Cloud security consists of multiple security tools and policies that protect cloud-based infrastructure and applications. These security measures protect the organization’s data from a variety of threats, including distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, malicious insiders, and malware attacks.
There are many reasons why organizations migrate on-premises applications and infrastructure to cloud-hosted environments. These solutions provide better scalability, optimized cost structures, and an accelerated development lifecycle.
However, organizations undergoing cloud transformation must also take the security of those assets and applications into account. Cloud security provides a comprehensive approach to maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of cloud-hosted data and assets.
Securing the 3 Types of Cloud Environments
Three main types of cloud environments exist, and each one has its own security risk profile. IT leaders pursuing cloud transformation must navigate multiple factors—including security—when choosing between these options.
- Public cloud environments are hosted by third-party service providers. The three biggest public cloud platforms are Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
- Private cloud environments are dedicated to a single organization. Enterprises that build their own internal cloud capabilities in-house develop private cloud infrastructure.
- Hybrid cloud environments combine the scalability and cost-effectiveness of public cloud infrastructure with the control and visibility of the private cloud. The organization may split tasks and workloads between on-premises, public, and private cloud environments.
Each of these cloud deployment models comes with its own set of security risks and best practices. While securing on-premises and private cloud infrastructure clearly depends on the organization itself, public cloud providers have to distribute security tasks using the shared responsibility model.
What is the Shared Responsibility Model?
The shared responsibility model is a framework for distributing responsibility for cloud security between cloud service providers and their customers. Each cloud provider has its own framework for dividing responsibility for security operations and outcomes.
This is important because customers can use cloud infrastructure to run entire applications—or support entire business units. The cloud provider can secure some parts of its infrastructure on its own, but not everything.
For example, Amazon has published a clear guide stipulating what parts of its cloud infrastructure it secures and what it does not. It tells customers what parts of their environment Amazon agrees to monitor against threats, and what it won’t secure.
In short, the cloud provider assumes responsibility for security of the cloud, and you assume responsibility for security in the cloud.
Cloud Security Risks and Challenges
One result of the shared responsibility model is that every public cloud security provider has a clear incentive to provide robust security features to its customers. However, customers still have to dedicate time and resources to securing cloud workloads effectively.
Some of the obstacles that IT leaders face when doing this include:
Lack of Visibility
Under the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) model, cloud providers have full control over their infrastructure and do not expose it to customers. This makes it difficult for customers to configure cloud security tools and technologies around public cloud infrastructure, or detect threats that may impact their overall security posture.
This problem is even more pronounced in Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) models. Gaining visibility into cloud computing workloads is the first step towards maintaining best-in-class cloud security.
Misconfigurations
Errors, glitches, and security blind spots can pose a serious risk to your organization’s security posture. Since public cloud providers don’t take responsibility for securing their customer’s workloads, it’s up to you to find and address these vulnerabilities before it’s too late.
Examples of cloud misconfiguration risks include overly permissive access, accidentally exposing storage assets to external users, and underutilized monitoring and logging.
Access Management
Inadequate identity and access management can compromise the security of cloud-hosted development pipelines and assets. Since cloud-hosted assets are much easier to share between users, they are more susceptible to threats stemming from preventable access misconfigurations.
This is especially important for organizations using cloud infrastructure to pursue continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) in the software development lifecycle. The fast-paced and highly automated development environment makes it easy for threat actors to exploit access management vulnerabilities.
Larger Attack Surface
Cloud deployments have a larger, more complex attack surface than on-premises alternatives. One of the main benefits of cloud technology is the ability to spin up brand-new cloud instances that business units can use for a wide variety of purposes—like production, data storage, or building new products.
If your organization’s software engineers are not careful about security, they may neglect to secure new cloud assets as they are made. When any department can create a new cloud instance or web applications on demand, the attack surface grows considerably.
Compliance
When you store sensitive data on cloud servers hosted by a third party, you implicitly trust that cloud hosting partner to comply with the same compliance regulations and frameworks you do. Using a non-compliant host can hurt your reputation and lead to penalties and fees.
That means that if your organization complies with PCI-DSS, HIPAA, or the Sarbanes-Oxley act, it must ensure its cloud providers are also compliant. Customers and users will expect you to treat their data with the same degree of security whether it is hosted on-site or on the cloud.
Cloud Security Relies on Robust Technologies and Practices
Securing cloud workloads requires establishing visibility and control over the applications and assets you host on cloud infrastructure. Many IT leaders rely on the following things to keep their cloud deployments secure:
- Cloud-native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP). This technology provides comprehensive data protection to multi-cloud environments, helping security teams embed security into the earliest stages of the cloud-hosted application development process.
- Security Information and Event Management (SIEM). Your SIEM plays an important role capturing and analyzing log data from cloud-hosted applications. This can provide early warning when threat actors compromise cloud assets or use them to gain access to your network.
- Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM). This is a set of best practices for managing risks associated with public cloud infrastructure. It reduces the risk of suffering data breaches by automating the detection and remediation of misconfigurations.
- Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP). This security tool detects and mitigates threats inside cloud-hosted environments. It inspects cloud applications for vulnerabilities, system failures, and active exploits.
Entrust Novawatch with Your Organization’s Cloud Security Needs
Novawatch offers managed cloud security as a comprehensive service for organizations that demand visibility and control over their cloud deployments. We help IT leaders accurately manage cloud risk, maintain network security, and extend compliance to cloud-hosted workloads.
Our team of highly experienced security specialists uses industry-leading technology like Check Point CloudGuard and Rapid7 InsightCloudSec to ensure the security and integrity of cloud-hosted applications and workloads. Find out how we can help you meet your cloud security goals.
