Do you know that 92% of organizations currently host their IT environment in the cloud? After the COVID-19 pandemic, cloud adoption followed the increase in remote working. Increased flexibility, productivity, and reduced costs made it a viable option for businesses around the world.
But with major advantages follow some critical security threats. In the case of mismanagement, organizations can suffer from data breaches and leakage.
To avoid the same, let’s take a look at the most talked-about cloud security trends in recent times.
Research has shown that misconfiguration, lack of visibility, identity, and unauthorized access comes under the highest-ranked cloud threats. Cloud Security Posture
Management or CSPM looks at the configuration of your cloud platform accounts and identifies any possible misconfiguration leading to data breaches and leakage.
The cloud environment is dramatically expanding, and the identification of misconfiguration becomes increasingly difficult. Gartner identifies misconfiguration as the core reason behind data breaches. Reduction or complete elimination would ensure better functioning.
CSPM helps businesses develop trust with their users in terms of safety and security. It automates security and provides compliance assurance in the cloud.
Here is how CSPM proves to be effective for businesses:
Easy detection and remediation of cloud misconfigurations
Inventory of best practices of varied cloud configuration
Keep track of current configuration status
Efficiently work with SaaS and PaaS platforms even in a multi-cloud environment
Keeps a proper check on storage bucked, encryptions, and account permissions
Ensuring customer data protection before it reaches the cloud
Did you know that the top cloud security concerns in 2021 are data loss and leakage (69%)?
Cloud computing has numerous benefits but security is always at stake. The data is out of the direct control of the owner, thereby making security a top concern. Increasing data breaches calls out businesses to improve prior data protection.
Customers would hardly be interested in associating with companies that couldn’t guarantee data safety. Organizations must take all relevant steps to create new standards, rules, and regulations to protect crucial customer data.
Businesses are highly invested in encrypting data before sending it to the cloud. It’s not too late to introduce Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) encryption for the overall benefit of the organization and customers.
The BYOK encryption system encrypts the organization’s data, and the access to the information lies with the owner. But businesses need to be cautious while introducing this system as some plans upload the keys to the cloud security platform. This again makes the information vulnerable and prone to leakage.
The zero trust model offers complete security by assuring no one gets access to data until their identity is authenticated. It ensures the users get access only to the information that they need. No piece of extra information is offered in any scenario.
At every step, the user needs to authenticate their identity. This model gives the control back to the organization and increases accountability. By providing limited access, the possibility of data breaches reduces.
Adapting to this model becomes necessary with an increased number of insider attacks. Employees should never gain access to information that isn’t relevant to their area.
SDLC and DevSecOps within the cloud
The increased popularity of DevOps has helped companies release effective software programs with negligible risk.
Now companies rely highly on DevSecOps, a new model that takes complete accountability for the security implementation. The implemented security and accountability to everyone ensures companies don’t suffer any trouble.
Some significant benefits of implementing it are reducing vulnerabilities present on your code, IaC technologies, ways to exploit your application, and downtime.
The overall security on your SDLC improves after integrating DevSecOps into your current DevOps pipeline. These security measures are crucial to ensure every phase of the SDLC pipeline goes smoothly.
Lack of consensus
The government has been working on implementing rules, regulations, and policies to ensure adequate cloud security. But countries often deal with issues differently, causing unavoidable security threats.
Businesses suffer trouble caused by diversity in tackling major issues and varying regulations around the world. Users are heavily invested in ensuring they receive proper security. The increased cybercrimes require businesses to invest their time and attention to strict adherence to clear regulations.
A drastic increase in cybercrimes
Cloud computing provides access to information at all times. But the users who are associated with the resources are responsible for the risk that follows. The exposure to cybercrime is drastic in the case of cloud computing due to decreased visibility and control. Even the individuals are least aware of the associated threats.
The three types of data in cloud computing exposed to the risk of cybercrime are:
Data processed in the cloud
The idle or resting data
The data in transit
Due to the increased risk of cybercrime, companies cannot function without end-to-end encryption. Despite being aware of the severe threats, only one in five companies assess their cloud security posture from time to time. Make sure you don’t lag in this area to save your business from heavy losses.
The need for centralized platforms
Streamlining activities is crucial for businesses using more than one cloud provider. A centralized platform is the need of the hour to implement relevant measures and security controls.
To get rid of these issues, companies rely on a cloud security access broker (CSAB). This acts as a connector between cloud applications and users. CSAB leads to the smooth functioning and offers better visibility. Continuous scanning of the concerned activities followed by implementing major procedures and rules makes it a viable choice.
Increased investment in intelligent security
The continuous advancement in Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning requires businesses to rethink their security techniques. These technical advancements offer complete protection of the data, thereby saving businesses from severe cyber thefts. It’s crucial as undetected thefts could cause severe damages that take time to recover.
Businesses relying on them develop better customer trust and end up expanding their customer base. These technologies are slowly taking over various industries, including insurance, baking, etc.
Furthermore, a shortage of a cybersecurity workforce increases the demand for artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Summing up
We know that every passing day brings forward a new sophisticated cyber threat to businesses. After analyzing the above trends, companies must prepare for the worst.
Taking strong security measures is crucial to save their integrity and develop a lasting relationship with the customers. Keep working and monitoring security considerations consistently to protect your business from severe threats.
About the Writer
Gaurav Belani is a senior SEO and content marketing analyst at Growfusely, a content marketing agency that specializes in data-driven SEO. He has more than seven years of experience in digital marketing and loves writing about AI, machine learning, data science, cloud security, and other emerging technologies. In his spare time, he enjoys watching movies and listening to music. Connect with him on Twitter at @belanigaurav.
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