A cloud security platform is a set of integrated tools and services designed to protect cloud-based infrastructure, applications, and data from cyberthreats.
As organizations increase their reliance on cloud computing, cloud security platforms have become vital components of the security technology stack. A cloud security platform offers a unified solution that integrates an array of security tools and services to protect an organization’s infrastructure, applications, and data within multiple cloud environments. Superior solutions offer comprehensive security coverage for cloud native workloads, hybrid cloud setups, and multicloud environments, delivering deep visibility and centralized management features to improve overall security posture. By unifying multiple security functions, cloud security platforms help organizations streamline security operations and respond to threats more effectively.
Cybersecurity threats to cloud environments
Cloud environments are continuously at risk from a wide range of threats and vulnerabilities.
- Data breaches are among the most common and most potent threats to cloud security. When attackers gain unauthorized access to sensitive data stored in the cloud, an organization can suffer significant financial loss, damage to reputation, and legal and regulatory repercussions. Data breaches often result from vulnerabilities or from misconfiguration of security access controls. Robust data security measures include encryption and identity and access control (IAC).
- Malware and ransomware are strains of malicious software that can infect cloud-based systems and applications, compromising data integrity and availability. Ransomware is particularly dangerous, as it encrypts files on servers and drives, enabling attackers to demand a ransom payment. Ransomware attacks can quickly incapacitate an organization, and they may last for days or even weeks. Advanced threat detection and response mechanisms are essential to identifying and defending against these types of attacks.
- Misconfiguration occurs when IT and security teams improperly configure cloud services, leaving systems exposed and open to attack. Misconfiguration is often the result of human error or a lack of understanding about cloud security best practices. Tools that automate the tasks of continuously monitoring configurations and correcting mistakes can help to prevent these incidents.
- Insider threats are malicious actions performed by employees or contractors who misuse their authorization to access cloud resources. Often instigated by disgruntled employees, these threats can be difficult to detect and mitigate. Strict access controls and continuous monitoring of user activities are the best ways to minimize and prevent insider threats.
- Account hijacking happens when hackers use compromised or stolen credentials to gain access and take over cloud accounts. Attackers often use brute-force methods or phishing attacks that dupe users into sharing credentials. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) and regular account reviews are essential to stopping this threat to cloud security.
Key components of a cloud security platform
Cloud security platforms combine multiple security services and solutions to maximize protection and minimize administrative burden.
- Cloud security posture management (CSPM) tools continuously monitor and assess the security configuration of cloud environments. These solutions help to identify misconfigurations, flag compliance violations, and uncover potential vulnerabilities across multiple cloud providers. CSPM tools enhance the overall security posture of cloud environments by providing automated remediation and compliance reporting.
- Cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP) solutions deliver security for the entire lifecycle of cloud native applications. By integrating vulnerability management, compliance monitoring, and runtime protection for containerized and serverless workloads, cloud native security solutions promote application security from development through deployment and operation.
- Cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM) tools manage access control and permissions in cloud environments. By helping security teams discover, analyze, and remediate excessive or misconfigured entitlements, CIEM solutions reduce the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive data.
- Cloud workload protection solutions improve security for a variety of cloud workloads, including virtual machines, serverless functions, and containers, including those managed by Kubernetes. Features of cloud workload protection include threat detection, vulnerability scanning, and runtime protection against malware and other cyberattacks, no matter where the workload is deployed.
- Threat intelligence and detection tools leverage real-time information about emerging threats to quickly identify and respond to potential security incidents within a cloud environment.
- Cloud firewalls and web application firewalls (WAFs) monitor and control incoming and outgoing network traffic and HTTP traffic to prevent a wide range of threats.
Essential features of cloud security platforms
When choosing cloud security solutions, CISOs and their teams should seek solutions that offer a handful of critical features.
- Multicloud support: This capability is essential for securing and managing cloud assets and resources across multiple cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Multicloud support ensures consistent visibility and enforcement of security policies across diverse cloud ecosystems. It also helps organizations avoid security silos by maintaining a unified security posture.
- Automated remediation: As cloud environments become more complex, the ability to automatically address security issues like configurations or policy violations is paramount. Automated remediation reduces the manual workload for security teams while speeding the resolution of potential issues to minimize exposure to threats.
- Real-time threat detection: Continuous monitoring and analysis of cloud activities helps security teams identify potential incidents as they occur. Using advanced analytics and machine learning, real-time threat detection capabilities identify anomalous behavior as early as possible, enabling security teams to quickly respond and mitigate the impact of security threats.
- Compliance management: Built-in frameworks and reporting capabilities help streamline the tasks involved in meeting regulatory requirements such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR. Compliance management features usually include predefined compliance templates and automated assessments that help organizations avoid penalties by ensuring adherence to industry standards.
- DevOps integration: APIs and integrations with popular DevOps tools embed security checks into the CI/CD pipeline. This enables automated security testing throughout the application development lifecycle while promoting a “shift-left” approach to security.
- Endpoint security: These features monitor endpoints to ensure that devices are secure and free of potential threats. Endpoint security solutions defend against malware, phishing, and other threats that commonly compromise endpoints.
- Data protection and encryption: These security measures include encryption for data at rest and in transit, as well as access controls and data masking.
The benefits of a cloud security platform
Cloud security platforms offer IT teams considerable benefits as they strive to protect cloud ecosystems from a rapidly evolving threat landscape.
- Unified security management: By consolidating multiple security tools on a single platform, security platforms simplify management and improve visibility across the entire ecosystem. This centralized approach enables more efficient security operations and easier oversight while reducing the complexity of managing disparate security tools.
- Reduce the attack surface: Cloud security platforms minimize potential entry points for attackers by continuously assessing and remediating vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. This proactive approach helps prevent breaches before they occur.
- Improve compliance management: Automated compliance checks and reporting help reduce the risk and potential penalties of noncompliance. Automated compliance management tools also minimize the burden of managing compliance for IT teams.
- Optimize cost and cloud spend: By centralizing management and automating tasks, cloud security platforms help reduce operational costs and enable teams to use security resources more efficiently. Organizations can lower their security overhead by consolidating security functions and automating routine tasks.
- Improve security posture: With the ability to identify and mitigate security threats more easily, IT teams can prevent more threats and minimize the impact of successful security breaches.
- Scale security easily: Cloud security platforms are designed to scale effortlessly as an organization’s needs evolve. These solutions can quickly adapt to new cloud services, providers, and workloads.
The challenges of managing a cloud security platform
While cloud security platforms offer enormous value, they may also present IT and security teams with additional challenges.
- Complexity: Deploying and managing a comprehensive cloud security platform can be complex. IT teams may require specialized skills as well as knowledge of various cloud technologies and security practices. Organizations may need to hire skilled personnel or invest in training for current staff.
- Integration: Integrating a cloud security platform with existing systems, workflows, and cloud services can be complicated and time-consuming. Compatibility issues may require custom solutions and additional configuration.
- Alert fatigue: Some security platforms generate large volumes of security alerts that can overwhelm security teams, making it hard to identify the most critical threats and prioritize responses.
- Continuous innovation: To compete in a crowded marketplace, providers of cloud security platforms frequently introduce new services and capabilities. While these features are essential for maximum protection, they also require ongoing effort and investment as IT teams get up to speed with new capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Features for cloud security platforms vary by provider, but these solutions typically include capabilities for identity and access management (IAM), data encryption, protection, threat detection and response, network security, vulnerability management, configuration management, compliance and governance tools, and security information and event management (SIEM).
Cloud security platforms help organizations adhere to regulatory frameworks by providing automated compliance checks, audit trails, and reporting features.
Why customers choose Akamai
Akamai is the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business online. Our market-leading security solutions, superior threat intelligence, and global operations team provide defense in depth to safeguard enterprise data and applications everywhere. Akamai’s full-stack cloud computing solutions deliver performance and affordability on the world’s most distributed platform. Global enterprises trust Akamai to provide the industry-leading reliability, scale, and expertise they need to grow their business with confidence.
