Tips to Maintain Cloud Security in a Company

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As companies move their operations to cloud computing platforms, they have to deal with the cybersecurity threats that will inevitably come their way. Cybercriminals frequently target businesses that use cloud platforms because they can make a profit from stealing and leaking their confidential information. Fortunately, there are cloud security measures companies can take to protect themselves against these threats.

It is worth noting that cloud security is not a one-time thing. Companies have to keep implementing necessary safeguards to prevent attacks in a process called Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM).

Cloud Security Posture Management Explained

CSPM is the continuous practice of assessing and monitoring the security posture of a cloud system to detect misconfigurations and vulnerabilities in the system. If left unchecked, cybercriminals can exploit these lapses to gain authorized access to the system and wreak havoc. These attacks can result in data breaches, data leaks, DDoS, malware infections, and business disruptions.

The business consequences of these malicious acts are often severe. For example, data leaks can result in non-compliance with data privacy laws, leading to fines, sanctions, and lawsuits. This is why CPSM is a necessity. The process lets cybersecurity professionals find the blind spots within a cloud system and proactively tackle security risks.

What Causes Cloud Misconfigurations

Cloud platforms are complex and contain many moving parts, making them difficult to manage. They are often integrated with various third-party software via an application programming interface (API). These can create security gaps if the companies using the cloud platform do not understand how each component connects to the other.

Misconfigurations can also occur when companies do not implement access controls properly, allowing employees to access sensitive business information unrelated to their job role. Cybersecurity professionals use CPSM tools to spot and resolve these misconfigurations.

Functions of CSPM Tools

Companies use cloud security posture management tools to do the following:

1. Ensure their cloud system is configured according to government data privacy regulations and ISO security frameworks.
2. Scan their cloud computing platform for non-compliant settings, misconfigurations, and other vulnerabilities.
3. Keep a list of best practices they can use to regularly evaluate their cloud security posture.
4. Automatically remediate misconfigurations and other security lapses.
5. Monitor the cloud system to detect threats in real-time.

Cloud Security Best Practices

In addition to using CSPM tools to safeguard their cloud platforms, companies can adopt the following best practices to protect themselves:

Use Identity management and access control

Organizations should use identity management to ensure their cloud system verifies the identities of their employees before granting them access. They should also institute access control to restrict the privileges each employee has in the system.

Keep security logs

Security logs keep a detailed record of user activities within a cloud system, so cybersecurity personnel can trace the cause of any security incident that occurs.

Educate employees

Everyone in a company should play their role in securing the cloud system. Business owners should educate their employees on the importance of cloud security and train them to keep the platform secure.

Endnote

Cloud security posture management is essential to companies that operate on cloud platforms. It helps them prevent cyberattacks by continuously detecting misconfigurations and vulnerabilities in the system. CSPM also allows them to detect threats in real-time and ensure they are compliant with data privacy regulations.