Rancher Government Solutions’ Secure Technical Implementation Guide for RKE2, the company’s Kubernetes distribution, has been authorized and published by the Defense Information Systems Agency.
The confirmation distinguishes RGS as the sole company to offer a DISA-approved Kubernetes distribution STIG, the Reston, Virginia-based company announced on Tuesday.
“This DISA announcement validates our commitment to ensuring that the open source and Kubernetes products we deliver meet the highest security standards of the U.S. Federal Government,” said RGS CEO Lynne Chamberlain.
STIG approval consists of a security review and configuration standard that certifies the compliance of technology products and the agencies using them with Department of Defense regulations.
DISA-validated STIGs are a crucial part of protecting DOD networks and government information systems from cybersecurity threats and attacks by bolstering baseline security configurations.
RKE2 is a secure Kubernetes distribution with a simple installation process designed to meet compliance standards sanctioned by the U.S. government. The tool is Federal Information Processing Standards-enabled and SELinux-supported. It is already being used by the DOD, various civilian agencies and others in the Intelligence Community.
As the U.S. government seeks to modernize the way it builds, secures and deploys applications for improved scale, security and speed, containerized applications arranged with Kubernetes have quickly gained popularity.
RGS CTO Brandon Gulla commented on the federal government’s prioritization of security.
“We are honored to support the warfighter with products that meet them at their mission in the most secure way possible,” he said.
RGS received an earlier DISA validation for its Rancher Multi-cluster Manager version 2.6 STIG in April. The product enables the integration of cluster deployment on bare metal, public and private clouds, vSphere and at the edge.
DISA’s approval of multiple RGS programs supports the company’s future collaboration with the agency in validating and publishing new releases of its platform.