Kyverno 101 with Linkerd

Kyverno is a Kubernetes-native policy engine that manages the complete resource lifecycle without requiring a new language or complex learning curve. In this hands-on session, Cortney Nickerson, Head of Community at Nirmata (creators of Kyverno), and Linkerd Evangelist Flynn will explore how Kyverno can strengthen and automate Linkerd deployments to give platform teams peace of mind that application developers aren’t accidentally breaking the mesh.

They start with a Kyverno 101 primer—what it is, how it works, and why it’s a natural fit alongside Linkerd. From there, they dive into real-world service mesh use cases: Are all workloads for an application actually meshed? Has anyone been tampering with mesh authorization policies? Have the mesh’s certificates been altered? Are signed artifacts still valid through image verification?

By the end, you’ll see how Kyverno policies can proactively detect and prevent misconfigurations that would otherwise erode service mesh security and reliability—ensuring your platform stays consistent, compliant, and resilient.