SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS: Every Security Analyst should know

In order to improve efficiency and streamline operations, businesses in the modern digital age rely on a wide range of cloud services. It is essential for a Security?analyst to understand the three main cloud service models: SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Knowing these models is vital in evaluating possible security threats, vunerabilities, and devising efficacious countermeasures.

We'll dissect each of these cloud service models in this post, using straightforward illustrations to make their importance understandable to Security?analysts.

SaaS(Software-as-a-Service)

SaaS, to put it simply, is an online program that is hosted. Customers can use the application that a SaaS provider hosts on their servers. The SaaS provider is in charge of all application-related installation, management, security, and troubleshooting.

One well-known SaaS service is Google Docs. Online, we use Google Docs (which is like Microsoft Word Online). Microsoft Word is also available in the cloud via the Office 365 service. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are all accessible through a web browser.

As a Security Analyst,

• You can't run vulnerability scanning on your Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account.
• You can't conduct the system hardening or security audit of Google or Microsoft server as it is beyond your control.
• You have to believe that SaaS providers are keeping your accounts or services safe from any unauthorized access.

PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service)

The provider will allow customers to host their own custom?applications on their cloud infrastructure as part of a PaaS offering. The backend support for the programming languages, libraries, and related tools that enable users to upload and administer their applications is handled by the PaaS provider.

The PaaS provider takes responsibility for the security of the underlying servers, operating system, networks, and platforms, relieving the consumer of such concerns.

Google App Engine, a component of the Google Cloud Platform, is one such instance. We are only required to upload our code; they will handle all backend operations. Nevertheless, in the event that the code is inherently vulnerable, the consumer bears the responsibility rather than the PaaS provider:

As a Security Analyst,

• You can conduct a vulnerability scanning of your custom application and patch them.
• You can set up your own Access control and privilege management to avoid any unauthorized access to your data.
• You can't control the underlying infrastructure as it falls under PaaS provider responsibilities

IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service)

In IaaS, the hosting provider will host the virtual machine (VM) on the consumer's behalf. With a few clicks on the required resources (RAM, CPU, and network), the consumer will be given with a cloud server.

The underlying infrastructure, such as virtualization software, physical security, and hardware, is not under the consumer's control. The cloud provider is responsible for the hardware and virtualization software stability, as well as the physical security of the servers, whereas the customer is responsible for the VM setup and its associated security:

Amazon EC2, for example, is a well-known example of IaaS, as seen in the preceding figure. Clients can establish an EC2 instance with customized operating systems, related resources (CPU, RAM, and network), IP addresses, and even firewall rules (security groups).

As a Security Analyst,

• You can configure firewall, encryption and access control lists to security your Virtual machines
• You can't run the security assessment for server hardware or Virtualization software.

Conclusion

Understanding SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS is essential for security?analysts since it serves as the foundation for comprehensive cloud security. Security?analysts must adapt to the shifting landscape as more enterprises move their operations to the cloud. They should be aware of the security problems unique to each service type and address potential vulnerabilities as soon as possible.