A Kubernetes service account is an identity that is assigned to pods or services so that the system can provide authentication and authorization for them. It is essentially a way of identifying components in the cluster. Service accounts are used to access objects in the cluster, such as secrets, configmaps, and resources like namespaces, roles, and bindings. Service accounts provide a secure way of granting access to specific resources, so that only the components that have been granted access are able to access them.
When a service account is created, it is assigned a unique name and a set of permissions that can be used to access resources in the cluster. These permissions can be very granular, allowing only a few components, such as deployment scripts, to access restricted resources. The service account can also be configured to expire, meaning that if it is not used for a certain period of time, then the access to restricted resources will no longer be available.
Service accounts in Kubernetes provide a secure and easy way to manage access control in a cluster. By using service accounts, you can ensure that only the components that need access to particular resources are granted permission, and you can also force those components to rotate or expire their access when no longer needed.
