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Enterprises' primary consideration when exploring cloud services has always been security. Aside from risks posed by data traveling across public internet infrastructure to reach these services, many organizations consider it inherently insecure to store or run applications on infrastructure they do not directly control.
Business continuity can protect their cloud infrastructures by employing best practices and tools for cloud security.
While such measures cannot prevent every attack, they assist businesses in strengthening defenses against attacks while protecting data and creating robust cloud security procedures with everyone playing their part, cloud security doesn't have to be complicated.
Cloud Application Security Is Owned By Whom?
As cloud-native application development gains steam, security teams need to work in concert on cloud application security more than ever.
"DevSecOps" refers to this emerging paradigm where developers assume greater responsibilities for AppSec. Ownership over cloud app security could change over the years as DevSecOps adoption increases; only 10% of security professionals believe developers were responsible for safeguarding cloud native environments or applications when polled about DevSecOps adoption rates were measured.
Cloud-Based Application Security Best Practices
Modern technology has transformed how business processes operate thanks to digital disruption, hybrid cloud computing services being one of the industry's fastest-emerging innovations.
Gartner projects that the global cloud market will experience exponential growth from 2023 to 24, reaching $266.4 billion globally.
It is projected that 2023 will experience rapid expansion as more businesses embrace technology to benefit from faster time to market, flexible onboarding processes, and cost-efficient solutions.
According to a survey, 93% of businesses hesitate to embrace cloud services due to security fears; yet, the cloud offers security measures equivalent to those found within conventional on-premise environments, if not more robustly protected by it.
Recognize that cloud security solutions still present limitations when used with third-party apps; nonetheless, whether deployed on-premises or in the Google Cloud platforms, application security must still be considered and addressed accordingly.
Follow these steps to improve cloud app security and ensure that your company adheres to best practices:
Find and Evaluate Cloud Applications
Most of us tend to take security for IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service) applications and cloud environments for granted, adding new apps or platforms without much thought to them; all potential new apps possessing dangerous potential must therefore be thoroughly considered before being added into any environment.
Before selecting or adding new cloud applications, a thorough investigation must occur regarding vendor and application.
When searching and assessing cloud apps, make sure that they conform to these top cloud security guidelines:
- Utilize cloud migration discovery to scrutinize Microsoft Defender ATP traffic logs and compare any newly discovered apps against an approved list for safety and compliance reasons.
- Create application discovery policies to detect non-compliant apps that could compromise application security.
- To administer OAuth apps effectively, monitor which permissions your users grant to cloud applications and flag any that appear suspicious or potentially hazardous.
Control User Behaviour and Cloud Application Access
As with cloud storage solutions and apps, multiple users often require regular app access. Set user access permissions and manage access within core groups to safeguard sensitive information.
Most cloud services and providers allow you to easily configure Single Sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor Authentication (MFA) alongside additional measures you should take, such as password safeguards or single-factor authentication (MFA). Other steps for improving application security:
- Ensure that users only gain as little access as necessary to cloud resources to continue with their tasks without interruptions or distractions.
- Grant resource-level access rather than fixed credentials to protect against compromised credentials allowing unauthorized entry to cloud resources.
Limit administrator privileges as much as possible while mandating multi-factor authentication across all accounts.
- Implement a firm password policy requiring at least 14 characters with at least one capital letter, one lowercase letter, one unique character, and one numeric character for your cloud passwords.
Limit unsuccessful login attempts as well.
- Make sure every user has multi-factor authentication enabled.
As with other security-related tasks, setting default credentials requires careful consideration. Make sure the default user access controls for cloud applications and environments have been set accurately, as this could prevent future incidents of improper user access control settings being inadvertently misused by any malicious actors.
Implement Cloud Governance Guidelines
Cloud governance policies are essential in ensuring all users operating within a cloud environment adhere to security standards.
At the same time, monitoring tools must also be utilized. Include these recommended security practices in your cloud governance policies:
- Implement multi-factor authentication and other standards of authentication.
- Establish guidelines for approved repositories, virtual machines, containers, and other systems.
- Integrate access control measures that delineate roles and guidelines so you can easily keep tabs on who can access what and when.
Enterprises also have the opportunity to develop cloud governance and security guidelines to ensure stringent oversight over usage, storage, and sharing activities.
Recognise, Sort, and Safeguard Private Information Housed in Cloud Storage
Cloud computing makes the sharing of folders and files between multiple users possible; therefore, it's vitally essential that appropriate security policies for file sharing and sensitive data be put in place to ensure its protection.
Be proactive by:
Locate Sensitive Data: Identify which applications and data require restricted access once identified.
Sensitive information that needs to be protected, such as customer records or organization policies, as well as keys or hardcoded passwords, should ideally be stored in an encrypted storage unit with limited access permissions.
Categorize and Secure Files: Once the data has been identified, place it into an individual section for storage before employing encryption or other measures to ensure only those authorized can view it.
Employ DLP with CASBs
Although cloud infrastructure as a service data loss prevention (IaaS DLP) policies fall short, enterprises nonetheless wish to utilize cloud access security brokers, or CASBs, for protection.
Cloud-based application security boards (CASBs) are established between service providers and cloud service consumers to enforce security, manage policies, and guarantee compliance requirements for cloud applications.
Single Sign, Authentication and Authorization, Device Profiling, Credential Mapping, Tokenization, and Encryption are included for optimal security policy enforcement.
Logging Alerting logging tracing is among many other features. CASBs' primary mission is to extend an enterprise's security controls from on-premise infrastructure into the cloud.
Employing CASBs allows organizations to:
- Determine what cloud services are being utilized by which individuals, and any security risks they present to your organization and application data.
- By applying security controls and compiling a database of cloud services, organizations should evaluate and select cloud solutions that fulfill security and regulatory compliance needs.
- Determine any unauthorized or unsafe cloud usage, such as behavior that jeopardizes user accounts both internally and externally (by end users ).
- You can safeguard company assets by restricting access to, downloading, or sharing specific categories of sensitive data stored in the cloud.
Limit the Downloading of Private Information to Dangerous or Unsecured Devices
Even under strict access controls, downloading files to devices can often result in data loss. Therefore, ensure security policies are in place to avoid unknown device downloads and monitor low-trust sessions when sharing data or information with outsiders.
Though it might appear insignificant, taking these precautions will ensure your data remains protected and accessible only by authorized individuals and groups.
Implementing Real-Time Session Controls to Safely Collaborate with Outside Parties
Establish a session policy that will enable you to monitor sessions between internal and external users to enhance visibility and ensure secure collaboration in your cloud environment.
Not only can you keep an eye on every user session, but restrictions can also be placed against specific actions that violate application security or compliance guidelines. Logs allow businesses to monitor user activities recorded for each session log and determine whether they have violated their security guidelines by inspecting user behavior more thoroughly.
Data exfiltration can also be prevented by restricting functions that involve copying, pasting, downloading, or printing private information.
When uploading or sharing sensitive files among users, these must be labeled accordingly and protected adequately this way, data exfiltration will never occur. On top of that, depending on various risk factors, you can use selective denial to deny access to specific applications and users; for instance, if they use client certificates for device management, then access can be denied to them.
Automate and Address Security Risks Related to Cloud Applications
All businesses, large or small, require information security; however, they often need more resources and staff.
An application security team can remain alert while managing high-risk situations effectively by utilizing tools and automation for risk mitigation.
As cloud automation removes the need for manual resource tracking and IT personnel logging into vital systems manually, it helps enhance application security and resilience within an organization.
Additionally, account compromise risks have significantly been reduced with regard to hostile insiders trying to access cloud deployment accounts, decreasing human error risks considerably.
Protection Against Malware Threats
Protecting cloud infrastructure against malware threats has always been easier, thanks to attackers utilizing sophisticated components to launch attacks against it.
But as attackers increasingly employ complex components in attacks against cloud environments, protecting themselves becomes even more complicated.
Consider adopting these application security measures for cloud environments to protect them against malware attacks: Since endpoints like laptops and desktops are the primary targets of malware infections, organizations should prioritize endpoint protection to the highest application security standards.
Establish a policy for BYOD devices to guarantee secure file uploading and downloading from unmanaged endpoints. Use advanced threat protection procedures and tools to limit the spread of malware within your organization and protect its other networks from this cyber threat.
Add security measures to all cloud-based email applications hosted on Microsoft Exchange or Gmail by installing an additional layer of protection to safeguard infrastructure.
Applying these application security procedures to the cloud environment will enable you to maintain its safety, especially where potential vulnerabilities may be hard to pinpoint.
Safe IaaS Solutions and Personalized Apps
Cloud application platforms enable their clients to purchase third-party applications or SaaS (Software as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) services from third parties.
Integrating applications like these into cloud vendor storage presents both security risks and convenience benefits, providing easy use and customization options as necessary. Ensure that your environment's security configuration can detect anomalies and potential security vulnerabilities.
Attain this goal by adhering to your cloud technologies provider's recommended app security settings and only choosing reliable sources when purchasing SaaS or IaaS applications.
Conclusion
As everyone's responsibility to uphold cloud security is shared equally, equipping yourself with best practices and cutting-edge security techniques is crucial to successfully traverse a cloud strategy environment confidently.
Although cloud service providers tend to keep their environments secure, your methods for connecting and managing access and data may pose more significant threats, making understanding best practices even more essential as controlling cloud security back into your hands gives the promise that solid security can also be attained.
