Cloud risk management is a specific set of technologies and policies designed to provide visibility, context, and risk prioritization to cloud-hosted applications and assets. It is a framework that gives security teams the insight they need to identify and manage risks to cloud workloads.
Cloud infrastructure offers greater flexibility and scalability than on-premises deployment, but it comes with unique risks. Cloud service providers assume responsibility for the security of their infrastructure, but configuring and managing security resources is the customer’s job. The scalable nature of cloud computing usually means that the organization’s attack surface widens considerably after cloud transformation.
Cloud migration poses unique security challenges
Overall, cloud-hosted infrastructure offers enhanced security when compared to traditional on-premises deployments. However, moving business operations and application development workloads to the cloud creates unique security risks. Security leaders need to address these risks before the organization becomes too reliant on vendor-specific configurations and workflows that may not be optimal from a security perspective.
Some of the risks associated with cloud transformation include:
- Not following a comprehensive cloud migration strategy. Many organizations rush the cloud migration process, exposing themselves to security vulnerabilities and making proper cloud risk management a much harder task later on.
- Misconfiguring complex on-premises infrastructure for the cloud. Complexity can add to the latency of cloud applications, reducing performance. Without the proper configuration, security tools can add to that problem and make cloud workloads even slower.
- Selecting the wrong cloud service provider. Choosing the wrong cloud service provider can lead to unexpected consequences. Your existing security tech stack may not integrate well with certain types of cloud infrastructure, or you may end up with high monthly costs due to cloud storage misconfigurations.
- On-demand self-service encourages unauthorized use. It’s very easy to provision new services on the cloud. This might encourage business units to provision additional services on cloud infrastructure without seeking approval from the IT or cybersecurity team.
- Visibility and control over cloud assets. Every organization needs deep visibility into the way security policies and workflows interact with the cloud environment. Your detection and response playbooks against data breaches and insider threats must translate to the cloud environment seamlessly.
In many ways, your organization’s application deployment model sets the tone for its cloud risk management approach. If you choose to lift-and-shift existing applications directly to the cloud, you may end up with scalability issues and security vulnerabilities that are much harder to address than if you had refactored your applications entirely.
How does cloud risk management work?
Effective cloud risk management requires taking a deep look at your organization’s specific cloud strategy and delivery model and then building a cloud risk management framework around it. That framework addresses the unique risks your organization faces and specifies the tools and services you can use to mitigate those risks. Continuous monitoring and risk assessment ensures your organization stays ahead of emerging threats that may impact cloud operations.
Let’s break each of these steps down:
1. Identify the level of security responsibility your organization must assume
Every cloud service provider assumes a specific set of security responsibilities according to the shared responsibility model. The level of responsibility can change depending on the delivery model you choose.
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provides the bottom-level infrastructure you need to build and run software applications on the cloud. That means you’re responsible for the security of any operating systems, databases, and applications you run on the cloud.
- Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provides built-in security for cloud infrastructure and the operating system. Under this model, you are responsible for the applications, databases, and data you host in the cloud.
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provides built-in security for cloud infrastructure, operating systems, and software applications. Under this model, you are responsible for securing the data you process in the cloud.
2. Develop a cloud risk management framework
Once you understand your security responsibilities, you can begin building a risk management framework. This will include identifying risks, scanning for vulnerabilities, and measuring the impact of potential security incidents on your business operations.
If your organization is using multiple cloud service providers or cloud-hosted services, you’ll need to conduct this assessment for each instance individually. This will give you the ability to prioritize risks based on their potential impact and begin designing detection and response workflows that can address those risks.
3. Conduct cloud asset discovery and risk assessment
Your cloud security framework will inform your security assessment, which provides insight into the access controls, data security policies, and compliance metrics you use to measure risk. At this stage, you may wish to leverage additional services and conduct penetration testing to confirm that your risk management strategy will work as planned.
Since cloud infrastructure makes it easy for employees to provision new applications and network segments on demand, you will have to conduct asset discovery to find out how many of these exist. You’ll need to repeat this process regularly so you can catch and secure newly provisioned environments before they become vulnerabilities.
4. Deploy tools and services to address risk
Once you understand the types of risk your organization is likely to face, you can begin deploying security tools and services that address those risks. This phase of the cloud risk management process is unique to every organization. Your ideal security tech stack may be very different from the one a competitor with similar cloud-based architecture uses.
You will probably need to deploy cloud-based logging and monitoring tools, firewalls, and data loss prevention solutions. Ideally, all of these security tools will integrate with a centralized Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platform that enables real-time threat detection and response.
5. Continuously monitor against future threats
Once your security tech stack is up and running, you will need to commit resources and expertise to keep it running. You should also plan for it to expand over time, since one of the main advantages of cloud infrastructure is its scalability. You may find that your security team can’t grow as quickly as your organization’s cloud security needs.
This is where working with a reputable cloud managed detection and response vendor can help. Novawatch can provide scalable on-demand cloud product expertise that enables your organization to grow its cloud infrastructure without compromising on its risk management capabilities. Find out more about how Novawatch can help you by talking to a cloud specialist.
