Securing your cloud and your transition to cloud

THE CLOUD SECURITY TOOLKIT FOR A BREEZY MIGRATION & SAFE INFRASTRUCTURE

If your enterprise is planning an on-premise to cloud migration, whether it’s to a multi-cloud, public cloud, or hybrid cloud infrastructure, then it’s about to undergo one of the biggest technology shifts a company will face. So it’s important to be armed with the tools you need for a secure transition, and if you’re already operating on the cloud, you need to be aware of the latest cloud security practices to protect your existing infrastructure. While cloud migration has become indispensable to digital transformation, many cybersecurity professionals still express concerns about cloud computing security, especially the public cloud.

According to CloudPassage’s 2021 AWS Cloud Security Report, 95% of cybersecurity professionals confirmed they are extremely to moderately concerned about public cloud security. Additionally, the top cloud computing security threats that cybersecurity professionals are facing include the misconfiguration of cloud platforms (71%), exfiltration of sensitive data (59%), and insecure APIs (54%).

These concerns are not in vain. IDC’s 2021 State of Cloud Security Report showed that 79% of companies in the survey reported a cloud data breach in the last 18 months. If you don’t want your enterprise to become a part of this statistic, then you need to implement cybersecurity best practices to secure your cloud storage.

DEPLOY AN IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT SOLUTION

Unauthorised access was the fourth most significant threat to public cloud security identified in CloudPassage’s report. With every new attack, hackers develop more sophisticated methods of getting access to sensitive data. Thus, the need for high-quality identity and access management (IAM) solutions becomes more critical to maintaining cloud data security.

The ideal IAM solution would allow your organisation to implement access policies based on the principle of least privilege (POLP). These policies should also include role-based access controls and multi-factor authentication. MFA could reduce the risk of threat actors getting access to sensitive data, even if they succeed at stealing usernames and passwords. In fact, MFA can stop more than 99.9% of account compromise attacks by adding an additional security layer and barrier that is extremely difficult for attackers to get past. This is why it’s indispensable to cloud network security.

Additionally, businesses might want to search for an IAM solution that operates in hybrid environments that include cloud deployments and private data centres. Doing so will simplify authentication for end users, and security personnel will find it easier to ensure that they are implementing consistent regulations throughout all IT environments for optimal cloud data security.

SECURE ENDPOINTS FOR BETTER CLOUD NETWORK SECURITY

The gold standard for endpoint security has always been a defence-in-depth (DiD) approach that combines firewalls, anti-malware, intrusion detection, and access control. However, the range of endpoint security issues has grown so large that it is now necessary to use automation solutions to secure your cloud storage. In a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute, 68% of organisations faced one or more endpoint attacks that successfully compromised their data and/or IT infrastructure. With that in mind, endpoint protection platforms (EPP) and/or endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools can be useful tools to consider.

ENCRYPT DATA IN MOTION AND AT REST FOR OPTIMAL CLOUD DATA PROTECTION

Encryption is part and parcel of cloud data security. However, your organisation’s data should not only be encrypted on public cloud storage but also during migration, when it could be most vulnerable to attacks. Experts recommend opting for an encryption tool that fits seamlessly with existing work processes, so that end users wouldn’t need to take additional actions to comply with encryption policies. This makes having encrypted cloud storage even more convenient.

USE INTRUSION DETECTION AND PREVENTION SYSTEMS

Intrusion prevention and detection systems (IDPS) are some of the most reliable cloud security solutions out there. Whether you’re using an on-premise or public cloud environment, IDPS solutions will monitor, analyse and respond to network traffic across both environments. Capable of detecting protocol-based, signature-based, and anomaly-based threats, IDPS tools add these threats to a log, then send alerts for unusual activity, and block threats to give admins enough time to take action. IDPS solutions are the key to detecting initial signs of a sophisticated attack and monitoring your network 24/7, which is essential for cloud network security.

CONDUCT PENETRATION TESTING & SECURITY AUDITS

All organisations must conduct penetration testing to determine whether current cloud security procedures provide adequate protection for data and applications. On top of that, regular security audits are necessary for maintaining cloud computing security. This includes auditing access logs to make sure that only the authorised users can access sensitive data and applications on the cloud. Offensive security practices and frequent audits are key to ensuring a secure cloud environment.

APPLY SECURE DevOps

Many organisations have already applied a DevOps approach as a part of their cloud migration process. However, Secure DevOps (also known as “SecDevOps” or “continuous security”) takes it a step further by integrating the standard DevOps approach with security reviews, security controls implementation, and deployment of security technologies. SecDevOps achieves this integration by automating security services across the entire development cycle and then making them available through APIs. Thus, it shortens deployment timelines and reduces risk by enhancing all the categories of cloud security controls.

DON’T KEEP YOUR HEAD UP IN THE CLOUDS

While the list of cloud security best practices is exhaustive, it helps organisations stay on top of digital transformation and ensures safe migration and maintenance. Following these guidelines will help you reap the numerous benefits of cloud computing while laying your doubts to rest. Scalability, cost reduction, and reliability are among the many advantages that your organisation can easily harness with secure cloud storage.

BUILD YOUR CLOUD SECURITY ARSENAL AT BLACK HAT MEA

Want to get hands-on cybersecurity training and network with CISOs from the world’s leading tech companies? Then join us at Black Hat MEA, the region’s largest cybersecurity conference that brings together elite ethical hackers and thousands of visitors to deliver global-scale cybersecurity courses and speeches to help you stay ahead of dark criminal networks. Black Hat MEA is organised in coordination with the SAFCSP to bolster Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision toward a more digitally-empowered future.