Cloud computing has become a mainstream force, bringing economies of scale and breakthrough technological advancements to modern organizations, but this is not just a trend, cloud computing is developing at an amazing speed. However, the ever-expanding cloud environment also brings new risks.
The need for safe use of
cloud services
The organization has fully demonstrated that the business traffic supported by cloud services is continuously increasing. However, when using cloud services, organizations are still uncertain whether to entrust their data to a cloud service provider (CSP). CSPs usually provide a certain level of security, which has been confirmed in many investigations, but cloud-related security incidents do occur.
CSPs cannot be fully responsible for the security of their customers’ key information assets. Cloud security also depends on the customer's ability to implement information security controls. However, the cloud environment is complex and diverse, and there is always no unified method for deploying and maintaining core security controls. Organizations must be aware of this and fulfill their responsibilities to jointly protect cloud services in order to successfully respond to the growing cyber threats to the cloud environment, which is crucial.
Main functions of cloud services
Enterprises have quickly adopted cloud services because they are easy to purchase, relatively low in setup costs, and can replace traditional technologies that no longer meet business needs. However, the functions brought by multiple cloud services are also diverse, and managing security is not an easy task.
Cloud services cover a large number of products, such as business applications, document storage solutions, databases, and virtual servers, all of which can be purchased on demand from selected CSPs via public networks (most commonly the Internet).
As companies turn to cloud computing to enhance their business operations, they are more inclined to purchase cloud services instead of expanding traditional local IT data centers. This phenomenon is often referred to as a cloud-first strategy and has been adopted by countless organizations. For many organizations, this means that almost their entire IT infrastructure will eventually be hosted in a cloud environment.
The rise of the
multi-cloud environment
Organizations like a multi-cloud environment because it allows them to choose their favorite cloud services among different CSPs. However, each CSP adopts its own specific technology and methods for security management. Therefore, cloud customers need to acquire a wide range of skills and knowledge to safely use cloud services from multiple CSPs.
Organizations need a series of different users to securely access cloud services from the organization's intranet through a secure network connection (for example, through a gateway). However, organizations also need their cloud services to be externally accessible by business partners and users (not working locally or remotely), all of which require a secure network connection designated by the organization to connect.
Overcoming cloud security challenges
Although CSPs provide a certain level of security for their cloud services, organizations need to understand their security obligations and deploy necessary security controls. This requires organizations to understand the security challenges posed by the complexity and heterogeneity of the cloud environment.
ISF members have identified several barriers to safe operation in a cloud environment. The main challenges include:
Determine and maintain appropriate security controls
Balancing the security responsibilities between CSP and cloud customers
Meet regulatory requirements to protect sensitive data in the cloud environment
The rapid growth in cloud usage has exacerbated these challenges. In some cases, organizations are not fully prepared to deal with cloud security issues.
Balancing the security shared responsibility between CSP and cloud customers
Ensuring the safe use of cloud services is a shared responsibility between CSP and cloud customers. The security responsibility of CSP is to protect the multi-tenant cloud environment, including back-end services and physical infrastructure, and to isolate data between different customers.
Although CSP maintains many underlying cloud infrastructures, cloud customers are responsible for protecting their data and user management. Whether the customer’s responsibility extends to the security configuration of the application, operating system, and network depends on the cloud service model chosen.
This shared security responsibility can cause confusion and cause customers to rely too much on CSP to mitigate threats and prevent security incidents. Cloud customers need to clearly understand how to share security responsibilities with each CSP in order to identify and deploy the necessary security controls to protect the cloud environment.
Meet regulatory requirements to protect sensitive data in the cloud environment
Enterprises using local IT data centers will know exactly where their critical and sensitive data are located, and can fully control the movement of their data, which is very helpful when implementing security controls. In a cloud environment, data can enter and exit the enterprise more freely, which may obscure the location of critical and sensitive data and prevent them from being better protected, which may prevent the enterprise from being effective in all its cloud services according to compliance requirements The ability to implement the necessary security controls.
Although cloud customers are responsible for ensuring the security of their data in the cloud environment, the customer’s control over the data is essentially limited because the data is stored by an external party (CSP) in a remote location, usually in another country. . In addition, for flexibility considerations, CSPs usually use several data centers with different geographic locations to ensure that the organization's data is stored on multiple servers.
This adds additional complexity in managing cross-border data, understanding the location of data at a specific moment, determining applicable legal jurisdiction, and ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations. This is the obligation of cloud customers, not CSP.
Maximize your potential and take responsibility
Today's companies must operate fast, provide new products and services to maintain a competitive advantage. Therefore, many companies choose to move further toward cloud computing, because the elasticity and scalability provided by cloud services provide the flexibility needed for competition. For enterprises, they are confident that they can migrate to the cloud while ensuring the security of their important technical infrastructure. This requires a reliable strategy.
The cloud environment has become an attractive target for cyber attackers, and companies urgently need to enhance their existing security measures. However, due to the diversity and scalability of the cloud environment, continuously ensuring the security of the cloud can be a complex task.
This is just one of the many challenges that enterprises need to overcome when using cloud services safely. Enterprises cannot rely solely on CSP to protect their key information assets, but must assume their own responsibilities. This requires good governance, deployment of core controls, and effective security. product and service. Controls covering network security, access management, data protection, security configuration, and security monitoring are not new to information security practitioners, but they are essential for the safe use of cloud services.
Ensuring the safe use of services will provide business decision makers with the confidence needed to embrace the cloud, so as to maximize the potential of the cloud and drive the enterprise into the future.
