Cloud Security Posture Management

February 21, 2023

Author:?Marina Segal?CEO and Co-founder of?Tamnoon

As organizations continue to store data digitally, the risk for cybersecurity threats increases. In fact, 46% of data breaches are cloud-based. It’s important to remember that those risks can be intentional as well as unintentional. For instance, you may have an area that’s unprotected simply because you didn’t know it was needed. This is why it’s crucial to be proactive when it comes to protecting sensitive data.?

Cloud security posture management (CSPM) is an essential component of an organization’s cybersecurity, risk management and compliance practices. Organizations need to provide unified visibility across multi-cloud environments for efficiency.?

Cloud Security Posture management solutions enable proactive security in all areas to give you peace of mind. Let’s talk about what cloud security posture management is, why it’s important and several categories that are available for your organization.?

What is Cloud Security Posture Management??

To start, Gartner defines cloud security posture management (CSPM) as offerings that continuously manage IaaS and PaaS security posture through prevention, detection and response to cloud infrastructure risks. Essentially, CPSM refers to the process of ensuring that an organization’s systems and networks are properly configured and maintained to support the security objectives, including:?

• Implementing security controls and policies
• Monitoring for security incidents and vulnerabilities?
• Responding to security incidents in a timely and effective manner

Why Cloud Security Posture Management Matters?

Every business is going to have different needs when it comes to CSPM. Having a system in place that encompasses your entire infrastructure will keep all of your data safe, and your business operating efficiently.?

A secure cloud environment is essential for protecting an organization's data and operations. Cloud security posture management helps ensure that an organization's cloud-based systems are secure by identifying and mitigating potential security risks. This can help prevent data breaches, ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, and protect against other security threats.

Key Components of Cloud Security Posture Management

• Cloud Security Assessment
• The first step in cloud security posture management is to assess the security posture of your cloud environment. This can involve conducting vulnerability scans, penetration testing, and other security assessments to identify potential vulnerabilities.
• Access Control
• Implementing strong authentication and access control measures can help prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data and resources.
• Encryption
• Encrypting data in transit and at rest can help protect sensitive data from unauthorized access. Cloud providers typically offer encryption features, but it's important to ensure that these are properly configured.
• Incident Response
• Having a plan in place for responding to security incidents is essential for minimizing the impact of a breach such as data backups and recovery plans.?
• Compliance?
• Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements is critical for many organizations. This can involve implementing security controls and policies that meet regulatory requirements like HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR.

Categories of Cloud Security Posture Management?

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

CSPM involves continuously monitoring and evaluating the cloud environment to ensure that security policies and best practices are being followed. It focuses on the cloud infrastructure as a whole.? This includes monitoring access controls, network configurations, data encryption, and other security-related settings.

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Application Security Posture Management (ASPM)

This type of cloud security focuses on the application, or code layer. This includes identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities in application code and configurations. It also includes monitoring and responding to threats and attacks, combining automated and manual processes.?

Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)

Data security posture management focuses on maintaining a secure data environment by responding to breaches by using:

• Risk assessment?
• Data classification
• Access control
• Encryption
• Incident Response?

SaaS Posture Management (SSPM)

This category focuses on securing SaaS applications for an organization. This can include configuring settings around identity management controls that are tested and reported for security.?

Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)

The goal of cloud infrastructure entitlement management is to ensure that users only have access to the resources that they need to perform their job duties and that sensitive data and resources are protected from unauthorized access or use.

Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP)

A Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) is a security solution that is designed to protect workloads running in cloud environments, such as virtual machines, containers, and serverless functions. These platforms provide a comprehensive range of security services, including threat prevention, detection, and response, compliance management, and visibility into cloud workloads.

Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM)

Kubernetes is widely used in modern cloud-native applications, and as such, its security has become a critical concern for organizations. Kubernetes Security Posture Management provides a structured approach to secure the Kubernetes environment and reduce the risk of security incidents.

Final Thoughts

The bottom line is that CPSM is essential if you store any type of data in the cloud. While there are several moving parts, the good news is that a cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) is a model that encompasses CPSM and other security measures into one platform.?

More about CNAPP is covered in our next article.

For more information about how your organization can improve its cloud security posture contact Tamnoon at [email protected] or visit www.tamnoon.io