Managing Cyber Risk in the Age of Cloud Computing

The cloud delivers game-changing capabilities but also surfaces new cyber risks requiring an evolved security perspective.

However, as more sensitive data and critical systems move to the cloud, businesses must adapt their cybersecurity strategies to effectively manage emerging risks.

With careful preparation and monitoring, companies can harness the power of the cloud while protecting their most valuable digital assets.

The Cloud Computing Landscape

Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing services over the Internet. Rather than maintaining local servers or data centers, companies access technology resources like storage, servers, databases, networking, analytics, and software on demand from a cloud provider. These services are hosted in remote data centers operated by companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

There are several distinct types of cloud computing services:

• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provides access to fundamental computing resources like servers, storage, and networking on a pay-as-you-go basis. This allows businesses to scale up or down on demand. As organizations embrace IaaS, they gain the flexibility to adapt their IT infrastructure to changing needs without the burden of maintaining physical hardware.
• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offers a ready-made platform for developing, testing and deploying cloud-based software without needing to set up underlying infrastructure. PaaS solutions streamline the development process, allowing companies to focus more on innovation and less on managing the intricacies of their application infrastructure.
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) allows users to access cloud-hosted applications over the internet, removing the need to install and maintain software locally. SaaS not only simplifies software deployment but also facilitates seamless updates and maintenance, ensuring that users always have access to the latest features and security patches.

The Emergence of New Threats

Migrating business systems and data to the cloud can reduce certain security concerns around local infrastructure while enabling new capabilities. However, it also introduces new cyber risks that existing strategies may not sufficiently address. Companies must expand their perspective on security risks as the adoption of cloud services grows.

Some key threats emerging from cloud computing include:

Data Breaches

With more data concentrated in large cloud platforms, providers become appealing targets for hackers seeking high-value data. And misconfigured cloud databases have led to leakage of sensitive customer information. To counteract this threat, organizations must prioritize robust encryption, regular security audits, and ongoing employee training to mitigate the risk of human error.

System Sprawl

As departments across an organization independently adopt cloud services, governance and oversight break down leading to cyber risks from shadow IT systems, integration issues, and compliance gaps. Implementing centralized governance frameworks and fostering a culture of collaboration between IT and business units is crucial to managing system sprawl and maintaining a unified security posture.

Supply Chain Attacks

The interconnected nature of cloud ecosystems means attackers can exploit vulnerabilities in one cloud service to pivot and compromise others leading to widespread outages. Addressing this risk requires a comprehensive approach, including thorough vendor assessments, continuous monitoring of supply chain activities, and proactive incident response planning.

Insufficient Identity Management

Failure to limit access and permissions for cloud accounts, roles, resources, and services may enable insider threats and account compromises. Implementing robust identity and access management practices, including multifactor authentication and regular access reviews, is essential to bolster defenses against insider threats.

Misconfiguration & Errors

The complexity of properly configuring and deploying cloud infrastructure makes accidental exposures of systems and data much more likely to occur. Investing in automated configuration management tools, conducting regular audits, and providing comprehensive training for IT teams can significantly reduce the risk of misconfigurations.

A Proactive Approach to Security

Addressing these modern issues requires going beyond a reactive security stance to become proactive threat managers. Companies should adopt ongoing cloud security programs centered on visibility, control, and readiness.

Gain Visibility

Actively monitoring cloud resources, access patterns, network traffic, user activity logs, and administrator actions provides situational awareness and intelligence to detect threats early. Continuous monitoring and proactive threat hunting empower organizations to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats and respond swiftly to potential incidents.

Control Access

Identity and access management technologies secure cloud accounts and resources by integrating federated identity, multifactor authentication, and fine-grained authorization controls. Proactively managing access permissions ensures that only authorized individuals have the appropriate level of access, reducing the risk of unauthorized activities.

Prepare for Incidents

Incident response plans tailored for cloud environments ensure rapid detection, containment, eradication, and recovery in order to minimize the impact of events. Regularly testing incident response plans, conducting simulated exercises, and collaborating with relevant stakeholders contribute to an organization’s preparedness for potential security incidents.

Key Elements of a Cloud Cybersecurity Framework

Building a cybersecurity program fit for the cloud era involves updating legacy security controls while introducing new safeguards tailored to modern infrastructure and emerging threats.

Updated Tactics

• Perform external penetration testing and red teams that emulate real-world attacks to uncover cloud vulnerabilities.
• Implement data encryption in transit and at rest to render breaches less impactful.
• Validate security posture through rigorous cloud configuration auditing managed by security teams.
• Establish security monitoring capabilities across the cloud attack surface to enable threat hunting.

Regularly updating tactics and embracing the latest cybersecurity technologies ensures that organizations stay resilient against evolving cyber threats.

Cloud-Native Security 

• Adopt micro-segmentation and zero-trust network access models that tightly control communication between cloud workloads based on policy.
• Build compliance automation through policy-as-code and infrastructure-as-code techniques.
• Continuously monitor user activity and API calls within cloud accounts to detect suspicious access.  
• Feed rich cloud logs like VPC flow logs into a cloud SIEM for better analytics.

Implementing cloud-native security measures not only enhances protection but also aligns security with the dynamic and scalable nature of cloud environments.

Securing The Future

As cloud adoption continues accelerating, the distinction between cloud security and corporate security fades. Cyber risk management converges on protecting critical business data and keeping essential systems available. This requires a shift to data-centric and identity-based security models grounded in deep visibility, real-time detection, automated enforcement, and world-class incident response.

Businesses are turning to specialized cloud security services offered by cloud consulting firms such as Cloudfresh to implement and manage cloud security controls. With cloud platforms now serving as the nervous system underpinning enterprise technology stacks, cyber risk management must keep pace. By taking a proactive and cloud-focused approach, security leaders can securely guide their organizations into the future.