Elevating Cloud security: Strengthening Your Defense in an Evolving Landscape

Welcome to this blog post dedicated to cloud security! What are the best practices for cloud security? This series of security blogs aims to enhance your knowledge and practices in the cloud realm. We will delve into the crucial topic of cloud security and explore strategies to strengthen your defense against emerging threats.

Understanding Cloud Security and Its Significance 

Cloud security is increasingly important in today's digital landscape. Cybercriminals have become more sophisticated, relentless, and destructive in their attacks. They continuously adapt and devise new techniques, making each attack more complex than the last.  

According to a 2022 IBM security report, there has been a surge in various cyberattacks between 2020 and 2021. Vulnerability exploitation has increased by 33%, while phishing attacks have risen by 48% in the first half of 2022. These incidents have resulted in 11,395 reported cases, costing businesses a total of $12.3 million (comptia.org).  

Cybersecurity is an ongoing battle that requires constant vigilance, adaptability, and collaboration. Considering the projected 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by the end of 2025, we must put forth maximum effort.  

Strengthen Your Cloud Security Posture

When discussing cloud security, there is often a strong emphasis on threat detection. Terms like "AI-driven" and "ML-based" have become commonplace. However, it all starts with preventing security incidents from occurring in the first place!  

Human ransomware operators need leaked or stolen credentials to gain access to an organization. They require vulnerable systems and poorly managed high privilege permissions to move laterally within the organization. These events can be prevented by following security best practices and basic security hygiene. Microsoft even states that basic security hygiene can prevent 98% of attacks. Improving your basic hygiene increases your security posture. 

Where should you start?

There are numerous tools available to assist you, but it's not just about the technical aspects. People play a central role, and while awareness is essential, it's only one piece of the puzzle. Security tooling should be comprehensive and understandable, so even engineers without a security PhD can benefit from it. 

How can you measure your progress? This is where compliance comes into play. Mapping established security frameworks to your environment will provide valuable insights. 

What should you do? The right tooling in capable hands becomes a powerful weapon against cybercrime. There is no shortage of tools, but there is a shortage of people who can operate them. 

This blog post series will address the following key aspects of cloud security: 

1. People are at the heart of Cloud security: It all starts with people. We will discuss raising awareness, shared responsibilities, and how to help individuals take on these new responsibilities.
   
2. Compliance: What is considered secure? While pen and paper may sound like a secure option, productivity would be close to zero. We will explore compliance frameworks and how they can benefit you, providing continuous insights. Your CISO will appreciate it! 
3. Tooling: We can't just talk about cloud security; action must be taken! Tooling can be helpful but often adds complexity. You must choose between the best-of-breed or best-integration approach. Is there a silver bullet? Does it empower your IT team to take responsibility for strengthening your security posture?
   

I hope this blog-series will provide you with valuable knowledge and expertise in the ever expanding realm of cloud security and serves as a good starting point to safeguard your organization's digital assets. Cloud security is not easy but it shouldn’t be to hard when you know where to start and what to do!  

Author: Erik Snijder