Microservices Security in Action

Security for Systems That Keep Splitting Apart 💻

Microservices promise independent deployment, but every new service also creates another identity to verify, another connection to protect, and another place where policy can drift. Microservices Security in Action takes that reality seriously. Prabath Siriwardena and Nuwan Dias lay out a practical path through the security decisions that appear once an application becomes a network of services.

What the Book Explores

The book follows five connected parts. It starts with the microservices security landscape and the first steps in securing services, grounding the discussion in authentication, integrity, nonrepudiation, and confidentiality. From there it moves outward to edge security, then inward to service-to-service communication, deployment, and development practices.

From API Gateways to Service Mesh ⚙️

Edge concerns include API gateway security, access from single-page applications, throttling, monitoring, and access control. For service-to-service traffic, the material covers certificates, JWT, gRPC, and reactive microservices. Deployment chapters work through Docker container security, Kubernetes, and the Istio service mesh, while the final section addresses secure coding practices and automation.

How the Parts Fit Together

• Part 1 — Foundations: the security landscape and initial steps for microservices.
• Part 2 — Edge security: API gateways, browser-based access, throttling, monitoring, and access control.
• Part 3 — Service-to-service communication: certificates, JWT, gRPC, and reactive services.
• Part 4 — Secure deployment: Docker, Kubernetes, and Istio.
• Part 5 — Secure development: coding practices and automation.

Who Will Find It Useful 📚

This is a working book for developers, architects, and security engineers who already move within distributed systems and need a structured way to reason about trust, traffic, and policy. It is especially relevant when an architecture is growing faster than its security model, or when teams need to connect design choices to the operational realities of containers and service meshes.

Why It Stays Relevant

Rather than treating each technology as an isolated topic, the book connects the layers: how an API gateway relates to service identity, how certificates and tokens affect east/west traffic, and how Kubernetes and Istio change the deployment surface. That layered view is what makes the material useful beyond a single tool or platform.

If you want a clearer map of microservices security—from first principles to production deployment patterns—this Manning guide offers a detailed route.