Cloud Security

Comprehensive Guide to Cloud Security

Cloud security is a prime example that with every expansion in technology comes an equal (or greater) increase in risks and challenges.

Cloud computing, where data, apps, and computing resources are stored in third-party “cloud” data centers rather than on-site servers, can make digital resources more accessible than ever. Clouds offer quick, easy, affordable, and scalable access to whatever IT needs, helping companies embrace technology and undergo digital transformation without as much heavy lifting as in-house.

Now, almost everyone operates in the cloud; 98% of companies use cloud services in some capacity, and nearly half (47%) are pursuing a cloud-first strategy. As more assets have migrated to the cloud, however, more cyber attacks have, too. Most companies (80%) have seen a drastic uptick in cloud-related attacks, and 44% report falling victim at least once. Not only are these attacks succeeding more often, they are also causing more damage and disruption given the cloud is becoming the centerpiece of modern business.

Attacks on the cloud are inevitable, and as companies increasingly rely on multiple clouds, risk management becomes a much bigger burden. That explains why cloud security is growing faster than any other segment of cybersecurity. Keep your clouds secure without inflating costs, compromising compliance, or sacrificing data protection using this easy overview from the cloud security savants at ISOutsource.

In This Guide

• What is Cloud Security?
• What are the top security issues for cloud computing?
• How is cloud security different than typical network security?
• What is the shared responsibility model of cloud security?
• What is cloud security posture management (CSPM)?
• What are the key components of cloud security?
• How does cloud security affect compliance?
• What are some cloud security best practices?
• Cloud Security Made Strong, Simple, and Sustainable

What is Cloud Security?

Cloud security includes everything you do to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of clouds from attacks and accidents. Policies, plans, security tools, and team members all play a role in cloud security, working together to prevent common cybersecurity threats like data breaches, service outages, account hijacking, compliance violations, and numerous others. All cybersecurity measures applied to cloud infrastructure and cloud applications fall under the category of cloud security, whether done in-house or through a managed cloud services provider.

Business continuity increasingly depends on keeping clouds running smoothly, and any interruption can have expensive consequences. The average cloud data breach costs close to $5 million according to IBM, so even relatively minor incidents may take over six figures to resolve. Cloud security makes clouds more resilient against attacks, old and new, while also giving the security teams visibility to see incoming attacks and stop in-progress attacks.

For any company in the cloud, to any degree, cloud security must be a serious consideration and a top priority as part an overall cloud strategy—otherwise, everything that relies on the cloud, IT, or data is at risk. For help aligning cloud security with cloud strategy, lean on the expertise of ISOutsourcing.

What are the Top Security Issues for Cloud Computing?

Clouds are vulnerable in ways that are unique to cloud computing, as well as some that are familiar in all aspects of cybersecurity:

• Shadow IT: When employees change cloud services or use new cloud services without telling anyone the attack surface expands beyond what cloud security can monitor and manage.
• Misconfigurations: Cloud misconfigurations are both common and easy to miss, creating loopholes that attackers can exploit which aren’t being addressed by the security team.
• Data Encryption: Cloud security requires data to be encrypted in motion, at rest, and during runtime, creating a complex set of requirements with room for error.
• Access Controls & Identity Management: Users have anytime, anywhere access to clouds, making it both harder and more important to authenticate access and manage privileges.
• Insecure APIs: APIs create invaluable linkages between cloud resources, but these pipelines lack strong security controls and get targeted by cyber attacks.

How is Cloud Security Different than Typical Network Security?

Network security focuses solely on securing networks. Cloud security combines a focus on securing cloud networks with measures to also protect applications, data, and workloads. In that way, cloud security overlaps with many of the goals and methods associated with network security while adding other priorities.

What is the Shared Responsibility Model of Cloud Security?

Part of what makes cloud security so unique is that cloud users and cloud providers both play a role in fending off attackers.

In what is known as the shared responsibility model, users and providers agree to split security duties, then sign contracts committing to their share. These agreements differ widely depending on the type of cloud resource (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and the individual vendor. In many ways, cloud security starts by diving into the details of these agreements and understanding exactly who does what.

Generally, providers are responsible for security in the cloud itself and all the underlying infrastructure, while providers must secure the data, workloads, and other assets running inside the cloud. It’s a common misconception that cloud providers handle all, most, or the most important aspects of cloud security. Providers are partners in cloud security, and in many ways they make security simpler and stronger, yet users have important responsibilities as well.

Ignoring, neglecting, or misunderstanding those responsibilities is one of the biggest obstacles to cloud security.

What is Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)?

Cloud security is an ongoing process requiring constant additions and adjustments as the cloud environment and threat landscape evolve in response to things like remote work. Making those changes in an organized and consistent way is known as cloud security posture management (CSPM).

Using various tools and techniques, CSPM monitors for common cloud issues like misconfigurations and compliance violations, alerts the security team with context about the issue and remediation requirements, and automates and/or expedites the resolution.

Issues like encryption, authentication, and risk assessment all get more complicated as more IT migrates into clouds. CSPM helps security teams keep the process efficient, comprehensive, and (most importantly) successful at securing clouds from end-to-end. Gartner projects that CSPM spending will more than triple between 2022 and 2027, signaling how important these solutions and strategies have become to cloud security.

What are the Key Components of Cloud Security?

Every cloud security strategy looks different, but all must address these key components:

• Complete Visibility: Security teams must be able to see activity and changes made across all clouds in order to see emerging threats and vulnerabilities. Limited, siloed, or delayed visibility are some of the biggest obstacles to cloud security.
• Exposure Management: Fast-changing clouds can be full of vulnerabilities that security teams need to find and fix before attackers manage to exploit them. They must also be able to prioritize exposures so they address the highest risks first and optimize how they deploy cloud security resources.
• Security Controls: Tools like firewalls and other security controls are necessary to keep threats from entering clouds and accessing sensitive data. Unfortunately, many security controls built for on-premises environments do not translate to public, private, or hybrid clouds.
• Threat Detection: When threats appear outside or inside of clouds, security teams need the ability to detect and analyze them as quickly as possible. Threat detection must extended consistently across all clouds, remain on-guard 24/7/365, and avoid an overload of false alerts.
• Incident Response: Incident response plans and provisions should extend to cloud security so the security team can neutralize attacks more quickly with less damage when attacks bypass other defenses. Don’t assume that clouds are immune to attack or that existing incident response plans will apply effectively to these attacks.

How Does Cloud Security Affect Compliance?

Clouds are often used to store sensitive information, from payment information to medical records, and many different laws and regulations mandate that this data be protected and kept private. Some examples include HIPAA for health information and GDPR for personal data, but there are others that also require cybersecurity, and more coming down the pipeline.

Cloud attacks could potentially put compliance at risk, leading to fines, reputation damage, and lost revenue. Cloud security keep companies compliant, first by putting any required controls and best practices in place, and second by minimizing the frequency and losses of cloud attacks. In other words, compliance isn’t possible without cloud security, and neither is effective risk management or governance, making this facet of cybersecurity an important part of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) initiatives company-wide.

What are Some Cloud Security Best Practices?

Time and testing have shown that cloud security gets stronger when companies follow these best practices:

Practice Zero Trust

Zero trust is the principle of granting the least amount of privileges and access necessary, and authenticating every user before granting access to anything. While zero trust can be difficult to get perfect, applying it where possible greatly reduces the chance of unauthorized access.

Secure Endpoints

Endpoints are the gateway to the cloud, making them a target and pipleine for cloud attacks. Endpoint security and cloud security go hand in hand, but it’s complicated by the fact that new and unfamiliar endpoints without proper security controls frequently need access to clouds.

Write Cloud Security Policies

Policies help users follow best practices and avoid risky behaviors when using cloud applications while also helping companies define their risk tolerance and cloud security strategy. Write these policies with input from diverse stakeholders, then update them according to a defined schedule and process.

Teach and Train Employees

In cloud security, as with all cybersecurity, people are the biggest weaknesses and greatest strength. Teach all users, at all levels, how to use the cloud securely, then offer regular training about new threats, policies, and security practices.

Improve and Adapt

Clouds are designed to be more dynamic than on-premises environments, so it’s logical that cloud security is more dynamic as well. Expect the unexpected and be ready to improvise because cloud security that stays static will quickly lose control of growing clouds and lose the fight against new threats.

Cloud Security Made Strong, Simple, and Sustainable

Cloud security is something every company must take seriously. However, many struggle to find the time, expertise, and resources it takes to secure clouds successfully—especially as the cloud becomes a bigger battlefront.

That’s why so many companies rely on cybersecurity providers to get cloud security right. Not only can they provide and manage all the tools it takes for things like IAM and CSPM, but they can also supply experience, expertise, and monitoring around the clock that scales at the same pace as the cloud.

Something as dynamic as cloud security takes an equally dynamic cybersecurity partner—one like ISOutsource. Contact us to make your cloud(s) a source of strength.