Top 5 Cloud Security Controls You Should Be Using

Cloud Security Control: This is a set of security controls that guards cloud environments against susceptibility and shrinks the effects of malicious assault.

A far-flung term, cloud security control comprises all the finest guidelines, procedures, and practices that have to be executed in order to secure cloud environments. Cloud security controls assist organizations to implement, evaluate and deal with cloud security.

In cloud computing, a cloud service provider hosts an organization’s application on its servers and makes them accessible over the internet. The software that is present on the premises is deployed on the organization’s servers.

As cloud computing varies from an on-premises deployment; it’s fair to expect that cloud security will vary too. Before organizations migrate to the cloud, it’s vital for them to understand how cloud security is different from data security. It is also critical for organizations to execute security controls once they are done with the migration.

When companies make this huge shift to the cloud, they often become hyper-focused on saving costs, superior scalability, and amplified agility they wish to see as a result of their cloud adoption.

Honestly, cloud security is an entirely new ballgame, with a whole new set of risks. In order to keep the data secure, safe, and compliant in this new environment, the IT team must take the following actions:-

1. Make sure that they have the emplacement of accurate security capabilities based on the cloud solutions.
2. Also, ensure that these solutions are attuned with the elsewhere deployed security across the distributed network. 

Critical cloud security controls that one should not overlook:-

For IT teams managing the move to the cloud, below are five important features to address while deploying cloud security controls. By executing these controls one can make the most of customer-centricity and DevOps agility without compromising on the compliance and security that they require.

1. Centralized picture of the cloud infrastructure:

The requisites of Cloud security control comprise centralized visibility of user activity, security policies, and configuration settings as well as the hidden risks in the online data stores. This diminishes the possibility of your security team missing vulnerability in the cloud security because of any misconfigurations or misplaced anomalous activity that might signify an attack.

As the configuration settings of different clouds vary, it is crucial to get visibility across all instances. In order to curtail these types of risks, it is crucial for security teams to have centralized visibility of their cloud infrastructure. CWP which is also called the Cloud Workload Protection tool can assist in this task. They amalgamate firmly in the cloud security and management systems. 

With the help of these tools, security teams can assess and monitor the overall security bearing of the cloud environment and also check the configuration status of the current service. As the configuration monitoring is automated, the IT teams can swiftly respond to security misconfigurations, consequently reinforcing security while curbing the time it takes to implement the fixes.

The key essentials of platform security tools and effective workload protection comprise of:

1. Analysis of Traffic
2. Inspecting data stored in the cloud to identify malicious or sensitive content.
3. Frequent assessments and configuration monitoring.
4. Commendation on improving vulnerable areas of the cloud environment.
5. Appropriate alerts in case of configuration issues.
6. Identify the compliance issues caused because of misconfiguration.

2. Indigenous amalgamation into cloud management and security systems

Contrasting to data- centers, cloud computing works on a shared-responsibility model where some security settings are controlled by the public cloud vendor and others by the customer.

In order to get a clear picture of your security position across clouds, there needs to be a close synchronization between the cloud environment and the Cloud Workload Protection solution. This requires integration of API –level tools like VPC Flow logs and Amazon Inspector and Guard-Duty for AWS; Security Center for Azure and Flow Drivers and Stack Event for Google Cloud Platform.

Software as a Service customer also requires a CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) solution that amalgamates profoundly with the SaaS service to spot risks and configuration-related issues to the Software as a Service in use.

3. Protection of the web application layer 

Added security gaps open up when it’s not obvious as to who is accountable for shielding the cloud infrastructure. Your organization is accountable for the security of the data stored there as well as for the security of all the applications deployed on the cloud. Cloud providers take accountability of the infrastructure only. 

To best accomplish their role in the shared-responsibility model, your company needs to coast up web security using web application firewalls. Detection of threats for applications differs when applications run on the cloud rather than on-premises. Controlling the access of precise IP addresses won’t work with cloud-deployed apps.

In this case, threat detection is to be done within the content of the application, not the traffic. This requires constant grainy adjustments which cannot be done manually.

4. Automation of security

Because of the cyber-security skills gap, the current state of the cyber-security field is not enough to wrap the entire enterprise requirements in the 21st century. There is a huge demand for cyber-security individuals, and existing DevOps teams have a huge gap in skills that leave enterprises vulnerable to an extensive range of threats.

Till the industry can keep pace with the enterprise demands and requirements for a superior and proficient pool of talent, Security architects are motivated to help companies automate their security functions wherever possible.

The current approach right now is the use of plug-ins that provide administrators with better visibility into multi-vendor ecosystems, that facilitate automation and simplifies the management process. Whenever there are changes in an application, the development, and IT teams can stay up to date without updating their security policies every time an application is modified.

5. Intelligent threat feeds

The complexity of your cloud environment makes it more susceptible to threats. Utmost cloud security is derived from a widespread solution that places every cloud service your organization employs under one umbrella.

A high-quality solution should include dynamic threat intelligence feeds that consist of a profound intelligence of both local and global security events. When you select cloud security controls, hunt for providers that have solutions that are conversant by the information gathered across all of their installed sensors.

Conclusion:

As cloud adoption increases, ponder deeply about the cloud security controls you plan to implement in order to minimize the complexity. WeSecureApp aims to provide all cutting-edge features in the cloud security that you need. Learn more