Just over a year ago, I told my team that I wanted to speak at a future KubeCon. No roadmap. No CFP draft. Just a bold intention. Fast forward to April 2025, I stood on stage in London at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe—sharing our security journey in front of the most vibrant, forward-thinking community in tech. It wasn’t just a milestone. It was a personal and professional transformation.
The Talk: “Platform Engineering Loves Security: Shift Down, Not Just Left!”
Co-presenting with my friend and co-speaker Mathieu, we delivered a talk that challenged the traditional “shift left” security narrative. Instead, we proposed a more pragmatic, scalable approach: “shift down into the platform, not left to your developers« .
We walked through real-world lessons from the trenches—how platform teams can embed security guardrails by design, without burning out developers or slowing delivery. We covered:
- Real Kubernetes policy enforcement stories using OPA and Gatekeeper
- Building paved roads for secure service onboarding
- Why platform ownership is the missing link in cloud-native security
The feedback? Incredible. Thoughtful questions, packed room, and lots of “this is exactly what we’re facing” conversations afterward.
What Made This KubeCon Special
Every KubeCon is filled with energy, but London felt different. Maybe it was the hallway track filled with impromptu deep dives. Maybe it was the sheer volume of conversations around AI governance, multi-tenancy security, and platform responsibility.
I connected with other CNCF community leaders, fellow Microsoft MVPs, and members of the Kubernetes Security Special Interest Group (SIG) and TAG Security. We exchanged ideas on how to improve secure defaults in open source tooling and keep up with the ever-changing threat landscape.
Must-Watch Sessions
- KubeCon EU 2025: Azure Day: Morning Session (Azure Kubernetes Service)
- Objection! AI Security Mistakes on Trial With Kubeflow and Confidential Computing
- Panel: Platform as a Product as a Transformation Enabler Within One of the Top 4 Banks in the UK
- Panel: Platform Engineering in Financial Institutions: The Practitioner Panel
- Compliance at the Speed of Innovation: Leveraging AI-Driven Automation for Real-Time Regulatory Read
- The Past, the Present, and the Future of Platform Engineering
- Unlocking the Future of Kubernetes Policy as Code With Kyverno
- Lightning Talk: 10 Quick Tips on How To Internally Market Your Platform
- Product Thinking for Cloud Native Engineers – Stéphane Di Cesare & Cat Morris
- Platform Engineering for Architects – Crafting Platforms as a Product
- Securing the Modern Software Supply Chain: A Beginner’s Guide To SLSA, SBOM, and Beyond
- Lightning Talk: Agentic Bee: How To Get AI Agents To Talk To Tetragon
- Attesting and Verifying Your Software Supply-Chain with in toto
- Identity-based Trust – Till Death Do We Part?
- Leveraging Internal Knowledge: Building AiKA at Spotify – Majd Salman & Jofre Mateu Matesanz
- Platform Engineering for Software Developers and Architects (Redux) – Daniel Bryant, Syntasso
- Project Lightning Talk: Kubewarden: Leveraging and Extending CEL for your Cluster Security
- Project Lightning Talk: Empowering Federated Learning with Multi-Cluster Management for Privacy and Efficiency
- Project Lightning Talk: ORAS: Create and Distribute a Multi-platform Image with Security Posture
- Project Lightning Talk: Capsule: Launching Multi-Tenancy to New Kubernetes Horizons
- The Bricks That Make Us – How the LEGO Group Avoids 50 Mediocre Kubernetes implementations
- Container Runtimes… on Lockdown: The Hidden Costs of Multi-tenant Workloads
- Tutorial: Hacking up a Storm With Kubernetes
- Enhancing Software Composition Analysis Resilience Against Container Image Obfuscation
- Beyond Security Leveraging OPA For FinOps In Kubernetes Sathish Kumar Venkatesan
- Dapr + Score: Mixing the Perfect Cocktail for an Enhanced Developer Experience, Mathieu Benoit & Kendall Roden
From Open Source to Open Conversations
What really makes KubeCon unforgettable isn’t just the sessions—it’s the people. Meeting folks I’ve only known online, reuniting with past collaborators, mentoring first-time attendees, and exchanging stories over coffee.
One of the standout moments this year was meeting some of the very first Golden Kubestronauts—like Sajeeva Nambadawa Vithanage. This new CNCF initiative celebrates individuals who not only achieve all CNCF certifications but also exemplify community leadership, collaboration, and a deep commitment to cloud-native innovation.
It reminded me why I care so deeply about this space: we’re not just building systems—we’re building a movement. One where security, collaboration, and open source values are not just buzzwords, but guiding principles.
✈️ What’s Next?
Coming back from KubeCon, I’m more motivated than ever:
- To continue pushing for technical leadership recognition in security roles.
- To help more teams adopt platform-centric security thinking.
- To mentor others chasing their first KubeCon CFP.
And maybe… to start planning for KubeCon North America?
Whether you’re just starting out or deep into your cloud-native journey, I can’t recommend attending (or speaking at!) a KubeCon enough. It’s more than a conference—it’s a catalyst.
Let’s keep raising the bar. Together.
Maxime.
