Public cloud platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure offer enterprises scalable on-demand infrastructure, productivity services, and innovations to power digital initiatives. However, adopting public clouds also exposes organizations to new security and compliance risks from the multi-tenant nature of these environments. This article provides an impartial overview of key measures and leading solutions that security leaders should evaluate to improve public cloud security. We outline steps to enable secure adoption across clouds while still meeting data privacy obligations and industry regulations.Â
Perform Regular Cloud Cybersecurity Audits
Regular cybersecurity assessments of your cloud hosted assets is crucial for uncovering potential vulnerabilities that adversaries might exploit. This process involves actively simulating real-world attacks to identify weak points safely. Skilled penetration testers focus on various tactics, such as:Â
- Cloud Account Takeover Attempts: Testers actively try to take over cloud accounts using compromised credentials or by conducting brute force attacks. This approach tests the strength of password policies and account security measures.Â
- Exploiting Vulnerable Configurations and Unpatched Resources: Testers seek out and exploit weaknesses in configurations and unpatched resources. This step assesses the cloud environment’s susceptibility to known vulnerabilities and the effectiveness of patch management processes.Â
- Privilege Escalation through Chained Exploits: Testers use chained exploits to escalate privileges in interconnected cloud services. This tactic tests the resilience of the cloud environment against complex attack vectors and the effectiveness of compartmentalization strategies.Â
- Extracting Sensitive Data from Compromised Storage or Databases: Testers aim to extract sensitive data by compromising Cloud storage systems or databases. This action evaluates the security of data storage and database systems against unauthorized access.Â
- Manipulating or Denying Access to Cloud Resources: Testers attempt to manipulate or deny access to cloud resources, assessing the cloud environment’s resilience against service disruption and unauthorized resource manipulation.Â
Following the testing, penetration testers provide detailed assessment reports. These reports highlight specific flaws and recommend improvements based on their expert analysis. Additionally, the testing validates the effectiveness of existing public cloud security controls when faced with adversarial conditions, offering a comprehensive view of the cloud security posture.Â
 Implement Strict Identity and Access ControlsÂ
To mitigate the risk of attackers exploiting identity and access management vulnerabilities in public cloud environments, it’s essential to implement stringent controls. Core strategies for enhancing identity and access security include:Â
- Mandate Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Enforce MFA for all human and machine identities. This approach adds an extra layer of security, ensuring that even if credentials are stolen, they cannot be misused without the additional authentication factor.Â
- Establish Least Privilege Permissions: Limit access rights for user accounts to the bare minimum necessary for their role. This practice minimizes the potential damage if an account is compromised, as attackers can only access a limited set of resources.Â
- Automate Rotation of IAM Keys and Passwords: Implement automatic rotation of Identity and Access Management (IAM) keys and passwords. Regularly changing these credentials reduces the risk associated with compromised credentials, as they will be valid only for a limited time.Â
- Enable Identity Federation with On-Premises Directories: Integrate cloud access management with on-premises directories, like Active Directory. This centralizes and simplifies cloud access control, making it easier to manage and monitor access across the organization.Â
- Employ Adaptive Authentication and Risk-Based Access Controls: Implement authentication mechanisms that adapt based on risk factors, such as login attempts from unusual locations or at unusual times. This method requires additional verification under circumstances that appear risky, thereby adding an extra layer of security against potential unauthorized access.Â
By strictly implementing these measures, organizations can significantly enhance public cloud security.Â
Continuously Audit Cloud Configurations Â
To address the significant threat posed by misconfigured cloud resources, it’s critical to implement a robust strategy for auditing and remediating cloud configurations. This involves a continuous and proactive approach with several key actions:Â
- Utilize Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Tools: Implement tools that automatically scan Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) templates for vulnerabilities before they are deployed in Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. This preemptive measure helps ensure that new resources are secure from the outset.Â
- Conduct Regular Scans of Deployed Resources: Use Cloud Security Assessment (CSA) tools to perform frequent scans of existing cloud resources. These tools should identify any deviations from secure configurations and established risk benchmarks, ensuring ongoing compliance with best security practices.Â
- Automate Remediation of Identified Issues: Implement automated policy enforcement or security orchestration playbooks to address vulnerabilities promptly. This reduces the time (‘dwell time’) a potential security threat remains unaddressed in the cloud environment.Â
- Analyze Overall Cloud Security Postures: Regularly assess your cloud security posture against the Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks, tailoring the assessments to fit your specific Cloud Service Provider (CSP) architecture and workloads. This comprehensive analysis helps identify areas for improvement and ensures alignment with industry-standard security practices.Â
 Protect Data with Encryption and TokenizationÂ
To effectively safeguard sensitive data within public cloud environments, it is vital to deploy comprehensive data-centric security measures. These measures focus on ensuring the integrity and privacy of data throughout its entire lifecycle:Â
- Classify Data Based on Sensitivity Levels: Implement a system to classify data according to its sensitivity. This classification guides the application of appropriate security controls, such as encryption, tokenization, access restrictions, and logging. Understanding the sensitivity of data helps in determining the level of protection required.Â
- Encrypt Data at Rest, in Transit, and in Backups: Use robust encryption methods for data at rest (stored data), in transit (data being transmitted), and in backups. This can be achieved using native cloud encryption features or third-party encryption tools. Encryption ensures that even if data is accessed unauthorizedly, it remains unreadable and secure.Â
- Mask Sensitive Data Using Tokenization: In scenarios like testing, development, or analytics, where direct exposure of sensitive data (like Personally Identifiable Information, PII) is unnecessary, employ tokenization. Tokenization replaces sensitive data elements with non-sensitive equivalents (tokens), significantly reducing the risk of data breaches.Â
- Implement Data Lifecycle Management Policies: Establish and enforce data lifecycle management policies, including the removal of permissions and access as soon as they are no longer needed. Automate deletion schedules to ensure that data is not unnecessarily retained, reducing the risk of it being compromised.Â
Integrating practices such as data classification, encryption, tokenization, and strict lifecycle management allows organizations to create a holistic approach to protecting data. This approach secures data against unauthorized access and breaches and upholds data privacy and integrity. These measures are essential throughout its lifecycle in the cloud.
Adopt a Zero Trust Approach Â
Adopting a Zero Trust approach in public cloud environments is essential for mitigating risks inherent in these shared spaces. Zero Trust operates on the principle that trust is never assumed and must be continually verified. Key strategies for implementing Zero Trust in public cloud environments include:Â
- Employ Strict Access Controls: Replace traditional network-centric security perimeters, like VPNs, with strict access controls. This shift ensures that access to cloud resources is tightly controlled and not merely reliant on network access.Â
- Mandate Re-verification Using AI/ML Analytics: Implement systems that continuously verify the legitimacy of users, devices, and traffic before granting access to cloud resources. Utilize AI and ML-powered analytics to assess risk and enforce access decisions dynamically, ensuring that each access request is securely authenticated and authorized.Â
- Microsegment Cloud Architecture: Divide the cloud architecture into isolated components with identity-based access controls. This micro-segmentation minimizes trust and limits communication between different cloud services. By doing so, the system tightly controls access to specific resources, reducing the potential impact of a breach.
- Protect Data with Comprehensive Policies and Encryption: Focus on securing data through robust policies, compartmentalization, and encryption, rather than relying solely on network-level controls. This approach ensures that data remains secure and private, irrespective of the network security status.Â
Implementing a Zero Trust framework in public cloud environments effectively limits the ‘blast radius’ of any security incident, reducing exposure to other tenants and threats. By consistently applying verification, segmentation, and least privilege access principles, organizations can significantly enhance their security posture in the cloud.Â
Deploy Additional Data Security ControlsÂ
 To enhance the security of data in multi-tenant public cloud environments, it is essential to deploy additional layers of data security controls. These controls complement the baseline security provided by public clouds, ensuring a more robust protection for data. Key additional controls include:Â
- Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs): Implement CASBs to introduce data-centric protections tailored to cloud resources. These protections often include encryption, tokenization, alerting, and threat prevention. CASBs serve as intermediaries between cloud users and cloud service providers. In addition, CASB ensure the consistent application of security policies across all cloud services. Consequently, they play a critical part in maintaining the security and compliance of cloud-based environments.Â
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Tools: Use DLP tools to classify, monitor, and protect sensitive information within cloud services and infrastructure. These tools can detect policy violations involving sensitive data and can trigger alerts or automated responses to prevent data leakage or unauthorized access.Â
- User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA): Deploy UEBA solutions to analyze usage patterns and behaviors in cloud environments. These solutions leverage advanced analytics to detect anomalies that could indicate potential misuse, insider threats, or other security risks. Consequently, they provide an additional layer of security through behavioral analysis.Â
- Web Application Firewalls (WAFs): Install WAFs on virtual machines and serverless functions to scrutinize incoming traffic. WAFs are crucial for validating traffic to web applications and blocking common threats like SQL injection and cross-site scripting attacks. They act as a shield between web applications and the internet, filtering out malicious requests.Â
Maintain Security Monitoring and AnalyticsÂ
Maintaining vigilant security monitoring and analytics is critical for identifying and mitigating threats in public cloud environments. This proactive approach enhances visibility and, subsequently, enables more effective threat-informed defenses. Key practices for effective security monitoring in public clouds include:
- Centralize Logs on SIEM Platforms: Collect and analyze all available control plane and data plane logs through Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms. This centralized approach allows for holistic analysis, enabling efficient threat detection and facilitating in-depth investigations. Thus, integrating logs into a single platform provides a comprehensive view of the security landscape across the cloud environment.Â
- Establish Log Retention Policies: Implement log retention policies that preserve historical cloud event data. Retaining logs for an appropriate duration is crucial for incident response and forensic analysis. This historical data can provide valuable insights in the event of a security breach. Thus, it’s aiding in understanding the nature and extent of the incident.Â
- Tune Machine Learning-Based Anomaly Detection: Leverage machine learning algorithms to detect anomalies in user, data, system, and service activities. Continuously tuning these algorithms ensures they remain effective at identifying unusual activities that could signify potential security threats or breaches.Â
- Create Customized Dashboards and Alerts: Develop customized dashboards and alerts that track deviations in the security posture and compliance status in key risk areas. In addition, these tools enable real-time monitoring and quick response to any changes that might indicate a security risk.Â
- Tailor Continuous Security Monitoring to Public Clouds: Adapt security monitoring and intelligence strategies specifically for the nuances of public cloud environments. This tailored approach ensures that monitoring efforts are effective in detecting cloud-specific threats and vulnerabilities. As a result, the dwell time of threats is reduced. Consequently, overall defenses are strengthened.
ConclusionÂ
Public clouds offer digital transformation advantages. However, realizing the full business value depends on securing critical assets entrusted to these environments. Consequently, this security must be aligned with your risk tolerance and legal obligations. Our guide on public cloud security provides an expert blueprint encompassing access governance, data security, zero trust controls and analytics for reducing public cloud risks holistically. For guidance navigating the unique security intricacies of your public cloud adoption tailored to your objectives, contact us. Our specialists can help architect appropriate controls to enable your cloud initiatives both securely and compliantly.Â
