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.

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.

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.

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 cloud security 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.