Cloud Security Best Practices For AWS, Azure, And GCP
A recent 2022 report by Check Point revealed that a notable percentage of businesses, about 27%, witnessed a security incident in their public cloud infrastructure during the previous year. Nearly a quarter of the incidents, i.e., 23%, resulted from security misconfigurations within the cloud infrastructure. To secure their cloud infrastructure, businesses must implement some of the best practices in cloud security. These steps cannot prevent every attack, but they play an important role in enhancing defense, protecting data, and setting solid cloud security best practices in place. List of 10 Cloud Security Best Practices By adopting the following best practices for any cloud security architecture, organizations can cut down the risk of security breaches and considerably improve their overall security posture. 1. Identity and Access Management (IAM) The initial cloud security best practice uses IAM tools and processes for controlling access to different services and resources in the cloud and forms the basis of cloud security best practices. It is similar to user and group management on a local computer or server. In the same way you would limit access to local resources, IAM is utilized to regulate access to cloud data security and services. IAM Core Principle: Least Privilege and Zero Trust The Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) and Zero Trust provide the users with limited rights to accomplish their tasks. It guarantees that the users will not have extra access, limiting potential cloud security threats. 2. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Let’s see how the MFA functions in the real world to be among the best practices of cloud security: 3. Data Security Protеcting sеnsitivе data during transit and at rеst mеans еnsuring confidеntiality, intеgrity, and availability whеn data is storеd on thе cloud. Data at Rest Data in rest implies it is stored on file systems, databases, or storage media. The following is how different mechanisms are employed to safeguard such data against breaches and unauthorized access. 4. Network Security Various cloud infrastructure security and solutions can be implemented to make the network and data secure as far as integrity and usability are concerned. Network security is important in protecting data and applications in the cloud. Each of the big cloud security providers – AWS, Azure, and GCP – has its collection of tools and practices to protect data as it travels within and between their networks. Here are some cloud security best practices to take advantage of the same: 5. Cloud Resource Update Keeping the cloud infrastructure up to date is a must for security and performance. AWS, Azure, and GCP all have their own cloud security best practices and cloud security tools for assisting businesses with patching and updating their cloud resources. 6. Logging and Monitoring System logs (application, server, and access logs) give valuable insights into the health, performance, and security of your cloud resources. Some information on how you can make use of the same as one of the cloud security best practices: AWS Azure GCP 7. Backup and Disaster Recovery Data safety is important. Here’s how leading cloud providers provide strong solutions for disaster recovery and backup. AWS It uses CloudEndure for cloud disaster recovery, providing: Azure Azure Site Recovery, powered by InMage technology, offers: GCP Rather than a packaged DRaaS, GCP provides: Note: All the providers highlight the need to periodically test and update disaster recovery plans to maintain data safety. 8. Security Audits To have a strong security stance, regular security audits and assessments of your cloud environment are crucial. Large cloud vendors provide built-in tools and suggest certain cloud application security best practices to help organizations achieve their security and compliance requirements: AWS Azure GCP Qualysec Qualysec’s Pentest runs 9000+ tests that include OWASP Top 10, CVEs, and SANS 25 checking. It checks pages behind the login form and scans for single-page apps and progressive web apps. It is ISO 27001, HIPAA, SOC2, or GDPR-compliant. 9. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Data Loss Prеvеntion (DLP) is a critical componеnt of cloud sеcurity, particularly whеn looking at thе hugе volumеs of sеnsitivе information storеd and procеssеd within cloud еnvironmеnts. 10. Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) PoLP is a principle of cloud security service that means that users should get only the permissions needed to do their job and nothing more. This basic cloud security primary rule reduces unauthorized access that may occur, reduces the area of attack provided, and prevents a user from making changes or deletions by mistake. Conclusion From robust access controls such as IAM and PoLP to active processes such as frequent audits, backups, and training employees, organizations have a complete security plan to follow cloud security best practices. But the catch here is the careful implementation and ongoing monitoring of these practices, which renders a security audit a critical necessity. Qualysec experts are ready to provide you with the best process-based penetration testing audit report and remediation. Contact us to know more!!