KCNA Cloud Native Architecture Practice Question
Which component of the Istio service mesh is responsible for certificate signing and identity management?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Citadel
Istio's security features are managed by Citadel (now part of istiod), which handles certificate signing and identity. Envoy is the proxy, Pilot provides service discovery, and Mixer was an older component for policy (now deprecated).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Envoy
Why it's wrong here
Envoy is the data plane proxy.
- ✓
Citadel
Why this is correct
Citadel manages certificates and identity.
- ✗
Mixer
Why it's wrong here
Mixer was deprecated; it handled policy and telemetry.
- ✗
Pilot
Why it's wrong here
Pilot handles service discovery and traffic management.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This KCNA practice question is part of Courseiva's free CNCF certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the KCNA exam.