In a recent interview conducted by Help Net Security, Natalia Belaya, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Cloudera, shared her insights on various aspects of cloud security. Belaya shed light on common misconceptions surrounding cloud security, the delicate balance between protection and business agility, and the often overlooked risks that CISOs should prioritize in their security strategies.
One of the misconceptions that Belaya highlighted is the assumption that security is inherently built into cloud platforms by default. Many organizations make the leap to hyperscalers like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure with the belief that they automatically inherit comprehensive security protection due to the certifications of these platforms. However, Belaya emphasized the importance of understanding the shared responsibility model in cloud security migrations. Enterprises need to delineate where the security responsibilities of cloud providers end and where their own responsibilities begin. Beyond relying solely on cloud infrastructure security, organizations should implement additional measures such as zero trust, robust identity and access management, continuous monitoring, threat detection, and network segmentation. Integrating cloud-native security tools can further bolster protection.
Managing workloads across hybrid and multi-cloud environments presents its own set of challenges, necessitating a comprehensive and cloud-agnostic security approach to safeguard sensitive data and meet compliance requirements.
When it comes to balancing security with business agility in cloud adoption, CISOs are under pressure to facilitate digital transformation swiftly. Belaya emphasized that security should be viewed as a facilitator of business growth rather than a hindrance. CISOs must align security measures with business objectives, seamlessly integrating security into operations to support innovation. Embedding security into DevOps processes enables businesses to innovate rapidly while upholding protection standards through automated security checks and real-time monitoring.
Furthermore, Belaya pointed out some of the most commonly overlooked cloud security risks that CISOs should prioritize. Attack surface management, which involves ensuring visibility into cloud assets to protect against potential threats, was highlighted as a critical aspect. Shadow IT, the practice of teams deploying cloud resources without informing IT and security teams, poses another risk of misconfigured environments leading to data exposure and vulnerabilities. Discrepancies in security maturity across different environments within an organization can also pose threats like cloud cryptojacking.
To mitigate these risks, Belaya recommended maintaining continuous visibility, implementing standardized security policies, enforcing proper governance, and educating teams on secure cloud practices.
In terms of common security misconfigurations in enterprise cloud environments, Belaya emphasized the importance of securing access properly, addressing unpatched software vulnerabilities, and ensuring secure configurations to prevent exploitation by threat actors. Documenting, automating, auditing, and regularly reviewing security baselines can help organizations mitigate these risks and bolster their security posture.
Finally, Belaya recommended integrating cloud-native security solutions into an enterprise’s broader security stack strategically. By identifying security gaps and vulnerabilities within cloud infrastructure, organizations can determine the specific cloud-native security solutions needed and seamlessly integrate them into their existing systems. Leveraging security solutions that are cloud and enterprise agnostic can enhance adaptability to evolving threats, ensuring organizational resilience in managing hybrid and multi-cloud environments.