Detecting and Eliminating Cloud Security Blind Spots

For both businesses and threat actors that target them, enterprise cloud adoption presents a slew of benefits, challenges, and opportunities. Even seasoned users of cloud infrastructure and services can learn a few things about strengthening security.

The number of enterprise security incidents has risen in tandem with the growth of cloud-based workloads. The rapid shift to a remote model has posed significant issues for the IT team in terms of ensuring safe remote access. Another major drawback of the rise in cloud adoption is that many businesses are unwittingly exposing sensitive data to the Internet. This could contain Intellectual Property (IP), Personally Identifying Information (PII), as well as financial and healthcare information. Data leaks not only damage a company’s reputation, but they also cause serious regulatory compliance challenges.

Another serious problem has arisen as a result of the rapid expansion of the cloud. The overnight shift to remote working has prompted many enterprise users to turn to Shadow IT, without the knowledge of the IT department.

Safeguarding sensitive data in the cloud is much more crucial nowadays, as there is no physical barrier or control over who has access. Attackers can acquire access to confidential information or Intellectual Property if the security of a cloud service is breached in any way.

Avoiding cloud security blind spots

Lack of knowledge, misconfigurations, rash decisions, and ignoring cloud security responsibilities are all common mistakes among enterprises working in the cloud. Here’s how they can avoid them. 

Asset management

Asset visibility is critical since risks are estimated based on assets. In most multi-cloud setups, asset visibility is generally limited in the absence of a central platform to handle and monitor assets. Due to its unmanaged nature, architectural complexities can result in hidden assets, resulting in an even bigger attack surface.

Also Read: Four Ways Organizations can Address Cloud Security Risks

Security checks at the code level

Code-level security checks are an effective measure in finding application-related security concerns before they are delivered to production as data moves via the cloud environment. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) can also help companies avoid network and privilege concerns by combining best practises in infrastructure with the usage of DevOps technologies. However, IaC should be properly verified to avoid any insecure configurations that may result.

Preventing data leaks

IT teams should ensure that systems are hardened according to best practises and that principle of least privilege is followed to prevent data leakage. Attacks can still happen owing to human error, even with network and system segmentation and regular monitoring. Automation tools, however, can help to reduce this.

Leverage native cloud security tools

Vendor-specific security hardening is available from major cloud vendors and can be utilized for system hardening and continuous monitoring. While using native cloud tools can help to reduce blind spots to some extent, they only protect a portion of the system. Furthermore, they make no assurances about the security of multi-cloud architectures.

Bringing down cloud security blind spots

All parties concerned must work together to achieve security maturity. However, even if all of the above tips are followed, enterprises won’t be able to completely eradicate cloud blind spots. A successful cybersecurity workflow includes identifying and prioritizing essential assets, ensuring workforce is appropriately trained and working in a collaborative atmosphere, and tracking the progress of multiple teams.