Cloud computing is a new-age technology that allows SMBs to access enterprise-class technology and act faster than big competitors. As companies move their business processes to the cloud, the question of cloud security needs more attention.
Cloud Security posture management (CSPM) is a new approach to cloud security that can thwart most cyber-attacks. According to experts like sonraisecurity.com/use-cases/cspm/, it can provide a secure environment to your business processes.
What Is Cloud Security Posture Management?
CSPM refers to a continual process of cloud security adaptation and improvement to reduce the possibility of cyber-attacks. The Cloud Security Posture Management tools allow companies to discover and fix security risks through automated compliance monitoring and security assessments.
Traditional security tools are less effective in cloud environments as there is no defined perimeter to protect, and there is no centralization of resources or processes that makes visibility difficult. In such a scenario, employing CSPM is the solution. Here are a few benefits of implementing CSPM.
Detects Cloud Misconfigurations in Real-Time
Cloud misconfigurations are a significant threat to cloud computing. It can create vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure and security. CSPM tools give organizations the ability to detect cloud misconfigurations in real-time. The security risks due to cloud misconfigurations pose as one of the top cloud vulnerabilities in any cloud architecture.
Depending on your cloud architecture, the cloud system may have hundreds of crucial infrastructure and security settings. As businesses use more applications and resources, it becomes difficult to find any misconfiguration that hackers can exploit.
The CSPM tools continuously monitor every aspect of the cloud environment in real-time and remedy any existing threats. In some cases, the CSPM tools may send alerts to the IT staff about the cloud misconfiguration and recommend eliminating the threat. The CSPM tools also generate reports that point towards cloud misconfigurations and help the IT team to take immediate and appropriate action to plug the security loophole.
According to cloud security experts, even a tiny cloud misconfiguration can put your business systems and data at risk that may have long-term percussions.
Continuous Monitoring
The cloud environment is elastic. It means things are rapidly changing and affecting the security and effectiveness of the business processes. Flying blind without knowledge and visibility into the changes will lead to compliance, security, and performance degradation events.
Continuous monitoring is crucial to maintain an optimal level of performance and security of the cloud environment and its elements. CSPM tools continuously monitor the cloud environment and help organizations deal with potential threats effectively. The security tools can detect common issues like lack of multi-factor authentication, unauthorized access, malicious activity, and permission errors. Cloud security posture management can improve your business systems and data security.
Enhanced Visibility and Discovery
Modern businesses use multi-cloud environments to diversify computer resources and reduce the risk of data loss and downtime. In a multi-cloud environment, the additional integration points between data stores and on-premise systems increase complexity. It can be challenging for IT staff to manage 3rd party-based cloud applications and services from different cloud platforms.
Cloud Security Posture Management tools enhanced visibility into cloud infrastructure assets and configurations from multiple cloud environments. The IT team can access all details of any cloud infrastructure from a single platform, thereby reducing the need to switch to different consoles to manage cloud infrastructure. The CSPM tools enable organizations to enforce appropriate security measures and policies across all business networks via a unified console.
Protection Against DDoS Attacks
As per a leading security report, the number of DDoS attacks on cloud infrastructure has increased with time. The 2019 year was a nightmare for cloud security professionals as 580 million packets per second (PPS) of network and application layer attacks were detected in a few days. In April 2019, an application layer attack lasted for 15 days, peaked at 292,000 Requests per Second.
The CSPM tools monitor incoming and outgoing traffic at all times. The security tools are focused on implementing measures to stop massive traffic from bringing down cloud servers. The security tools implement different security strategies to monitor, absorb, and disperse DDoS attacks to reduce risks to cloud infrastructure.
Improve Data Security
Data and privacy are two crucial elements that need to be protected at all costs. The ever-increasing instances of data breaches cause worry to most organizations who have migrated to the cloud. Cloud Security Posture Management tools enable organizations to put security and access protocols to protect sensitive information. The tools are designed to thwart eavesdropping or data tampering attempts while the data is transmitted across networks or shared between applications and users.
To sum up, cloud security is an important aspect that demands top priority. CSPM enables an organization to use the in-built security tools with maximum efficiency and makes security management an easy task for your IT staff.