According to Wikipedia , In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space , but wait a minute , today the entire concept of cloud got a different turn . The term “cloud” today refers to the servers that are accessed over the Internet, and the software and databases that run on those servers.
Cloud computing provides various advantages, such as improved collaboration, excellent accessibility, Mobility, Storage capacity, etc. But at the same time just like anything and everything that exist in this planet, there are also certain downsides for this , which we can refer as “security risks in cloud computing”.
Since each and every problems that exist can have a solution as well , there are many methods devised to prevent or protect us from the so called “security risks in cloud computing” . Today we are going to discuss about one such strategy .
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
The ever-growing data and the necessary information keep on getting updated and requires complete solutions to map out the data and manage any inconsistencies or the conditions of the components in the environment that the cloud hosts are responsible for the security and integrity of the data, which is a false belief. So making the sensitive data of the firm vulnerable. Hence in order to protect these huge amount of data comes the role of cloud security management solutions which looks for data leaks and setup errors. A market niche for IT security technologies called Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) is created to find misconfiguration problems and compliance hazards in the cloud. Continuously checking the cloud infrastructure for inconsistencies in the application of security policies is a key goal of CSPM programming. Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) automates cloud security management across the following diverse infrastructure:
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Instant computing infrastructure, provisioned and managed over the internet
- Software as a Service (SaaS): Mechanism for users to connect to and use cloud-based apps over the Internet
- Platform as a Service (PaaS): The complete development and deployment environment in the cloud, with resources that enable you to deliver everything from simple cloud-based apps to sophisticated, cloud-enabled enterprise applications
WHY IS CSPM NECESSARY?
Throughout the course of a day, a cloud may connect to and disengage from hundreds or even thousands of distinct networks. The force of this dynamic is precisely what makes the cloud challenging to defend. As the cloud-first attitude spreads and becomes the standard, the challenge of protecting all cloud-based systems grows more pressing as the number of unmanaged risks rises daily. CSPM tools analyse and compare a cloud environment to a predefined set of best practices and known security risks. Some CSPM tools will notify the cloud customer when a security risk needs to be addressed, whereas other, more sophisticated CSPM tools will use robotic process automation (RPA) to resolve issues automatically. Organizations that have adopted a cloud-first strategy and want to extend their security best practices to hybrid cloud and multi-cloud environments typically use CSPM.
BENEFITS OF CSPM
Without getting to know about the benefits or advantages something holds , none of us will be impressed to try it out or get it . So lets dive into some of the benefits of CSPM System :
Assessing risk
CSPM tools can help you to see how secure your network and cloud infrastructure is in advance, and get visibility into elements such as over-permissive policies that are opening you up to risk.
Compliance
Many compliance regulations require continuous monitoring tools on the cloud, such as HIPAA, SOC2, and PIC. You can also use CSPM to stay on top of internal governance such as ISO 27001.
Mitigation
Many CSPM tools will provide actionable recommendations so that you can fix any vulnerabilities or errors quickly and without adding additional cloud resources or vendor tools.
Uninterrupted Monitoring of the Cloud Environment
By continuously monitoring and assessing the cloud environments to guarantee organizations are adhering to their compliance policies. CSPM immediately spots any divergence from these policies, which ensures the risk or error can be corrected and remediated automatically.
Acceptance of Common Standards for Best Practices
CSPM solutions approach the task of identifying the security misconfigurations by using a set of benchmarks and best practices, such as HIPAA, SOC2, PIC, GDPR, etc. , thee definitions of which are beyond the scope of this blog .
CSPM Tools
CSPM tools were earlier referred to as Cloud Infrastructure Security Posture Assessment (CISPA) tools when their capabilities were limited to reporting as against the current ability of a security management automation tool that addresses misconfiguration issues. With the increasing usage of cloud services and the growing cloud security concerns, the vulnerability landscape must be reduced. A single misconfiguration has the power to expose several thousands of systems and sensitive data to the public internet. Though there are a lot of tools available in the market , some of the top picks are :
1. Lacework
Lacework is powered by Polygraph and tends to automate cloud security to safeguard computing data through data-driven technology. It helps to collect, identify, and correctly manage the company’s data across numerous platforms and deal with it comprehensively.
2. CloudGuard Management
CloudGuard Posture Management tool is a SaaS cloud assistance platform to identify the resources across multi-cloud assets. It performs actions such as security assessment, enactment, coverage, and enforcing security work and compliance frameworks.
3. Turbot
Turbot is an ideal, powerful tool to cater cloud system security completely. This ensures that the companies have full control over their data, allows them to get the agility and best practices with continuous use of the defined policies.
4. CloudCheckr CMx
CloudCheckr CMx is a centralized platform to ensure modern companies optimize and manage their cloud storage with modern security measures and policies. You will be able to manage DevOps, FinOps, and SecOps to handle various software in one place to increase efficiency. This may include AWS and Azure.
5. Ermetic
Ermetic cloud security systems allow you to manage your data across Google Cloud, Azure and AWS. The system ensures that the team. It handles the activities and operations in a company. It provides full-stack details into accessing entitlements of companies.
6. Cymulate
Cymulate is a perfect company that includes SaaS-based computing systems that can be deployed in brief durations. It is quick, resilient, and perfect to optimize and manage cyber-security issues in an end-to-end network. It also comes up with Threat intelligence assessments for enhanced security measures.
Conclusion
CSPM tools are essential in today's digital world. They not only protect the company's computing data environment but also keep an eye out for potential data breaches and vulnerabilities. “With great powers come great responsibility”, hence it is our responsibility to ensure proper protection for the cloud environment .
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