Cloud security incidents can have serious consequences for your business, such as data breaches, service disruptions, compliance violations, and reputational damage. To prevent them, you need to adopt a proactive and comprehensive approach to secure your cloud environment and respond to potential threats. Here are some best practices to help you prevent a cloud security incident.
Before you can prevent a cloud security incident, you need to know where your vulnerabilities and risks are. You should conduct a regular and thorough assessment of your cloud security posture, which includes reviewing your cloud provider's security policies and controls, your own cloud configuration and settings, your data protection and encryption methods, your access management and identity policies, and your cloud security monitoring and auditing tools. You should also identify any gaps or weaknesses in your cloud security posture and prioritize remediation actions.
Firstly; you can NOT prevent ANY incident!! You can successfully respond to it - Yes! You can minimise the damage - Yes! You can learn and be more prepared - Yes! You can implement missing controls - Yes! But you can NOT prevent it from happening! An incident is something "Unforeseen" - So, back to the basics ... 1. Perform an NIST-based "IDENTIFY" exercise on the cloud landscape 2. Inventorize, categorize and classify your cloud assets, services and users 3. Identify your crown jewels - based on asset criticality 4. Record exposure of the assets 5. Perform a risk assessment, and record the known vulnerabilities, gaps and architecture lacunae 6. Implement preventive and detective controls based on your risk appetite 7. Run drills 6. Repeat
Approaching cloud security with a perimeter protection mindset is bound to lead to issues and ineffectiveness as on-prem approaches based on the same model. One should consider a preventive/proactive protection that assumes that breaches and compromises are bound to eventually occur, but the approach ensures that even if they occur data is protected. The novelty of this approach is ensuring that sensitive data remains protected when breaches occur because it is properly encrypted (at generation/ingestion, in addition to encryption at rest of the cloud platform). A remaining risk is securing keys; large scale compromise of decryption keys can be mitigated if they are distributed via threshold cryptography and require MFA to access them.
Total prevention of cloud incidents isn't possible, but minimizing risk and impact is. Regularly assess your security posture, including cloud configurations, data protection, and access management. Identify vulnerabilities and prioritize fixes. Perform NIST-based identification and inventory of cloud assets (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), conduct Business Impact Analysis, and focus on critical assets. Implement preventive and detective controls, and continuously update your strategies based on emerging threats and technologies. Remember, safeguarding cloud environments is not a one-time effort; it is a continuous journey that demands ongoing vigilance. Your commitment to adapting to new threats and evolving technologies is crucial.
The first and foremost thing that is required (once you have policies, standards and guidelines) in order is to have your asset inventory sorted. This includes all components of the cloud that are being used - IaaS, PaaS and SaaS. You can only protect what you can see. The second step will be to conduct Business Impact Analysis(BIA). Find your Crown Jewels, before someone else finds it. Have appropriate security measures deployed against your assets. Hardware (On-premises) that is accessing cloud services. Follow the vendor hardening guidance. Encryption is your best friend, second only to Google search. Follow #ism principles of Govern, Protect, Detect and Respond. Use XDR over antivirus, centralised logging and have tested IRP that works.
Security cannot be comprised using any software till we are aligned with specialized one. Cloud is the future so enhance your team skills. Right Governance can save your soul. Define your requirement and prepare your blueprints. While selecting a right partner see his expertise , you can see Tom , Dick and Harry everywhere in the market claiming high.
A cloud security framework is a set of guidelines and standards that help you design, implement, and maintain a secure cloud environment. It can help you align your cloud security goals and objectives with your business needs and regulatory requirements. It can also help you establish roles and responsibilities, policies and procedures, and metrics and indicators for your cloud security program. Some examples of cloud security frameworks are the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Cloud Controls Matrix, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27017 and 27018 standards.
PCI/CIS/NIST/NIS/Mitre/Diamond etc are fine; but make sure you use tooling that is enabled to use and reuse some of the use-cases in these frameworks so that you can build your own framework serving the needs of what you need to be in cloud! Context output from a Query to a control creating a framework would be preferable !
Implementing a cloud security framework is essential for robust cloud protection. It involves defining roles, setting policies, and establishing performance metrics, aligned with standards such as CSA's Cloud Controls Matrix, NIST's Framework, and ISO 27017/27018. Customize the framework according to your business's nature and risk appetite. Employ proactive measures like firewalls, VPCs, and data classification. Continually update controls and training to adapt to the evolving risk landscape. Focus on mitigating risks effectively rather than striving for unattainable complete elimination, adapting strategies to your organization's financial and technical resources for optimal cloud security management.
Cybersecurity Strategy I Cybersecurity Architecture, Framework | Cybersecurity Consultant
Implement a cloud security framework with guide from CSA, NIST, Mitre, etc are good. But you need cloud security solutions, platforms protect data, app & VM, Container on the cloud. Example is Connectivity, Security, and Identity. Connectivity denotes capabilities that enable a decentralized. Security denotes all the capabilities that historically have often been separate products – secure web gateway or web proxy, CASB or Cloud Access Security Broker, DNS security, firewall, data loss prevention and remote browser isolation. Identity refers to capabilities that create a zero-trust network access environment, where “zero-trust” is the assumed identity when someone or something requests access to work assets
To protect data and assets in the cloud, a systematic set of policies and controls must be adopted as part of the implementation of a cloud security architecture. Choose a reputable framework first, like the NIST Cybersecurity Framework or the Cloud Security Alliance, and then create thorough security rules that cover things like encryption, incident response, and access controls. To protect data, do a risk assessment, put in place strict access rules, and set encryption standards. Make sure the cloud environment is continuously monitored and audited, create an incident response plan, and handle vendors well. To lower the risk of security events, give staff members continuous security training.
You can select one standard relevant to your industry. Attempt to fulfil the requirements for as many controls as possible, where relevant. If there are regulatory requirements then they must be fulfilled first. Either way, don't get bogged down to the number of standards out there. Select one, and if need be go to the next one for reference. Most controls from different standards intertwine with each other anyway.
The principle of least privilege means that you should grant the minimum level of access and permissions required for users, applications, and services to perform their functions in the cloud. This can help you reduce the attack surface and limit the potential damage of a cloud security incident. You should implement a robust identity and access management (IAM) system that enforces strong authentication, authorization, and auditing mechanisms for your cloud resources. You should also review and update your access policies and permissions regularly and revoke any unnecessary or unused access.
Least privilege does not simply mean taking away administrative privileges across the board. It is a science that is way deeper than that. Principles of least privilege encompass - 1. Treating every new connection with the equivalent suspicious and caution, as you would for an intruder 2. Taking into account any non-standard behaviour, and recording it as an anomaly 3. Record unused privileges and strip them periodically 4. Prepare action plans for responding to anomalies, unattended access, unauthorized changes to privileges, unknown user creation ... 5. Train teams for response plans such as system lockdowns, detection of malicious activity 6. This is NOT a point-in-time task. Privileges need to be reviewed periodically, and signed off
A quest?o da “identidade” ou melhor dizendo, do comprometimento de credenciais é um dos maiores problemas quando falamos em detec??o e resposta, credenciais privilegiadas “encurtam” o caminho dos atacantes na cadeia de ataque, fazendo com que sejam sucintos, voando abaixo do radar das regras tradicionais, observar e mapear ativos e usuários críticos e exigir um segundo fator de autentica??o para acesso a eles, s?o táticas avan?adas de defesa que podem reduzir sua superfície de ataque, isso em conjunto com um hardening robusto na sua política de acesso e a ado??o de controles
Monitor users and their privileges along with proactive monitoring and removing of unused users,permissions,privileges. Track configuration changes proactively and make sure they go through a change control process, we know it is difficult to implement in practice, however we need to have a baseline quick response change control process.
By giving people or systems the minimal access privileges required for their particular job duties, the principle of least privilege is put into practice, lowering the risk of unauthorized access and the possible consequences of security events. This entails granting users the fewest amount of rights necessary, implementing role-based access controls, and routinely reviewing access to make sure it's in line with ongoing duties. Security can be further improved by fortifying authentication procedures, extending the idea to system accounts and apps, and keeping a default refuse policy in place. A culture of security can be fostered by auditing, monitoring, and user education regarding the significance of restricted access.
Identity is the new firewall. Having risk based sign is attached to your directory service as well as fast conditional access policies, especially multi factor helps quite a lot. Going a step further, adopting true Devops practices coupled with PIM as a break glass access, and access reviews, is a hugely effective way of reducing risk.
Data encryption is a vital technique to protect your sensitive and confidential data in the cloud from unauthorized access or disclosure. You should encrypt your data both at rest (when stored in the cloud) and in transit (when moving between the cloud and other locations). You should also manage your encryption keys securely and follow the best practices for key generation, storage, rotation, and deletion. You should also choose a cloud provider that supports encryption standards and protocols, such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and the Transport Layer Security (TLS).
Before deciding the encryption methodology it is a mandatory task to identify which data requires to be encrypted and decrypted. Because the encryption and decryption may impact the performance of the technical processes (e.g. database, network etc.) as well as the cost of business. Also, the keys should be secured both logically and physically after and during the key ceremony.
In addition to the data encryption, you should consider data sanitization or anonymization techniques. For example, some critical controls are data masking (dynamic or static), tokenization or redaction, etc. Implement data security techniques in layers and at the most granular level of the data storage, following the Zero Trust (ZT) & defence at-depth model.
Encrypting data at rest and in transit is pivotal in preventing cloud security incidents. For data at rest, employ strong encryption mechanisms to safeguard information stored in cloud databases or servers. This ensures that even if unauthorized access occurs, the data remains indecipherable. Additionally, encrypting data in transit is vital during its journey between users and the cloud. Implement secure communication protocols such as TLS/SSL, creating an encrypted tunnel that shields data from interception by malicious entities. By encrypting both at rest and in transit, organizations fortify their defense against unauthorized access and data breaches, significantly reducing the risk of security incidents in the cloud.
Even the cloud providers offers dadat encryption in transit it is important to also encrypt at rest to prevent data breaches if the authentication to the cloud fails
Encryption in both scenarios is a must, but overall, keeping the keys safe is equal or more important. Protecting keys and encryption/decription services from unauthorized parties (through IP access restrictions, application keys, user accounts) is something that sometimes is not taken as seriosly as it should and we must remember that encripted data is as safe as its key and algorithms are. Weak algorithms and unprotected keys can make the encryption efforts useless.
Even with the best prevention measures, you cannot eliminate the possibility of a cloud security incident. Therefore, you need to have a robust cloud security monitoring and response system that can detect, analyze, and respond to any anomalous or malicious activities in your cloud environment. You should use cloud security tools and services that can collect, correlate, and visualize data from various sources, such as logs, alerts, metrics, and events. You should also have a cloud security incident response plan that defines the roles, responsibilities, processes, and procedures for handling a cloud security incident, as well as the communication and escalation channels, the recovery and restoration steps, and the lessons learned and improvement actions.
The effective security starts with a vigilant eye on cloud environments. Monitoring for anomalies, unauthorized access, or suspicious activities is not a passive task but an ongoing commitment to staying one step ahead of potential threats.
Head of Cyber Security Incident Response Team na Tempest Security Intelligence
Fa?a uma avalia??o sobre os controles inseridos (hardening e policy control), observe os logs e insira uma cadeia de detec??o inteligente, baseada em comportamento, insira processos na sua monitora??o baseados em MTTD & MTTR, reveja o sec level das suas regras, elas devem seguir a urgência do status da cadeia de ataque, verifique cenários de impacto e verifique a possibilidade de automa??o(quarentena) em determinados alertas, mesmo com o alerta, você deve ter em mente que seu tempo de resposta deve ser menor que o tempo de impacto do ataque (objetivo). Elabore um plano de resposta e efetue simula??es de disaster recovery, crie processos, defina responsabilidades aos respectivos setores internos em cenários de recupera??o e restaura??o
This is really the point where enlisting as vSOC or SOCaaS is your friend. Alert fatigue is a real thing and utilizing a vSOC or SOCaaS can pay for itself with diminished turn over, increased institutional knowledge around your organization, and a better ROI proposition.
This is the tricky part. Few of the things one should and should not do: 1. Don't set alerts for every activity. 2. Understand your architecture and points of failure. 3. Sometimes things seem nascent, however you will have to dig deep to see traces of wrongdoing. 4. Ensure appropriate and knowledgeable resources are allocated to investigate the alerts and monitor. 5. Have sufficient budget for monitoring and response. 6. Invest in training your resources. 7. Ensure that your alert rule sets don't give you false sense of security. Lastly, Test your identification and response mechanism more often then not.
Crucial because without your eyes in the network you’ll never even know if you have been breached. Additional to the suggestions above, you should be running live tests of the entire process; does your process meet the standards? Can you recover from an incident? How quickly?
When thinking about data protection, and especially via cryptography, now is a time to start thinking about cryptographic-agility and migration to post-quantum cryptography. Information security professionals should start thinking about their plans to migrate different cryptographic protection mechanisms in their products and infrastructure (e.g., symmetric and asymmetric/public-key encryption, digital signatures, and cryptographic hash functions). One often overlooked issue here is post-quantum protection and migration of unstructured content that is locally stored or in the cloud.
There are many ways to reduce the likelihood and occurrence of incident. Most importantly it varies how organisations have their cyber posture organised and any BIA type analysis will help in calculating the impact subsequently posturing follows. Foremost important to setup ground fields by implementing certain control as proactive safeguard. Preventive, Deterrent, and Directive are controls drive people process technology in one line of defence. On top of it, there is separate practice of GRC help in reducing the likelihood. Like Risk and Security Assessment, Testing, cloud secure SDLC Framework model, Audit, monitoring are chronological procedures of any practitioners derives.
Beyond standard measures, consider integrating DevSecOps for continuous security in development cycles. Emphasize staff cybersecurity awareness to mitigate human error risks. Regularly review third-party vendors' security practices. Leverage AI for advanced threat detection. Ensure diligent software updates and patching. Implement comprehensive backup and disaster recovery plans. Stay abreast of legal and regulatory compliance, and tailor your threat intelligence to your specific industry and cloud usage for more effective defense.
Data sanitization in the cloud is a critical aspect of data security and compliance. As organizations continue to migrate more sensitive data to the cloud, the importance of implementing robust sanitization practices will only increase to ensure that data is irretrievably removed when no longer needed.
The thing that many, if not most, companies miss is understanding that foundationally, securing the environment starts with business enablement. Business enablement starts with building strong relationships across the company's different business units (BU) to understand their needs. The key to creating a robust security posture is to make it easier on BUs to do the right and secure thing, than to circumvent security just to be able to do their jobs. Ultimately, human nature will lead most people to take the path of least resistance. By investing in building those strong relationships, companies can gain the necessary insight to consistently evaluate and secure their environments.