Security is a top consideration when running Kubernetes, but cloud native users are dealing with a significant security and compliance skills gap, according to Canonical’s 2022 Kubernetes and Cloud Native Operations Survey.

The survey reached 1,300 global IT professionals and found 38% prioritize security when operating Kubernetes, building container images, or defining an edge strategy. To that point, it found that keeping clusters updated is overall the best practice for solving security issues.

But according to Microsoft Azure Program Manager Jose Miguel Parrella, that strategy isn't as engrained "within the strategic-thinking IT infrastructure group as one could expect," he said in a statement. Rather, Parrella has observed that keeping clusters up-to-date is more of a day-30 discussion between an organization's small team of Kubernetes maintainers.

The other big roadblock facing cloud native security is the skills gap among cloud native operators. According to the survey, only 14% of cloud native users identified security and compliance as an area they have mastered.

"The one thing that people need more and are really nervous about, i.e. security and compliance, very few have a good understanding of," Weaveworks CEO Alexis Richardson said.

Other low-skill areas include cloud native storage (14%), observability (13%), serverless (11%), chaos engineering (10%), and service mesh (8%).

"I think the Kubernetes learning curve is much bigger and steeper than people initially understood," Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth said in the report.

Additionally, the survey found 21% of respondents say they're learning these cloud native skills but are masters of none. And another 21% don't claim mastery but are "pretty good at some of them," according to the report.

"Most people are not even sure what they need to know. It's quite a scary world," Richardson added.

Though data indicates many people are still learning, the number of respondents with no expertise whatsoever is evidently decreasing, Canonical said.