Top 10 Challenges of Cloud Security Posture Management
When an organization starts to use a public cloud solution, they also have a shared responsibility of owning the security
of their cloud account which is running their cloud workloads. To ensure that their cloud accounts have a robust security
posture, CSPM comes into play. In this blog, we will discuss the challenges of Cloud Security Posture Management.
(Read more on What is CSPM)
Top 10 Challenges of Cloud Security Posture Management with its Remediation
Lack of visibility
Cloud environments are getting more complex and dynamic day by day, making it difficult to gain complete visibility
into all assets and their security posture. This can create security blind spots and security teams may find it challenging
to identify and respond to threats.
Remediation:
Get a CSPM tool that provides comprehensive visibility into all cloud assets and their security posture.
Shared responsibility model
The shared responsibility model divides security responsibilities between the CSP and the customer. This can make
it difficult to acknowledge who is responsible for securing which aspects of the cloud environment. This situation
creates gaps in security and makes it difficult to manage cloud security effectively.
Remediation:
Work with your CSPs to understand your shared security responsibilities. Make sure you have a plan in place to secure
all aspects of your cloud environment, including infrastructure, workloads, and data.
Misconfigurations
Misconfigured cloud resources are one of the reasons that cause cloud security breaches. Most of the time, Misconfigurations
occur due to human error or a lack of understanding the cloud security best practices. Misconfigurations can expose cloud
resources and make them vulnerable to attack or allow unauthorized access to data.
Remediation:
Use a CSPM tool to identify and remediate misconfigurations in your cloud environment. Establish and enforce cloud security
policies and procedures to help prevent misconfigurations from occurring in the first place.
Vulnerabilities
Cloud environments are constantly evolving, which means that new vulnerabilities are also evolving all the time.
Vulnerabilities can be exploited by attackers to gain access to cloud resources or data. Thus, it is really important
to keep up with the latest vulnerabilities and patch them as early as possible.
Remediation:
Keep your cloud environment up to date with the latest security rules and updates. Use or buy a CSPM tool to identify
and remediate vulnerabilities in your cloud environment.
Insider threats
Insider threats are a major concern for all organizations present, which is not a very safe practice, particularly
in the cloud environment. Because insiders have privileged access to cloud resources and organizational data. Insider
threats can be motivated and may not be limited to financial gain, revenge, or espionage. It is important to have security controls in place to detect and prevent insider threats then and there.
Remediation:
Implement essential security controls to detect and prevent insider threats, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and user behavior analytics (UBA) - to name a few. Conduct regular security awareness training for your teams to keep them aware of trends.
Compliance
Many organizations are subject to industry-specific compliance requirements, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, or ISO. These
requirements often specify security controls that must be implemented to protect sensitive data. It can be difficult
to ensure that cloud environments comply with all applicable regulations.
Remediation:
Get a CSPM tool to assess your cloud environment against industry-specific compliance requirements. Implement the suggested security controls to meet all applicable compliance requirements.
Budget constraints
Cloud security can be expensive, especially for large organizations that generally deal in complex cloud environments.
It is important for them to prioritize security spending and choose the right security solutions according to their needs.
Remediation:
Prioritize your security spending and choose the right security solution according to your needs. Use a CSPM tool that at
least helps you to identify and address the most important security risks (Considering the least requirement).
Skills shortage
There is a shortage of skilled cloud security professionals. This can make it difficult to find and retain the talent
needed to manage cloud security posture. It is important to invest in training and development for your security staff.
Remediation:
Invest in training and development for your security team. Consider buying a trustworthy third-party tool or outsourcing
some of your security needs to a qualified managed security service provider (MSSP).
Alerts fatigue
CSPM tools can generate a large number of alerts. It can be difficult to keep up with all of the alerts and prioritize
the most important ones. This can lead to important alerts being missed or ignored.
Remediation:
Get a CSPM solution that allows you to customize and prioritize alerts. This will help you to focus on the most important
alerts first and reduce the risk of missing important security events.
False positives
CSPM solutions can sometimes generate false positives. This can lead to a lot of time and resources wasted in investigating
non-existent threats. It is important to have a process in place to validate alerts and prioritize the most important ones first.
Remediation:
Evaluate with the providers on their CSPM tool and make sure that the evaluating tool has a low false positive rate.
Implement a process for validating alerts and prioritizing the most important ones.
Conclusion
By thoroughly following the above-given steps, organizations will have a good start to mitigate the challenges in CSPM and improve the security of their cloud environments. Please note that these are just a few (of the many) mitigation processes that can be used to address the challenges of CSPM. The specific mitigation processes that are best for an organization will depend on its specific needs and requirements.
Our approach to securing your public cloud infrastructure is a multi-pronged one. Any organization needs complete visibility into their cloud assets, the existing risks and how to mitigate them, continuous monitoring for misconfigurations and drifts arising therein, real-time reporting of these to not compromise their cloud infrastructure, and remediation to mitigate the threats. With Cloudanix, these are now possible. Our tooling categorizes these features into 3 broad categories: Events, Misconfigurations and Asset.
We welcome contributions from the community. If you have ideas, suggestions, or would like to report issues, feel free to join us on GitHub. Thank you for being a part of our journey towards a more seamless cloud experience. Happy Coding!
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