Uber's Journey Adopting SPIFFE/SPIRE at Scale

A fantastic article by the Uber team on how their journey adopting SPIFFE/SPIRE at scale - amazing work and insights by Andrew Moore, Ryan Turner, Kirutthika Raja, Prasad Borole, Kurtis Nusbaum, Zachary Train, Hasibul Haque at Uber.

Read the full article here.

Uber has adopted SPIFFE/SPIRE to enhance security and authentication across its multi-cloud infrastructure. Traditionally, organizations relied on perimeter-based security, assuming that internal network traffic was trustworthy. However, Zero Trust networking has emerged as a more robust approach, requiring explicit authentication for every service interaction.

Why SPIFFE/SPIRE?

With 4,500 services running across multiple clouds, Uber needed a scalable solution for workload authentication. SPIFFE (Secure Production Identity Framework For Everyone) provides a standardized identity framework, while SPIRE (SPIFFE Runtime Environment) enables secure service-to-service authentication without relying on traditional network-based identifiers.

Challenges Faced

1. Implicit Trust Issues: Traditional security models assumed that internal network traffic was safe, leading to vulnerabilities.
2. Multi-Cloud Complexity: Services running across different cloud providers required a unified authentication mechanism.
3. Ephemeral Workloads: Containers and microservices frequently change locations, making IP-based authentication unreliable.
4. Manual Credential Management: Managing service identities manually was inefficient and prone to security risks.

Uber’s Approach

Uber implemented SPIFFE/SPIRE to establish strong, scalable, and automated authentication across its infrastructure:

• Workload Identity Standardization: SPIFFE provides a consistent identity framework for services, regardless of where they run.
• Automated Authentication: SPIRE eliminates the need for manual credential management by issuing dynamic identities.
• Zero Trust Security: Every service interaction requires explicit authentication, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
• Interoperability Across Clouds: SPIFFE/SPIRE works across different cloud providers, ensuring seamless authentication.

By adopting SPIFFE/SPIRE, Uber strengthens its security posture, ensuring secure, scalable, and automated authentication across its global infrastructure.