Achieve Robust Cloud Security in 2023 With Privileged Access Management
Cloud computing has become an essential component of the modern business world. As organisations have been moving their applications, data, and infrastructure to the cloud, ensuring that they are secure has become crucial, which is where cloud security, a fundamental aspect of cloud architecture, comes into play.
Cloud Architecture – An Overview
Cloud architecture refers to the design and structure of a cloud computing environment. It encompasses the networking infrastructure, security protocols, and management tools that enable organisations to deploy and run applications and services in the cloud.
The architecture of a cloud environment is usually divided into several layers:
Infrastructure Layer: This layer includes the physical and virtual resources needed to support cloud computing, such as servers, storage devices, network equipment, and data centres. Cloud computing providers offer infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which provides organisations with on-demand access to these resources.
Platform Layer: This layer provides tools and frameworks that enable developers to build and deploy applications in the cloud. It includes databases, middleware, and application servers. Cloud computing providers offer Platform as a Service (PaaS), which allows developers to build and deploy applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
Application Layer: This layer includes the applications and services that run on top of the cloud infrastructure and platform layers. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications like Salesforce and Dropbox are examples of services provided at this layer.
Needless to say, cloud computing has revolutionised the way we store and access data. But it has also emphasised the importance of securing the cloud.
What is Cloud Security, and Why is There a Need for it?
Cloud security refers to the practices and technologies used to protect data, applications, and infrastructure in cloud computing environments.
In this day and age, any enterprise that leverages the benefits of cloud computing needs advanced cloud security protocols and the latest tools in place not just to meet the frequency and speed of cloud deployment but also to eliminate the detrimental impact of targeted cyber attacks.
Did You Know?
According to a recent report, over 80% of organisations have experienced a security incident since 2021?
Some of the recent security breaches include big names like:
– LinkedIn – In 2021, LinkedIn fell victim to a data scraping breach, affecting 700 million LinkedIn profiles. The scraped data posted on a dark web forum included phone numbers, email addresses, geolocation records, and other social media details.
– Accenture – In August 2021, Accenture suffered a cloud security breach when it was attacked by hackers connected to the LockBit ransomware group. The hackers stole and leaked proprietary corporate data and breached the organisation’s customers’ systems. The group claimed to have stolen six terabytes of data, demanding a $50 million ransom.
– Cognyte – In June 2021, Cognyte, a cyber analytics firm, failed to secure its database, exposing 5 billion records that detailed previous data incidents.
And these are just some of the many cyber attacks on the cloud in recent times. With many businesses and individuals relying on cloud-based services, cloud security has become a top concern for IT professionals and organisations, especially with its many associated risks.
Vulnerabilities and Risks Associated with Cloud Computing
While cloud computing may offer advantages like scalability, accessibility, cost-savings, and flexibility, it comes with many vulnerabilities and risks.
As an organisation, here are some of the cloud security challenges to be mindful of:
Lack of Cloud Security Strategies
The lack of a cloud security strategy limits the effectiveness of your cloud architecture. It is important to note that securing cloud resources is a shared responsibility between the cloud service provider and the organisation. Moreover, failing to meet the pre-defined security goals results in breaches and fines and costly workarounds, refactoring, and migrating.
Insider Threats
Insider threats are a significant cloud security risk. Employees with access to sensitive data can accidentally or intentionally leak it, causing significant damage to the organisation. Additionally, employees who leave the organisation on bad terms may retain access to cloud resources to cause some trouble out of spite or frustration, putting the company at risk.
Misconfigurations
According to the NSA, misconfiguration is the most common cloud security risk. Cloud misconfigurations refer to any errors, gaps, or glitches in the design or construction of cloud resources, leaving your systems vulnerable to outages, downtime, and cyber attacks.
Unauthorised Access
An organisation’s cloud-based deployments are outside the network perimeter as opposed to its on-premises infrastructure, making it directly accessible from the internet. While this may bode well for the employees and customers, it can be a terrible cloud security risk; this remote access makes it easier for a threat actor to gain unauthorised access to the company’s cloud-based resources due to compromised credentials or improper configuration.
Lack of Visibility
Whether you’re dealing with public or hybrid cloud environments, ensuring visibility and control of your cloud deployments is essential. The lack of visibility in cloud computing can mean a loss of control over critical aspects of data security and IT management. It is one of the most crucial cloud security challenges as it affects the organisation’s ability to verify the efficacy of its security controls, enact incident response plans, and adequately assess information about its data, services, and users.
Unsecured APIs
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are meant to expand cloud computing capabilities by connecting one application with others. However, if left unsecured, APIs can open lines of communication for threat actors to exploit cloud resources. Developers often create APIs without proper authentication controls. As a result, these APIs are completely open to the internet, and anyone can use them to access enterprise data and systems.
Third-Party Breach
Whenever organisations share data with third parties, their attack surface increases, putting cloud security at risk. A larger attack surface is challenging to manage, making it more likely to miss a critical vulnerability. Many organisations ignore assessing third parties altogether to avoid the time-consuming, labour-intensive process of evaluating third-party risk.
Compliance
As soon as you make use of cloud-based services, cloud compliance issues arise. By moving your data out to the cloud, you are forced to closely assess how it will be kept so that you are in compliance with laws and industry regulations.
With challenges galore, the question arises – how should my organisation go about when it comes to implementing the best practices as it pertains to cloud security?
Elements of Cloud Security – Best Practices:
Here are some best practices pertaining to cloud security:
- Secure Access to the Cloud with Strong Password Management: To reduce the risk of credential theft, consider enhancing password management in your organisation.
- Use of Multi-Layered Authentication: Strong authentication, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), adds a layered approach to securing data and applications wherein the system requires a user to present a combination of two or more ways to verify their identity for login.
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): A significant aspect of cloud security – RBAC is an access control model that uses the Principle of Least Privilege (POLP). It limits access to cloud resources based on a user’s role and responsibilities, meaning users should only have access to data necessary to perform their job. This helps reduce the risk of unauthorised access to sensitive data.
- Just-in-Time (JIT) Access: Extending the idea of RBAC, organisations can also go for Just-in-Time access, wherein the privileges are automatically revoked once the job is done, thereby boosting cloud security.
- Better Visibility with Session Monitoring: Monitoring cloud resources for security threats is another essential aspect of cloud security. Always monitor your employees’ activity to increase transparency and secure your organisation’s cloud infrastructure. By watching what the individual is doing, you will be able to detect early signs of cloud account compromise or an insider threat.
- Ensure You Meet Compliance Requirements: Understand which standards pertain to your industry and the ones your organisation must meet.
Leverage Sectona PAM for Cloud Security
Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a critical component of cloud security that helps organisations manage and monitor access to critical resources and sensitive data. PAM solutions can help enforce the least privileged access, limit access to essential resources, and monitor privileged user activities.
In line with the above-mentioned best practices for cloud security, Sectona PAM offers the following:
– An automated password management system that securely stores passwords in an encrypted vault and rotates it periodically.
– Lock down access to critical privileged accounts by dynamically enabling/disabling or elevating privileged access with built-in provisioning/de-provisioning.
– In-built MFA capabilities for all access layers
– Real-time session recording & post-activity recorded session logs of all privileged activities with risk-profiling & behaviour-based analytics for enhanced audit.
– Compliance with industry-specific laws and regulations.
Additionally, Sectona PAM allows you to further enhance cloud security by unifying all your IT infrastructure over a single console and portal for internal and vendor users.
What To Do Next?
Implementing a comprehensive security strategy that includes best practices of cloud security along with a robust PAM solution can help organisations protect their data, applications, and infrastructure in the cloud and reduce the risk of security breaches.
Reach out to us today to see how Sectona can help you protect your cloud environments from modern-day security threats.