Why cloud security assessments are essential for identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities.
Cloud computing has profoundly changed how organizations acquire, use and pay for the technologies they need to conduct business. However, the speed and scale of cloud adoption often outpaces a company’s ability to secure everything. In a recent survey of IT security professionals, more than three-quarters confirmed that their company experienced a breach of their cloud resources last year.
Recent research from JupiterOne sheds light on the problem. The cybersecurity firm finds that IT organizations today must manage and secure an average of 334 unique cloud accounts. The company says the “hypergrowth” in cloud usage has created “an unprecedented era of complexity” for cybersecurity teams trying to secure data spanning multiple clouds.
A cloud risk assessment can boost security by helping organizations understand their cloud vulnerabilities and potential points of compromise. By systematically identifying misconfigurations and other vulnerabilities, assessments enable organizations to identify security gaps, compliance issues or other potential threats before malicious actors can exploit them.
Targeting Configuration Errors
Misconfigurations are perhaps the greatest threat to cloud security. One recent study found that 75 percent of organizations have at least one critical configuration error that could expose sensitive data. Common configuration errors include open and exposed network ports and services, overly permissive access policies, unencrypted data, improperly configured access controls, and publicly accessible cloud storage buckets.
“The traditional model of permitting only a small, highly skilled team of security practitioners to make all configuration changes has given way to a modern, decentralized approach,” said Assaf Morag, lead analyst at Aqua Security. “Development teams are making configuration decisions or applying services, and that can have dramatic implications for the security posture of an organization’s production environment.”
Cloud risk assessments can reveal misconfigurations through the use of a variety of automated and manual testing tools. Automated tools and scripts can scan cloud infrastructure and current settings for known security vulnerabilities. Additionally, skilled professionals can conduct manual inspections to identify errors such as weak password policies that automated tools can’t detect. Once these reviews are completed, the assessment team can compare current configurations against a known baseline or industry standards.
Cloud security assessments can be performed by in-house security teams or by third-party providers who specialize in cloud security. Assessments typically adhere to the following five-step process:
1. Identify Assets and Threats
To begin the assessment process, organizations need to complete a comprehensive inventory of all digital assets hosted in the cloud. This includes data, applications, databases, web servers, virtual machines, user profiles and logs. These assets should be categorized based on their sensitivity and importance to business operations. It is also important to evaluate potential cybersecurity threats associated with each asset to better understand which assets are most at risk and need maximum protection. Armed with this data, organizations will be better equipped to make informed decisions about security measures.
2. Establish a Security Baseline
A baseline defines a set of security standards and practices that all cloud services and resources should adhere to. To create a cloud security baseline, begin by documenting access control policies, monitoring procedures, logging practices and regulatory requirements, and make them accessible to all relevant staff members. Once completed, the baseline will serve as a reference point for future assessments, making it easier to identify anomalies that suggest a security issue.
3. Perform a Vulnerability Assessment
This usually involves the use of automated tools, scripts and software to scan all components of the cloud infrastructure to identify potential vulnerabilities that malicious actors could exploit. This is the stage where organizations should check for misconfigured cloud storage buckets, which can lead to data exposure. It’s also a good idea to conduct penetration tests on hosted cloud applications to uncover potential weaknesses. These assessments offer a comprehensive understanding of potential vulnerabilities.
4. Analyze and Prioritize Risks
After identifying potential vulnerabilities, it is essential to evaluate how they might be exploited and what kind of damage could result. This often involves the use of automated threat modeling tools to evaluate found vulnerabilities against predefined risk criteria to identify critical risks. Quantifying risks based on their likelihood and potential impact allows organizations to prioritize their security efforts and investments.
5. Develop a Remediation Plan
A plan should outline detailed remediation efforts for each risk or vulnerability that has been identified and prioritized. Remediation measures can include software patching, data encryption, multifactor authentication, reconfiguring services, adjusting access controls, employee training and more. The plan should also assign responsibility for implementing remediation measures to specific individuals or teams. Additionally, the plan should establish a timeline for implementing these measures. Remediation plans should be well-documented, regularly reviewed and updated as necessary to address evolving threat landscapes.
It’s estimated that more than 90 percent of organizations worldwide have moved some workloads to the cloud. While that relieves in-house IT teams of many traditional operational burdens, they can’t ignore the risk of an outage or data loss resulting from cloud security vulnerabilities.
“The key to developing an effective cloud strategy is to recognize what can be controlled and what actions can be taken to evaluate and mitigate risk,” said Frank Trovato, Advisory Director at Info-Tech Research Group. “At a minimum, IT leaders can ensure senior leadership is aware of the risk and define a plan for responding to an incident.”
