Whether you are using the cloud for your business or personal computing needs, it’s important to understand the security risks of storing data in the cloud. Hackers can access your data from any device, and they may use malware or phishing emails to steal it. A reliable cloud platform security service provider will provide measures to keep your information safe. These include firewalls, access control, encryption, and monitoring.
Firewalls
Firewalls protect organizations’ network traffic by blocking and allowing incoming or outgoing data. Traditionally, firewalls run in between a trusted internal network and an untrusted external network.
Cloud firewalls help to keep cyber attackers at bay and provide a virtual “digital wall” around your organization’s private cloud and on-premise networks. They also help to manage access to corporate assets and resources, ensuring only verified users have access.
Depending on your organization’s needs, you can choose to use a traditional, next-generation firewall, or a cloud-based firewall. A cloud firewall may be a stand-alone service or be part of a larger security solution that includes other features such as intrusion prevention systems (IPS), deep packet inspection (DPI), advanced malware detection, application awareness and control, and more.
As the threat landscape evolves, so does the need for better protection from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. The best cloud firewalls, such as Trend Micro’s Cloud One – Network Security, equipped with modern, advanced protection tools that can effectively defend against the most severe and innovative attacks.
These capabilities enable them to detect and block entire classes of attacks, as well as specific attacks, that could otherwise bypass a traditional cloud firewall. They also have a built-in threat intelligence engine and advanced analysis, enabling them to quickly respond to emerging trends.
To ensure the effectiveness of cloud firewalls, you need to understand how they operate. The most common firewalls are based on IPS and DPI, but they can also use a variety of other methods to prevent cyber attacks.
Another advantage of using a cloud firewall is that it’s often more cost-effective than an on-premise security product. This is because most cloud-based firewalls deployed in a virtual data center, rather than a physical appliance. This eliminates the need for capital outlay and allows organizations to pay for only what they use.
Moreover, they can easily configure and updated through an intuitive web interface or a command line. This makes them easier to manage for less experienced users.
The most important advantage of a cloud-based firewall is that it can scale up rapidly, reducing setup and maintenance costs. The software constantly upgraded and linked to the newest information, making it more effective at protecting your business against a wide range of new threats.
Access Control
Access Control is an important part of Cloud Platform Security, as it allows organizations to monitor, control, and manage the permissions granted to users. This provides a way to ensure that all users have access to the services and resources they need, while also preventing them from gaining access to sensitive information.
When choosing a cloud-based access control system, you need to consider a number of factors. These include:
Costs – A good cloud-based system will be less expensive over the life of the product as there are no upfront costs and ongoing maintenance, monitoring and management rolled into a monthly subscription.
Convenience – Access control systems should be easy to use for both users and administrators. This will ensure that they are able to provide the security and convenience your organization requires.
Remote and mobile capabilities – Some cloud-based access control solutions allow security teams to manage access permissions from anywhere with an internet connection. This allows them to keep up with new threats and respond accordingly, reducing the need for onsite support.
Role Based Access Control (RBAC) is a critical cloud-based security capability that enables IT professionals to control user access and application permissions across their network. RBAC allows IT administrators to assign roles and permissions to users based on their job function.
These roles and permissions can then be use to grant or deny access to specific areas of a network. This is a very effective and secure way to control access to data, apps, and other resources in a cloud environment.
The cloud-based approach enables organizations to maintain access control policies in a consistent way across different environments, including public, private, and on-premises cloud deployments. It also allows IT teams to control access permissions from a remote location, freeing them to focus on other tasks that are more important to the business.
A cloud-based solution can help prevent access breaches due to lost or stolen credentials and other physical security issues. The solution is also capable of monitoring activity in a variety of ways, including capturing and sending alerts if any suspicious behavior occurs.
Encryption
Encryption is a key component of cloud security, as it helps keep data safe. It scrambles data into a secret code that only those who have access to the keys can decode. This prevents cybercriminals from accessing the information.
In addition, encryption can help to meet regulatory requirements. For example, many governments have laws that require businesses to encrypt data they store in the cloud.
Some cloud providers use asymmetric encryption, which uses two different keys to secure data — a public key that everyone can see and a private key that only the owner can decrypt the information. This ensures that if a government agency subpoenas the information, the cloud service provider cannot turn over the data.
Another aspect of cloud security is identity management, which involves ensuring that a user’s data is not share with other users without permission. This can help to protect against information breaches, such as when a customer’s identity stolen and sold to hackers.
Privacy concerns are also common in the cloud, as it can be difficult to monitor who is accessing a customer’s data. This can make it challenging to comply with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA.
A common cloud security technique is to use encryption and tokenization, which help to protect data against both internal and external threats. For instance, if an organization’s security team detects a suspicious activity, they can use a cloud access security broker (CASB) to encrypt the data and tokenize it for monitoring purposes.
CASB can then send the alerts directly to a SIEM solution, which can enrich the log data with additional context from other sources, flag indicators of compromise, and quickly respond to an attack. A cloud security platform that includes a SIEM can also be use to monitor activity on a variety of other endpoints and other systems that may have compromised, making it easier to identify and remediate threats.
The most important part of cloud security is to treat it as a joint venture between the business and the cloud provider. This way, it is possible to have a consistent set of security controls and policies in place across all cloud services.
Monitoring
Monitoring is a vital part of any security strategy, but it is especially important for Cloud Platform Security. In addition to monitoring for threats, it can help organizations determine how well their security measures are working and whether or not they need to make changes.
Having a comprehensive monitoring solution that can track all of your cloud services and infrastructures is crucial for ensuring that you’re getting the most out of your cloud investments. This includes reducing costs, improving operational efficiencies and keeping your data secure.
Integrating metrics from on-premise systems, such as SLA, SNMP or IP, with those that are collected from the cloud via API is essential for getting a complete view of your infrastructure. Ideally, your monitoring software should be able to normalize this data and treat it the same way as data from other sources, making it easier for you to understand the performance of all your cloud services.
Monitor the logs generated by all your cloud systems to detect any potential attacks on your data, as well as identify any suspicious behavior. This can include unauthorized access to your data by unapproved users, malicious activity, or even an attempt by hackers to compromise your network security.
Misconfigurations of your cloud systems can also be a cause for concern. Specifically, they can be the result of human error or failure to set the necessary security controls. For example, if you accidentally allow outbound access to an Amazon S3 bucket or forget to enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), these can result in the loss of sensitive data.
The logs that you collect from your cloud systems can also contain valuable information. This includes user logs, application logs, server activity and network traffic. A good monitoring solution will be able to index and search these logs quickly.
As cloud systems become more complex, the number of logs can increase dramatically. This can be a challenge for operations teams to manage and interpret.
Modern SIEM and extended detection and response (XDR) solutions can monitor your cloud platform security systems to provide a holistic view of the cloud, automatically collect alerts from multiple cloud providers, detect deviations in normal user or entity activity, and respond to security incidents.
Recommended readings:
- What is Firewall?
- What Is Cloud Computing?
- FTP File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
- Differences Between Exponentials and Logarithms
- 3 Tips to Improve the Effectiveness of 404 Not Found Pages
