A cloud security assessment is an important step for organizations to ensure the safety and protection of their data and infrastructure. By conducting regular assessments, organizations can identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in their cloud setup before they can be exploited by malicious actors.
The first step in conducting a cloud security assessment is to take inventory of all the cloud accounts and subscriptions in use. This is particularly important for larger organizations that may have numerous accounts, as they may choose to selectively sample a few accounts for the assessment. It is recommended to focus on accounts that store sensitive data or have a high level of exposure.
Once the inventory is complete, the organization’s security team should evaluate services and assets within the cloud infrastructure. This includes reviewing the identity and access management (IAM) policies for each account and the privileges and permissions allowed within these policies. Additionally, it is essential to analyze the security guardrail services, such as Amazon GuardDuty or Microsoft Defender, and their configuration and running state. Scanning the images used for deploying containers and VM workloads is also necessary, especially if they are exposed to the internet. It is advisable to review all services and objects against recognized cybersecurity standards and frameworks like NIST, Cloud Security Alliance, or Center for Internet Security guidelines.
If the organization has internal configuration standards in place, these should also be considered as part of the assessment. The evaluation should include documenting running workloads and storage exposed to the internet, as well as reviewing firewalls, network segmentation, and web application firewalls for potential misconfigurations.
Furthermore, organizations should analyze their cloud accounts for any infrastructure-as-code (IaC) templates in deployment. These templates often contain critical configuration items and services, and scanning them can improve the efficiency of the assessment process. Tools capable of scanning IaC templates can help identify any vulnerabilities or weaknesses.
In addition to the infrastructure evaluation, organizations should also perform threat modeling exercises. These exercises help evaluate existing trust boundaries and potential attacks against cloud assets and services. The threat modeling reviews should test against possible attacks and threats to the cloud environment, considering factors such as ease of attacks based on exposure and susceptibility, as well as the state of preventive and detective controls in place. For organizations with multi-cloud deployments, separate threat modeling sessions should be conducted for each respective cloud service.
Optionally, organizations may choose to perform penetration tests and live scans against their cloud accounts and subscriptions. These additional tests and reviews can provide further insights into the security of the cloud setup.
Based on the analysis and evaluations conducted, the security team should create a high-level report. This report should outline all the audits conducted, document risks and possible gaps in controls, and provide recommendations for remediation of vulnerabilities and weaknesses identified during the assessment.
Overall, conducting regular cloud security assessments is crucial for organizations to stay up-to-date against evolving threats. By identifying vulnerabilities and weaknesses in their cloud infrastructure, organizations can strengthen their security posture and ensure the protection of their data and assets.