audit retrofit.
FinOps wired into clusters
OpenCost per-namespace cost reports, Karpenter spot consolidation and Goldilocks VPA recommendations — cost visibility from the first sprint.
GitOps-only deployments
No human touches production with kubectl apply. Argo CD ApplicationSets, diff previews and one-click rollback — every change is a Git commit with a review.
FAQ
Kubernetes FAQ
EKS, AKS or GKE — which managed Kubernetes do you recommend?
EKS if your primary cloud is AWS — best IAM integration with IRSA, widest tooling ecosystem. AKS for Azure-centric organisations with Entra ID (AAD) integration requirements. GKE Autopilot for teams wanting the most hands-off cluster management experience. We design cloud-agnostic workloads where portability is a stated requirement.
Argo CD or Flux — which GitOps tool do you use?
Argo CD is our default — UI, ApplicationSets, app-of-apps pattern, RBAC and Slack notifications. Flux where teams have an existing Flux investment or a strong preference for its GitOps operator model. Both tools achieve the same outcome; the choice rarely matters more than consistency.
How do you handle secrets in Kubernetes?
External Secrets Operator pulling from AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault or HashiCorp Vault — never secrets in Git, even encrypted. We also implement Sealed Secrets for teams that want Git-stored encrypted secrets without a cloud secrets backend dependency.
How do you approach cluster security and CIS Benchmarks?
We baseline every cluster against CIS Kubernetes Benchmark: Pod Security Standards, network policies (Cilium), RBAC least-privilege, audit logging, Falco runtime threat detection and Trivy image scanning in CI. Cluster security findings are tracked in the same sprint as feature work.
How do you implement horizontal pod autoscaling for bursty workloads?
HPA on custom metrics (KEDA event-driven) for queue consumers, combined with Karpenter for node-level scale-out. We model the cold-start latency budget and choose between over-provisioning (fast response) and zero-to-burst (cost-efficient) based on your SLA.
What is your multi-tenancy approach?
Namespace-per-tenant with network policies and RBAC for moderate isolation. vCluster virtual clusters for teams requiring stronger API-server isolation without the cost of dedicated clusters. Dedicated clusters for regulated tenants where the compliance boundary must be a cluster.
How do you handle Kubernetes upgrades with zero downtime?
Blue-green cluster upgrades for stateless workloads — new cluster, migrate namespaces, drain old. Rolling node upgrades with PodDisruptionBudgets for stateful workloads. We test the upgrade path in staging with production-equivalent loads before touching production.
Harden and scale your Kubernetes clusters with senior engineers
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