Cloud Security

Cloud security is designed to protect online data, apps, and platforms through a collection of technologies, controls, policies and procedures. When migrating to the cloud or embracing it after a migration, the agreed and implemented security principles will help protect businesses from data breaches, ransomware, and other cyber security threats. 

Organisations can benefit from adopting cloud security services that align with their risk appetite and compliance needs. With the help of managed cloud security services, businesses can ensure continuous protection without overloading internal teams.

While cloud is typically seen as more secure than traditional on-premise solutions, there are still some risks that typically arise due to lack of governance or design flaws which organisations should be aware of. These include:  

• Weak authentication measures – using only passwords or pins instead of MFS  

• Misconfigurations – public access or allowing access to more users than necessary  

• Poorly implemented architecture – this could leave sensitive information open to attack threats  

• Shadow IT – unapproved tools and apps installed by users  

• Data breaches – cloud misconfigurations or lack of runtime protection could leave data vulnerable  

• Human error – lack of strong controls and training for users   

While these risks can be significant, they can be effectively mitigated by ensuring you have a cloud security strategy in place that prevents and detects each type of threat. Leveraging secure cloud services is a critical step toward proactive risk management.

Cloud security refers to a selection of tools and procedures that can be different for every business, so while it’s difficult to say exactly how it typically works, Zero Trust is the strong foundation it’s built on. However, the main constant for all businesses when it comes to cloud security is the fact that every strategy is designed to protect assets and ensure only authorised users can access the information stored in the cloud.   

The cloud security tools and strategies used by organisations can include:  

• Zero Trust architectures and least privilege access tied to the user identity  

• Data protection and recovery  

• Encryption in transit and at rest  

• Threat intelligence, prevention, detection, and response  

• Next-generation firewalls and network security  

• Advanced AI SIEM and SOAR capabilities such as Microsoft Sentinel  

Additionally, public cloud providers must audit against many advertised industry standards including ISO, PCI DSS, SOC and Cyber Essentials Plus. Combined with a robust cloud security strategy, this ensures your cloud environment is in safe hands.

Implementing cloud security can involve many different and detailed steps depending on your organisation and your business goals. However, there are a few steps that are commonly found in most cloud security services strategies. These include:  

Identify objectives – this ensures your cloud security and compliance strategy is aligned with your business goals so that security controls can be put in place to meet them. Your security posture should benefit your organisation without detriment to the user experience.  

Adopt a proven cloud security framework – a strong cloud MSSP such as Nasstar can work with you to design a security strategy that is both complete and flexible. It should detail who is responsible for what in your security implementation with objectives for each phase.  

Define your cloud security architecture – this is a set of tools, methods and principles that translate your business needs into security requirements. Building this roadmap ensures you have the right people, processes, and technology in place to meet the needs of your risk appetite. Cloud security architecture also ensures you are compliant and can include the addition of SASE and a Zero Trust model.  

Build a threat model – understanding the threats posed specifically to your business can help you build a model that mitigates them. This includes identifying the assets to protect, who will be interacting with them, what data is transmitted, how users interact with assets and what action can be taken to mitigate the identified risks.  

Working with a provider of managed cloud security services can streamline the implementation and long-term upkeep of these practices.

Cloud security isn’t a one-time thing, it’s a constantly evolving element of your cloud strategy and will need to be continually maintained and improved. Working with a knowledgeable secure cloud services provider can help you maintain and improve your organisation’s security posture, with some best practices including:  

• Identity & Access Management (IAM)  

• Threat monitoring and detection  

• Careful user access management  

• Comprehensive off-boarding process  

• Regular security training for employees  

• Data awareness and protection  

• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)  

• Securing workloads  

• Continuous cloud security posture management  

• Pervasive visibility and monitoring  

• Adopting a cloud-native mindset 

As technology advances and more businesses evolve using the cloud, it’s important to ensure security strategies are in place to protect against the most common threats to cloud security. Some of the key threats and mitigation steps include:  

Misconfigurations – these are a leading cause of data breaches. Organisations can mitigate this risk by knowing who has access to what and regularly reviewing permissions, establishing baseline configurations, regularly auditing configurations, and using change monitoring to detect suspicious changes.  

Data theft and loss – data breaches can be hugely damaging for businesses. To mitigate this risk, organisations can develop company-wide cloud usage and permission policies, implement MFA and data access governance, enable central logging, implement data discovery, classification, and data loss prevention, and enable user behaviour analytics.   

Insider threats – without visibility into user and admin activity, companies can come under threat from employees, contractors, suppliers or even partners who may access data inappropriately. To mitigate this, organisations can de-provision access to resources when personnel changes occur, implement data discovery and classification, monitor privileged users, and implement user behaviour analytics.  

Denial of Service attacks – a DoS attack can make it impossible for a service to be delivered. To ensure this doesn’t pose a significant risk, businesses can secure the network infrastructure with a web application firewall, implement content filtering, and use load balancing.   

Malware – this can seriously compromise data security and should be taken seriously. To mitigate this risk, businesses can use antivirus solutions, comprehensive data backups, regular employee training, advanced web application firewalls and constant activity monitoring.