What is cloud security posture management?

IT professionals have a lot of questions to answer. Questions like, "Why isn't it working?" and "Why is it still not working?"

Beneath these everyday queries, however, IT has one big question to grapple with: how do you manage the security and compliance of your cloud workloads?

The cloud is a classic example of a new technology becoming quickly embraced. It's gone from not-quite-zero to hero in what feels like the blink of an eye.

On the one hand, this has led to countless benefits for management, staff and customers alike. On the other hand, the sheer speed of deployment has led to costly and frustrating mistakes. All too often, these mistakes take the form of misconfigurations.

It tends to go something like this. A company is sold on the benefits of cloud migration. They shift their workloads to a cloud provider – AWS, say, or Oracle. They do so assuming that the provider is responsible for cloud security.

In one sense, they're right. The cloud provider has to ensure that the  infrastructure is secure. But the cloud provider isn't responsible for security breaches caused by cloud misconfiguration. That, alas, is on you.

And guess what? Most cloud security data breaches are the direct or indirect result of misconfigurations. How can you stop this from affecting your business?

This is where cloud security posture management, or CSPM, comes in. It's a collection of tools and technologies that help you identify and remediate misconfigurations across different cloud environments and infrastructure – from Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) to Software as a Service (SaaS) to Platform as a Service (PaaS).

By automating threat detection and remediating misconfigurations, CSPM can save you time, stress and money. But before we take a closer look at the benefits – what is security posture, exactly, and why does it need to be managed?

What is security posture?


The phrase "security posture" gets bandied about a lot. But what exactly does it mean? Is it a tool, a set of tools or a mindset?

You can think of security posture as like a hygiene rating at a kebab shop. It refers to the business's ability to identify, respond to and recover from problems with hygiene, whether cloud-based or kebab-based.

But this ability isn't purely abstract. It's closely related to the tools, procedures and reviews that are in place to maintain that ability.
Security posture covers the assets that need protecting, including software, hardware and data. It covers visibility into and awareness of vulnerabilities. Finally, it refers to the identification and containment of internal and external threats.

If your organisation has a strong security posture, you can withstand an attack or bounce back from it quickly. This reassures customers and other third parties that you're a safe pair of hands. It also means that if disaster strikes, it won't be a costly, disruptive mess.

What are the key capabilities of CSPM?  

The first key capability of CSPM is its ability to continuously monitor the compliance of your cloud resources.

In the kingdom of the cloud, compliance is king. If your cloud environment isn't compliant, it could cost you in two ways – first, through the disruption it causes, and, secondly, through a fine under GDPR or another regulatory body.

As well as monitoring compliance, CSPM enforces access to data based on your security policies. It does this automatically, meaning consistency and continuity.

Next, it offers advanced threat detection, swiftly identifying risks that could tear a hole in your cloud environment.

Finally, CSPM immediately remediates those risks and eliminates any compliance issues.

On a macro level, CSPM gives you more visibility into and control over your cloud security. The result: a cloud security posture fit for the cloud-first age.

What are the key benefits of CSPM?


There are three key benefits of CSPM. The first is visibility. Today's cloud networks are complex. If you can't see them, you can't manage them.
Secondly, it centralises management, giving IT a single dashboard acting as a single window into the cloud environment.

But visibility alone isn't enough – nor is threat containment, in fact. A good security posture also requires actionable insights that can be used to maintain cloud compliance and provide evidence for security audits.

That said, threat containment and remediation is a key benefit of CSPM. By automating the process, it drastically reduces the time and effort that manual remediation requires.

Taken together, these benefits empower security teams to keep their cloud infrastructure under tight surveillance and to swiftly deal with problems as they arise.

What causes cloud misconfigurations?

CSPM is a solution to the problem of misconfigurations. But where do these misconfigurations come from – and how can they be avoided?

Misconfigurations occur when applications, containers, infrastructure and other software components are installed. Often, they stem from a lack of visibility into the infrastructure. They also come from businesses leaning on default settings without appropriate fine-tuning.

One of the best ways to avoid misconfigurations is to work with a cloud consultant. By leveraging their experience and expertise, you're nipping problems in the bud and saving money in the long run.

What's the difference between CSPM and CASB?

"Only three things in life are certain", said Dr Johnson. "Death, taxes and cloud security acronyms."

It's frustrating, we know. The difference between a CASB and a CSPM, however, is fairly straightforward.

A cloud access security broker or CASB is a kind of firewall that ensures users interact with the cloud in line with company policy.

A CSPM, however, is a set of tools that focuses on detecting and remediating misconfigurations to minimise security risks.

Conclusion

Cloud security is more important than ever – and a CSPM can play a critical role in detecting and remediating threats. It could be the difference between business as usual and a whole lot of drama.


Are you looking for a cloud security consultant to help polish up your posture? Ascend Cloud Solutions empowers organisations of all sizes to protect their data and get more from the cloud. Get in touch with our experts today to book a free discovery call.