Schema Security: Guarding Your Data Flow

Kafka lacks built-in strong schema support, necessitating careful management of event schemas to avoid breaking changes that can disrupt systems. Implementing strict policies, such as rejecting changes that remove fields or allowing only one event type per topic, enhances predictability and reliability in message processing. The importance of a robust security model is highlighted, as the origins and permissions of event sources must be carefully controlled to prevent unauthorized access and potential security risks. The amplification effect of Kafka, where a single message can trigger multiple services, underscores the need for rigorous permissioning and trust frameworks to mitigate chaos from inadvertent or malicious actions. All considerations typical in API design, including schema versioning and security, should be prioritized from the outset to ensure a stable and secure architecture.