Cloud Security Services and Compliance Strategies to will Enable Digital Transformation in 2022

 Cloud computing is becoming an increasingly significant factor in the digital transformation of many enterprises. Digitalization has solved various business challenges by providing agility, but cloud security risks must not be ignored. Cloud computing gives many enterprises an opportunity to determine which resources they will need and which ones they can do without or not see a use for; also, companies can continue to develop products without having to update their IT infrastructure on a daily basis. Easing the transition from traditional IT systems to cloud-based services has been vital when it comes down to translating into revenue.

Using the power of predictive analytics and powerful algorithms, manufacturing is designing autonomous robots (autocoids) for process control systems in their factories. Autonomous robots provide workers with real-time data detailing everything from inventory levels to environmental conditions, resulting in higher quality products cheaper and faster than ever before. AR/VR wearables are used similarly for this purpose as well. Shipping corporations are also taking advantage of digital twin technologies to build better ships more quickly. This helps to minimize emissions and increase efficiency, which positively impacts both the environment and the economy!

Cloud is everywhere with its set of challenges

Today every industry is going digital to stay relevant and productive. A key driver of this change is the cloud, and its adoption is widespread in a digitized world. Although known for its operational performance and agility, platforms like Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) make the cloud an essential part of the overall technological infrastructure. Every software-driven service is getting migrated to the cloud for providing businesses with highly reactive IT resources and expanding their revenue streams. Moreover, clouds enable better IT resources flexibility, scalability, operational performance, and security.

Key Cloud Risks

Developing the cloud isn’t an easy task. Along with its advantages, it presents security threats – and with recent trends, they could be of five categories:

DDoS:

A Radware report claims a 31% increase in the volume of attacks in Q1 2021 vis-a-vis Q4 2020

Misconfigurations:

Inadequate cloud settings can lead to a data breach.

 

Insecure APIs:

Publicly exposed APIs with ineffective authentication can get exploited to steal private data.

Compliance Issues:

Inability to set up a standard baseline of controls to mitigate threats.

Identity & Access Control:

Not verifying user identities before granting them the right level of access.

Lack of visibility of Cloud Workloads:

Poor visibility of data packets in the cloud can cause delays in detecting & resolving threats & vulnerabilities.

Cloud security technology trends to fix these challenges

Cloud security challenges are a big issue. The cloud ecosystem must be shielded from the dangers of the evolving cyber landscape. To make the shift to using the cloud, it’s vital not to take too much time compromising on security or risk causing issues in future. With new threats emerging daily, the risks will only compound if they are ignored and should be fixed as early as possible!

Irrefutable reasons to use cloud security solutions

Cloud security stacks can offer enterprise-grade cloud workload protection, centralized visibility, zero-trust IAM authentication, and data protection by AI with ML-driven automation to detect and remediate complex threats in real-time.

Cloud security strategies to ensure compliance

Use of Native Controls:

A cloud-native approach to security is the way to secure your applications and infrastructure in a rapidly expanding digital landscape. This approach creates a unified security model that includes threat prevention capabilities, as well as eliminating unnecessary extra measures that can slow you down. That's why Microsoft implements a cloud-native security solution via its own technology, including things like Azure Firewall, Azure Sentinel, Azure Security Center, AIP Key Vault, and Microsoft Defender ATP. Additionally,cloud-native security controls are used for protecting public cloud workloads for organizations of all sizes by consolidating services at the infrastructure level and applying micro-segmentation across virtual machines.

Employ Cloud Security Framework:

Design and implement cloud security controls by leveraging Cloud Security Alliance’s Enterprise Architecture Diagram. Guided by methodologies and tools, it helps fulfill baseline security requirements that analysts can use to assess the operational readiness of cloud security controls. Use NIST cybersecurity standards roadmap document to understand the standards, structure, and operations for use in developing security architectures for cloud computing environments. Leverage Microsoft Cybersecurity Reference Architecture to integrate Microsoft’s NT LAN Manager (NTLM) authentication protocol product into existing security architectures and capabilities.

Adopt Identity and Access Management:

Enhance security for critical applications and ensure resource-level access control by defining roles and granting permissions to users so that they can access resources at different levels. Bring in Single Sign-On as well as Multifactor Authentication to secure data and apps; this also ensures that remote workforce security is taken care of. Cloud Identity Access Management (IAM) has a single access control interface to improve visibility and monitoring across the ecosystem, which makes it easier for one to get an overview of all their users. This calls for establishing the Zero Trust Model in order to meet today's security complexities of mobile remote workforces, cloud migration, and fix the security gaps that are creating risk factors that could lead to attacks from any person – including the lateral movement of attack vectors.

Establish Data Security:

Improve no data security with Azure Key Vault by storing keys in Hardware Security Modules (HSM)s. With Key Vault, there is no need to provision, configure, patch, or monitor HSMs because all of this is managed for you. In addition, applications never have direct access to the actual key material and all secrets are secured by default. If new vaults or keys need to be created quickly they can do so effortlessly in a matter of minutes. Also if your company has peak business times, Key Vault can sustain high demand without having to deploy dedicated HSMs which typically come at a high cost. Yet another example of why Azure Key Vault is a solid choice.

Maintain Continuous Compliance:

Use Microsoft Compliance Manager to proactively heighten security readiness to threats and auditory requirements by continuously monitoring compliance across multi-cloud architectures (AWS, Azure, GCP). Continuous compliance helps ease convenience while enabling capabilities like automated risk assessments. Automated compliance includes risk analysis, alerts on policy deviations, and enables automation with relevant changes in the cloud environment.

Cloud advantages are many. However, risks related to cloud transformation must be considered, or there can be pitfalls. The cloud security approach is different from that of a non-cloud network. Large cloud deployments need a retrofit to address privacy and regulatory concerns. It’s time for an enterprise partner who can fully meet security objectives by understanding the enterprise threat profile and risk tolerance.

CyRAACS’ world-class cloud security services are based on the tried and tested multi-cloud foundations by the CyRAACS Platform – which protects data, applications, and transactions from the ground up. To know more about how we can protect your enterprise, contact us today at ms@cyraacs.com.