Get alerts about potential cloud threats before they become a problem
Data breaches are up year over year. Cloud infrastructure is becoming more complex, and the attack surface is growing with it. Even the most well-resourced security teams cannot keep up with this constantly shifting landscape. That’s why they turn to cloud threat detection systems for help.
By integrating these automated platforms into their workflows, organizations can monitor their security perimeter and respond to cloud threats more efficiently. Here, we’ll discuss what these systems can do for your organization and best practices that can make them more effective.
What Is Cloud Threat Detection?
Cloud threat detection is a series of automated processes and tools that allow organizations to monitor application security and respond to potential intrusions and other security gaps as they arise. This term is often used interchangeably with cloud detection and response (CDR).
As modern applications move into the cloud, they rely on an increasing array of microservices, APIs, and distributed systems to provide value for a global audience. These components contribute to the growing size and complexity of each application’s overall attack surface, often expanding or evolving alongside customer and developer needs. Due to the constantly shifting and ephemeral nature of cloud application infrastructure, even the largest teams cannot hope to manually monitor and intervene at the necessary scale.
Cloud threat detection systems rely on automated tools to monitor the attack surface, scanning for misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and suspicious or unauthorized activity. They then report any detected anomalies to the security team, which can respond to the incident as needed.
Implementing a cloud threat detection system can help your team improve its security stance with minimal increase to developer overhead. However, cloud threats don’t just happen in production — they can be found during migration, too. Read our whitepaper to learn how automated cloud threat detection can secure your data during and post-migration.
Common Threats to Cloud-Native Applications
In addition to building quality products, organizations must also keep data security top of mind to protect customers, employees, and the business itself from a data breach. The following are common cloud threats security teams must detect and respond to when working with cloud-native applications:
- Poor identity access management (IAM) policies that don’t limit access to sensitive or confidential information or systems across all company devices.
- Misconfigured infrastructure that unintentionally exposes data to the public or can be exploited by malicious actors to gain access.
- Zero-day vulnerabilities found in operating systems and third-party software solutions that haven’t been patched.
- Shadow IT, where unmonitored or unsecured devices or software can significantly detract from your organization’s security stance.
- Malware, phishing attempts, insiders, and other cyber threats.
- Human error pushed into production that causes unintended security risks.
Failure to monitor these threats can lead to significant consequences, including exposure to sensitive data, loss of critical systems, revenue loss, and potential lawsuits. That’s why organizations that rely on the cloud to deliver their products take advantage of the automated capabilities found in cloud threat detection platforms to alert them about these and other vulnerabilities.
What to Look for In Cloud Threat Detection Systems
While every cloud threat detection system is built to fulfill specific needs, the best tools offer a combination of the following features:
- Integration with a variety of cloud computing providers and services to maximize compatibility and scalability.
- 24/7 monitoring and reporting capabilities, granting your team round-the-clock alignment with security and compliance policies.
- A centralized hub that provides a full window into all cloud operations, including container health and security.
- Increased threat detection accuracy for more informed decision-making.
- An intuitive interface that makes it easy to get to the tools and information you need.
Cloud Threat Detection Best Practices
Your organization’s cloud threat detection tools are only as good as the policies you have in place to leverage them to their full potential. The following best practices will allow you to defeat cloud threats before they become a problem.
- Be proactive in data collection and threat hunting. Conduct regular threat hunting sessions to stay up-to-date on the latest infrastructural changes to avoid surprises. Collect logs from across your infrastructure and store them in a central repository, then use automated tools to examine them for suspicious activity. A single incident may not throw any red flags, but a combination of events — a large download here, a security option that gets turned off there — may tip you off about a potential intrusion event. Ensure that your ability to collect and store these logs is always working properly.
- Operate with a Zero Trust mindset. Access controls should be set to only provide access to the minimum possible amount of systems and data for employees to be able to do their jobs. Verify authenticity with secure methods such as multi-factor authentication and continue reverifying regularly during longer sessions.
- Test cloud threat detection effectiveness. Until you’ve experienced a breach, your ability to detect and respond to cloud threats is largely theoretical. Implement regular live testing procedures to maintain readiness and confirm that all systems work as they should to avoid being caught flat-footed during a real-world cyberattack.
- Regularly update security policies. As threats evolve, your threat detection capabilities need to evolve with it. Whenever you add new tools or devices to your tech stack, examine the ways employees might use them and update your security policies to mitigate intrusion risk. You should also periodically review your overall security policies and update them to take advantage of the latest techniques — at least once a year at a minimum.
Defeat Cloud Threats Head-on
Every organization must take data security seriously, whether they’re new to the cloud or have been developing cloud-native apps for decades. However, cloud environments are constantly shifting, and the security techniques that work for on-premises infrastructure will rapidly fall behind if applied to the cloud. That’s why you need DuploCloud.
Our DevOps Automation Platform offers out-of-the-box data security and compliance features, mapping data security and access management policies to rigorous, standardized control sets like SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and more. DuploCloud also provides state-of-the-art encryption and advanced security protocols that alert you about potential security weaknesses, allowing you to mitigate them before malicious actors discover them.
Ready to learn more? Contact DuploCloud today for a live 30-minute demo.
