What is cloud security?

Cloud security solutions are deployed much like the tools used to protect physical hardware. The key difference is that they are also managed and deployed remotely. The responsibility for data protection is shared among the cloud provider and the customer. The former provider must ensure the security of their hardware setup and access rules, while the latter should take care of storage encryption and various security policies configurations.

This is one of the key reasons why cloud security is thought to be much harder to maintain than on-premises models. As there are more involved parties, this also means that something crucial could be overlooked. Not to mention that relying on external providers takes much visibility and control away from the client.

Why is cloud security important?

Organizations heavily rely on cloud computing for a lot of their day-to-day operations. The dynamic nature of cloud-based infrastructure provides many great opportunities for businesses aiming to reap benefits when pursuing their business goals. As the potential is great, businesses that find ways to tame cloud computing can overcome many IT challenges.

However, as cloud computing is still new territory for most businesses, the risks associated with keeping your data externally are more prominent. As the arrangement between a cloud provider entails, each client is responsible for the safety of its data. Therefore, each organization has to consider how to approach cloud security for its unique business case.

Cybersecurity always requires active input from an organization. Otherwise, they risk attracting unwanted attention from hackers specifically targeting cloud networks. Therefore, cloud computing security is relevant regardless of your organization's size or industry.

How does cloud security work?

Cloud security helps organizations by providing various controls to protect against threats to data applications and cloud systems. As cloud computing platforms are a go-to solution for most businesses, the threats targeting businesses are frequently directed at the cloud. Incorporating the shared responsibility model, cloud security mandates a collaborative effort between the cloud service provider (CSP) and the customer:

• CSP's responsibility: secure the cloud-based infrastructure, ensuring the foundational platforms, computing power, and storage are protected against threats.
• Customer's responsibility: secure data and applications "in" the cloud, including configuring access controls, managing identities, and applying data encryption.
  
  

Therefore, cloud security solutions help businesses in several ways:

• Increase transparency. It's much easier to secure an organization when both parties know their responsibilities.
• Monitoring network status. Knowledge about shared responsibilities helps stop various risks in their tracks.
• Increases security layer. The CSP and the customer work together to secure sensitive information against unauthorized access.
• Enforces stronger identity management. Clarifying responsibilities helps in implementing effective access requirements.
• Aligns security to compliance requirements. Understanding the demarcation of responsibilities aids in meeting security standards.
  
  

This shared responsibility model is crucial for building a resilient cloud security strategy, ensuring a well-defined division of tasks that enhances overall security posture.

Types of Cloud Service models

Cloud computing can be delivered as three distinct service models, each providing a unique set of benefits that could serve various business needs.

IaaS

Infrastructure as a service virtually offers the typical components of data center infrastructure like hardware, computing power, storage space, or network resources. The resources are accessed via virtual or private networks and can be quickly put to use by the client. This method solves the problem of maintaining physical hardware for small, medium-sized, and large companies.

SaaS

Software as a service is a license and sales model used to deliver software applications over the public internet. Usage is usually subscription-based. After paying the fee, you're allowed to use the service for a set duration of time. The vendor is the one controlling the entire computing stack. Meanwhile, the user gets to interact directly with software from its endpoint.

PaaS

Platform as a service offers an entire suite of development environment tools. This heavily streamlines the software development process and is useful when creating new applications. This framework instantly provides design, testing, and delivery tools, allowing clients to start working on new projects quickly.

Types of cloud environments

Despite its umbrella term, cloud computing can be set up in multiple ways. It's also important to note that even the same cloud type can be organized differently from one another. Still, each cloud computing type has weaknesses and strengths that could significantly impact your business.

Public clouds

A public cloud is an environment distributed on-demand over the public internet by a service provider. Some public clouds are free for everyone, while others require a subscription or are priced under pay-per-usage models. The largest public cloud providers include Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Entra ID, and IBM Cloud.

Such services help forward-thinking businesses move their workloads externally and easily scale up or down according to their needs. This frees up on-premise network administrators and helps to drive IT costs down. It's much cheaper to use a shared infrastructure managed by a third party than to have the same setup scale in-house.

Private clouds

A private cloud is a cloud environment in which all hardware and software resources are reserved and accessible to a single customer. Often, these environments are protected behind the group's firewall. This creates completely isolated access with no overlaps with other cloud users.

Most companies prefer private cloud setups as it's a much easier way to ensure security and meet compliance requirements. However, one major flaw of this setup is that it isn't as scalable as a public cloud. Private clouds usually are fixed size and can't be upscaled or downscaled at a moment's notice. Additional hardware and software licenses would be necessary to upscale a private cloud.

Hybrid clouds

A hybrid cloud is an environment in which applications run from different sources: cloud and on-premises. This method is the most prominent cloud computing setup, as most businesses get the best of both worlds. Most businesses are using the infrastructure they have built for a long time and expanding it with cloud additions.

Connecting cloud and on-premises environments are usually done with local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), virtual private networks (VPNs), and other methods. The whole setup is managed from an integrated management and orchestration platform.

Multiclouds

Multi clouds are combinations of different cloud types, public or private. This setup is created when different clouds (often from different service providers) are combined by some method of integration or orchestration. This helps to avoid vendor lock-in and create more flexible solutions adapted to specific business needs.

Frequently, such setups are created for one cloud to function as a backup in case of data loss prevention. If some accidents happen, the organization's data could be safely recovered from the backup.

Cloud security threats

Cloud computing introduces unique security threats, amplifying risks due to its inherent complexities and the involvement of multiple stakeholders. Let’s break it down:

• Control challenges. Cloud services extend beyond traditional corporate boundaries, complicating the management of security protocols and reducing direct oversight.
• Multitenancy concerns. In a shared cloud-based infrastructure, a security breach in one tenant's environment can potentially compromise the security of others, illustrating the interconnected risks of cloud computing.
• Shadow IT risks. The proliferation of unauthorized IT setups, especially with BYOD policies, creates vulnerabilities as these setups often bypass official security measures, opening avenues for data exposure.
• Credential theft and DDoS threats. They show the need for strong access controls and proactive measures to mitigate overwhelming traffic that can disable services.
• Ransomware and external breaches. Such attacks endanger data integrity and highlight the crucial shared responsibility between providers and clients in cloud security.
• Weak authentication and API vulnerabilities. Insufficient authentication methods and API insecurities jeopardize sensitive data security.
  
  

Cloud security requires your constant vigilance and a proactive approach. Think of it as regularly checking the locks on your doors. Ensuring your cloud configurations are tight, using strong authentication methods, and securing API access are essential steps. These measures help guard against the diverse threats in cloud environments, aiming to maintain a secure digital space. Read more about cloud security threats, risks & vulnerabilities.

Main benefits of cloud security

Cloud security benefits organizations in several ways:

• Helps to prevent cyber attacks. Cloud security acts as a shield against hackers, thwarting potential attacks before they cause harm.
• Improves data security. Advanced encryption and threat detection safeguard sensitive information from unauthorized access.
• Facilitates cloud maintenance. Continuous monitoring and support by cloud providers enhance the reliability of cloud services.
• Faster recovery. Enables quicker organization and execution of recovery strategies following a data breach, reducing downtime.
• Regulatory compliance. Essential for businesses needing to meet strict compliance standards, cloud security supports adherence to regulations.
• Streamlined access management. Precisely controls user access rights and monitors activity to swiftly identify and mitigate threats.
• Centralized security controls. Simplifies management of security measures, reducing the risk of errors and boosting operational efficiency.
• Enhanced visibility and control. Provides comprehensive oversight across cloud environments, improving response to security incidents.
• Customizable security features. Allows organizations to tailor security settings to their specific needs, enhancing protection.
• Scalability and flexibility. Security measures can be adjusted as organizational needs evolve, ensuring continued protection against new threats.
• Quick deployment. Cloud-based security solutions can be rapidly deployed, swiftly extending protection to new business areas.
• Cost efficiency. Reduces the need for extensive on-premise security infrastructure, lowering overall IT security expenditures.

Types of cloud security solutions

Several cloud security solution types are available, each suited to a particular task. Here, we discuss four primary examples, though the full landscape of solutions is broader.

Identity and access management (IAM)

Identity and access management (IAM) is a business processes framework that facilitates policies and technologies for digital identity management. IT managers can use IAM to control how an organization's resources are accessed. IAM creates digital identities for each user, which facilitates their monitoring and restrictions.

Data loss prevention (DLP)

Data loss prevention (DLP) is a set of tools and processes used to ensure the safety of business data. It uses various tools like data encryption, preventative measures, and remediation alerts to protect the data in transit or at rest.

Security information and event management (SIEM)

Security information and event management (SIEM) is a security management approach to orchestrate an organization's IT security. It uses various information and event management tools to create a single dashboard using AI to correlate data across multiple platforms. This allows one to easily have a full panoramic view of the organization's security.

Business continuity and disaster recovery

Business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) tools provide organizations with tools, services, and protocols to restore an organization after an accident. These services help organizations to reduce the risk of data loss and reputational harm and improve ongoing business operations.

Cloud security tools

Here are some of the specific tools used for securing the cloud:

• Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPPs) — a security system designed to protect workloads
• Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) — an intermediary between cloud customers and cloud service enforcing security policies
• Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) — a collection of security tools facilitating monitoring and misconfiguration detection
• Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) — a convergence of various security and networking tools, making network security management easier
  
  

Finally, numerous additions like IAM web services, DLP tools, and other security tools help cloud users.

How to secure the cloud

Here are some tips on how you could better secure your cloud information.

• Encryption. Encryption should be used for communication channels and permanent storage. That way, the data is inaccessible in transit and when your server is breached.
• Secure configurations. Following through with good hygiene of cybersecurity services management. This entails changing default passwords and learning more about the cloud provider's security controls.
• Use strong passwords. No security setup will help if your users reuse the same passwords. Strong passwords lift the organization's entry bar, making it harder to penetrate.
• Restrict permissions. They shouldn't be granted unless permissions aren't required to perform a specific job role. While this seems restrictive, this also helps to prevent a lot of cybersecurity risks.
  
  

Finally, for the users relying on third-party providers, it cannot be understated how crucial it is to analyze the terms of service conditions. A clear division of responsibilities will help to ensure that there are no grey zones that could be exploited. It's a crucial document helping to understand your current setup's weaknesses and what steps could be taken to make amends to its setup.