"Shifting Gears: Runtime Security from Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)"

"In the rapidly evolving landscape of cybersecurity, traditional security posture management is no longer sufficient to protect IT organizations from sophisticated threats. The shift towards runtime security is not just a trend—it's a necessity."

Context#1

Security on the internet for a long time, Colud Security Posture Management (CSPM)—which aims to find and fix vulnerabilities and misconfigurations—has been the backbone of cybersecurity plans. Posture management alone is insufficient in the face of more sophisticated and ever-changing cyber threats. Filling this gap, runtime security ensures that businesses can react to threats in real-time by offering monitoring and threat detection.

Context#2 The Rise of Sophisticated Attacks

Consider this In 2023 alone, over 39% of cyberattacks successfully bypassed traditional defenses, leveraging fileless malware, zero-day vulnerabilities, and advanced persistent threats (APTs). Recent breaches, such as the SolarWinds and MOVEit attacks, demonstrated how even organizations with strong posture management strategies are vulnerable when the focus ends at prevention. Static measures can only do so much when dealing with cloud-native architectures, containerized environments, and constantly shifting workloads. This highlights the pressing need for adaptive, real-time security strategies—ones that don’t just stop at preparation but extend into runtime detection, response, and mitigation.

1. Defining the Concepts

Posture Management:

• Explain how posture management focuses on assessing vulnerabilities, ensuring compliance, and building robust defensive perimeters.
• Mention its importance in creating a strong foundation but note its inherent limitations in responding to live threats.

Runtime Security:

• Define runtime security as the approach of monitoring and mitigating threats during application execution or system operation.
• Highlight its real-time nature and how it enables immediate detection and response to threats that evade preventive controls.

2. Reason Why Security Posture Management is Not Enough (#skyhawk)

Reason #1: Not All misconfigurations can be Fixed

Through 2026, non-patchable attack surfaces will grow from less than 10% to more than half of the Enterprise's total exposure. While posture management can identify these issues, it doesn't address the real-time exploitation of these vulnerabilities.

Reason #2: 85% of breaches are NOT caused by misconfigurations

Threat actor lying in wait in your environment, compromised permissions and Fishing emails will not be prevented by CSPM

Reason #3: 100% Compliant is NOT 100% Secure

Following the best practices for PCI, SOC, SOC-II and GDPR is important but will not prevent the threat actors from penetrating your environment. Achieving compliance does not necessarily equate to being secure.

Reason #4: An Attack is NOT a single event

Does your team know what breaches look like? Do they recognise that when a typically dormant permissions is accessing API again and again, failing every time—that is indicative of a breach?

Reason #5: NOT Dynamic or Static , its a Dynamic AND Static

It isn't just a misconfiguration. A port can be open for three weeks; you found it and corrected it; that's great. But do you know if someone accessed that port? Do you know that 3TB data flowed through that port to the internet at 3 p.m. yesterday? You need to have all of this information; pieces are not enough.

Use an analogy: “Focusing only on posture management is like locking your doors at night but ignoring intruders who’ve already made it into the house.”

**Understand how non-patchable attack surfaces are being used:

**The malecious intent behind behaviours

3. A Few Ways can be reduced the attack surface

1. Eliminate attack fatigue with attack sequence
2. Threat detection can be provide a layer of security on top of CSPM and CIEM security from misconfiguration that can not be fixed
3. Reduced time to detect and reduce time to respond: -It takes 207 days to detect a breach; by reducing detect and response time , it can be significantly reduced the time to detect the breach
4. A single cloud security platform delivers comphresive CDR, CIEM and CSPM supprot for Kubernetes, GCP, Azure and AWS

4. Real-Time Case Studies

1. Cisco's Predictive Analytics Tool: Cisco implemented a predictive analytics tool using machine learning to evaluate network traffic patterns and spot anomalies signalling potential threats. This proactive approach significantly reduced the incidence of successful cyber attacks.
2. Infosys and Leading Investment Company: Infosys helped a leading financial investment company build a modernised AWS environment, deploying Palo Alto Networks Prisma CSPM to enhance visibility of cloud assets, security misconfigurations, and continuous compliance. This integration improved overall cloud security posture and automated cloud security governance

5. Best Solutions for Runtime Security

1. Real-Time Monitoring and Response Systems: Implementing systems equipped with real-time monitoring and rapid response capabilities is crucial to maintaining a robust security posture.
2. Predictive Analytics: Using machine learning and AI to predict and identify potential threats before they become full-blown attacks.
3. Integrated Security Solutions: Combining CSPM with runtime security tools to provide comprehensive visibility and threat detection.
4. Automated Governance and Compliance: Automating cloud governance and compliance processes to reduce manual dependency and enhance security.

By implementing a robust runtime security strategy, organisations can significantly enhance their security posture and reduce the risk of cyberattacks. This involves a combination of technologies, processes, and skilled personnel to ensure effective protection.