tio Authentication Overview"></a></div><figcaption>Istio Authentication Overview</figcaption></figure><p>The above diagram illustrates three key security features:</p><h3 id=strong-identity>Strong identity</h3><p>Istio authentication uses <a href=https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/configure-service-account/>Kubernetes service accounts</a> to identify who the service runs as. The identity is used to establish trust and define service level access policies. The identity is assigned at se