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Month: February 2023

Cloud Native is the Future of Infrastructure, Application, and Data Security

Posted on by Abhijeet Chinchole

Cloud has become the de facto norm in today’s digital and global village. Modern-day companies are rushing to shift their services to cloud infrastructures because it fulfils their demand for unlimited computing and storage requirements without compromising on the security aspect. 

The key here is ‘security.’ Yes, cloud-native applications smartly leverage the power of cloud computing and build super-resilient solutions that are implicitly secure. Before diving into how cloud-native has revolutionized the world of cybersecurity, it is important to understand what cloud-native is and why it is considered the future of software development. 

What is Cloud Native, and What are Cloud Native Applications?

Cloud-native is a modern approach to designing applications that can run in a cloud computing environment. The applications designed through this approach are called cloud-native applications. These applications can take advantage of the scalability and flexibility offered by the cloud infrastructure as they are built using microservices architecture and containerization technologies like Docker. 

Enterprises also use continuous integration and continuous delivery practices to develop and deploy cloud-native applications constantly. This enables them to iterate and deploy new features from time to time rapidly. Cloud-native applications are also carefully designed to be self-sustaining to ensure that they operate even when an individual component fails.

Why is Cloud Native Considered the Future of Software Development?

The future of software development will revolve around creating highly scalable and resilient applications. Cloud-native applications fulfill that criterion completely. Thanks to its ability to leverage microservices architecture, it offers on-demand scalability. Similarly, it provides extensive reliability through distributed systems. 

A cloud-native approach will result in faster time to market, lowered costs, and a better user experience, all of which will be the key ingredients of successful software development in the coming days. 

The cloud-native approach also ensures that the developers find it easier to build and deploy applications, another need of the hour. They can easily leverage managed services and abstract away the underlying infrastructure and deployment details. 

Now that you understand the importance of cloud-native applications in software development, let us understand more about cloud native security benefits. 

What are the Benefits of Cloud Native Security?

Here are some cloud-native application security benefits: 

  • Cloud native security solutions can automatically adjust to protect applications as they grow, rather than being limited by the resources of a single server.
  • Cloud native security solutions enable you to perform continuous testing across all CI/CD layers. This way, you and your team can monitor and mitigate security incidents effortlessly at an individual component level of the application. 
  • Cloud native security solutions are designed to be highly automated. As a result, they can detect and respond to threats in real time in your application without any human intervention. This significantly helps minimize the impact of security attacks and, at the same time, reduces the workload of your security team.
  • Cloud native security solutions are usually integrated with managed services offered by cloud providers. This means the cloud provider will implement and manage security for your application on your behalf, enabling you to focus on more mission-critical activities. 

Here are some cloud native data security benefits: 

  • Cloud native security solutions automate the entire encryption process. This way, they can ensure that data is always encrypted when it is stored or transmitted.
  • Cloud native security solutions help implement robust access controls. This way, they can ensure that only authorized users can access all the sensitive data.
  • Cloud native security solutions help organizations prevent data loss. It does this by effectively monitoring potential threats and alerting administrators whenever any unusual activity is detected. 
  • Cloud native security solutions help create and maintain secure backups of their data. This way, they ensure that the data is always available and can be recovered in case of a disaster.
  • Cloud native security tools help organizations meet various regulatory requirements like HIPAA and GDPR. 

How has Cloud Native Revolutionized the Approach to Cybersecurity?

In the past, cybersecurity predominantly relied on a perimeter-based model. It revolved around firewalls and browser isolation systems that surrounded the on-premise networks. This approach worked well mainly because of the physically isolated infrastructure where developers built the application while the IT team handled the security. But as time progressed, organizations started embracing digital transformation on a massive scale; the IT teams were unable to build barriers in this ever-expanding tech environment, making cybersecurity more complex than before. 

This led to the growth of cloud-native architectures that revolutionized the approach to cybersecurity. For starters, it made in-app security more important than ever. Since cloud-native is based on microservices architecture, the developers could infuse hyper granular security controls within the application. Also, the team could use traditional security controls and handle cybersecurity in a siloed and reactionary manner. This bolstered security and reduced compliance risks to a large extent. 

Cloud-native architecture is also supported by Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM). To the unversed, it is a method of continuously monitoring and managing the security of an organization’s cloud environment. CSPM tools identify and evaluate potential cybersecurity risks and proactively implement security controls to mitigate those risks. They even monitor the efficacy of those controls over time. 

CSPM helps organizations ensure that their cloud environments are free from cybersecurity risks and compliant with relevant regulations. CSPM is also quite effective in identifying and remediating misconfigurations that could compromise security.

Conclusion

By leveraging the scalability, flexibility, and agility of cloud-native architecture, you can build and deploy applications that can take full advantage of the benefits of the cloud. As the adoption of cloud computing grows in the coming years, the importance of cloud-native architecture will only continue to increase proportionately. 

Now, cloud native security is important for any enterprise using cloud computing environments. Thankfully, cloud native security tools protect their data, ensure compliance with various regulations, and reduce the overall costs and workload associated with security.

Get Ahead of the Curve with Cloud-native Data Security Governance

Posted on by Abhijeet Chinchole

Data is one of the critical assets for any business. With increased internet usage and enhanced digital transformations, companies need to manage Big Data. So, businesses require efficient data governance and secure sensitive data to ensure users’ trust. This is why it is essential to have efficient data governance and security policies in place for your organization. Data governance policy not only improves security but also helps businesses manage data through its complete lifecycle, from the acquired information to its disposal. 

Strategic business decisions require high-quality data. In addition, senior managers and team leads can use data to enhance operations. So, securing, managing, and maintaining data quality becomes vital for your business. Data governance helps in ensuring that information quality remains consistent and data is secure. This is where companies stand apart from the competition. Let’s understand how you can leverage a data governance security framework.

What is Data Security Governance?

Data security governance is a framework for ensuring acceptable data protection and privacy levels across an organization. It includes policies, procedures, and controls to help ensure that data is securely processed, accessed only by authorized personnel, and disposed of under applicable laws and regulations. Data security governance has four key components:

  1. Data Protection Strategy – This document establishes an organization’s overall data protection goals and objectives. In addition, it should identify Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that is subject to protection and any other sensitive information requiring special attention.
  2. Security Policies and Procedures – These documents outline how data will be protected from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. They include procedures for authentication of users, authorization of user privileges, system activity monitoring, and reporting of suspected incidents.
  3. Control Systems– These systems (i.e., firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and data encryption) regulate access to information and resources, monitor system activity for signs of suspicious behavior, and report any incidents to management.
  4. Training and Awareness – Management must be informed of the importance of data security to ensure that employees are fully aware of the policies and procedures governing data protection. Employees should also be trained to protect their sensitive information using appropriate hygiene processes (e.g., password management).

Why is Data Security Governance Important?

Organizations must accumulate, analyze, process, and manage massive amounts of data to improve user experience. One way to manage data quality and ensure security is to have enhanced governance policies. 

It helps businesses secure user information. Further, data governance helps enterprises comply with major data regulations like GDPR. The most significant benefit is the differentiation between your business and others in the market. It provides a competitive advantage for your brand with improved user trust. 

You can implement these essential elements of the data governance security framework:

  • Data Classification – You need to know where your data comes from, the type, where it will be stored, and for what period. Data classification helps answer all the information storage, source, and retention time questions.
  • Governance policies – You must define data governance policies. First, it helps in improving data security and privacy through the definition of access. In other words, the policy will determine how data will be accessed, by whom, for what purposes, etc. 
  • Data lifecycle management – You must have policies to manage data from collection, storage, processing, retrieval, and disposal. It ensures high-quality information, maintaining data governance security and compliance. 
  • Data governance security and privacy – You need a reliable database architecture to ensure higher security and privacy. Cloud infrastructure requires effective IAM systems for enhanced data security. 

Maintaining enhanced security at on-premise infrastructure has limits. This is where cloud-enabled infrastructure can help you with better security features and data governance policies. 

How Does the Cloud Enable Innovation in Data Governance?

The cloud enables innovation, which helps organizations to move their data quickly and securely from one place to another. This mobility makes it easier for organizations to access and share their data with other organizations. It also helps organizations keep track of changes made to their data, which can help them make more informed decisions about managing that information.

Apart from mobility advantage, some of the key benefits that the cloud offers to enterprises for data governance and security are the following:

Enhanced IAM

Identity and access management (IAM) is an essential aspect of data governance. It allows organizations to ensure data access is restricted to persons with proper authorization. Apart from the authorization, it also ensures that roles are defined for data access. Cloud service providers like AWS, Google, and Azure provide IAM features. 

Better data protection

Cloud-based innovations have ensured that data protection is better than on-premise infrastructure through enhanced monitoring. You can integrate security monitoring solutions easily with your apps powered by the cloud to monitor systems. 

Optimal security intelligence

Cloud helps businesses to analyze, secure and protect systems against cyberattacks through enhanced security intelligence. You can integrate cloud intelligence engines to optimize the monitoring, logging, and tracing of important operational events. Your systems will also have better resilience to cyberattacks through integrations and malicious injections. 

Conclusion

Your product is not enough to attract users, as they need to have a sense of security. Cloud-native data security policies help you achieve better trust among users by maintaining information privacy. Data governance security will require a well-planned data security framework and advanced event analytics to ensure better observability. Cloudlytics can help you with advanced cloud intelligence, event analytics, and data governance policies for better business differentiation. 

Major Risks to Cloud Networks and How to Prevent Them

Posted on by Abhijeet Chinchole

Cloud networks offer incredible benefits to businesses and organizations, including flexibility, scalability, and cost saving. But when it comes to data security, the cloud has its unique set of risks that IT professionals must learn to recognize and understand to ensure their networks remain secure. A total of 27% of organizations have experienced a security incident in their public cloud infrastructure in the year 2021. The major reasons were cloud misconfiguration, improper data sharing, compromised accounts, and vulnerability exploitation. 

Major Risks to Cloud Networks

In this article, we’ll look at some of the major risks associated with cloud networks and how you can prevent them from happening in your organization. Cloud networks are constantly under attack from a variety of threats. Some of the popular risks to cloud networks are are follows: 

Limited Visibility into Network Operations

One of the biggest challenges organizations have faced when working in multi-cloud environments is a lack of visibility into network operations. This can lead to outages and downtime, as well as security breaches. Without visibility into the network, it’s difficult to troubleshoot and fix problems. This can be a major problem for businesses that rely on cloud networks for critical operations.

Data Leaks and Data Breaches

Data leaks and data breaches are two of the most serious risks to cloud networks. A data leak is when unauthorized access to sensitive data is gained, while a data breach is when that data is stolen or accessed without permission. Both can have devastating consequences for businesses and individuals alike. There have been many high-profile data leaks and data breaches in recent years, including the infamous Yahoo data breach that affected over 3 billion user accounts. This shows that no one is safe from these threats, no matter how big or small they may be. 

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a type of cyberattack in which a hacker seeks to make a network or server unavailable by flooding it with Internet traffic. DDoS attacks are often launched by botnets, networks of infected computers that can be controlled remotely by hackers. The US suffered 43.25% of all reported DDoS attacks in Q2 2022, closely followed by China and Germany, which were hit by 7.91% and 6.64% of reported attacks in the same period. DDoS attacks can be very disruptive and costly to businesses, as they can prevent legitimate users from accessing websites or services. In some cases, DDoS attacks can even cause physical damage to the networks or servers that are being targeted.

Insecure API

API security is often overlooked because it is assumed that the provider will take care of it. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Insecure APIs can lead to data breaches, denial of service attacks, and other serious problems. Attackers can use an insecure API to access sensitive data, such as customer records or financial information. They can also use it to launch attacks against other parts of the system. For example, they could use an insecure API to add their malicious code to the provider’s software. This could allow them to take over the system entirely.

Account Hijacking

Account hijacking is a serious threat to cloud networks. Hackers can gain access to your account and use it to commit fraud or steal data. They can also use it to launch attacks against other users on the network. There are a few ways that hackers can hijack your account. One is by guessing your password. Another way hackers can hijack your account is by using phishing tactics. They may send you an email that looks like it’s from a trusted source, but when you click on the link, you’re taken to a fake website that captures your login credentials. Once an attacker has gained access to a user’s account, they can use it to launch attacks against other users or applications or to steal sensitive data. 

Cloud Misconfiguration

As more and more businesses move to the cloud, misconfiguration of cloud networks has become a major risk. Cloud networks are complex, and even small errors can have major consequences. One of the most common mistakes is failing to properly restrict access to cloud resources. For example, many organizations give all employees full access to all cloud resources instead of only the resources they need to do their job. This can lead to accidental data leaks or unauthorized changes that can disrupt service. 

Another common mistake is failing to configure security controls properly. This can leave your cloud network vulnerable to attack. For example, not properly configuring firewalls can allow attackers to gain access to your network. 

Best Practices for Mitigating Risks to Cloud Networks

Implementing best practices for mitigating risks to cloud networks can help organizations safeguard their data and avoid potential security threats. By identifying and addressing risks, organizations can ensure that their cloud networks are secure and protected against potential attacks. Here are some best practices for mitigating network security issues in cloud computing: 

Conduct a risk assessment: The first step in mitigating risks is identifying which risks are most relevant to your organization. This can be done through a comprehensive risk assessment that considers your specific business goals, concerns, and operating environment. 

Implement security controls: Once you’ve identified the risks that pose the greatest threat to your organization, you can implement security controls to mitigate those risks. Some common security controls include firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, and data encryption. 

Stay up-to-date on security threats: The landscape of security threats is constantly changing, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest threats and how to protect against them. This can be done through regular employee training and awareness programs and by keeping abreast of industry news and developments. 

Test your defences regularly: It’s not enough to simply put security controls in place; you also need to test them to ensure they’re effective regularly. This can be done through penetration testing, such as internal and external vulnerability assessments. 

By following these cloud security best practices, you can significantly reduce the risks to your cloud network and keep your data safe and secure.

Conclusion

It is important to note that cloud networks come with their own set of risks and vulnerabilities. By understanding these cloud computing security issues and solutions and staying ahead of the latest threats, businesses can ensure they are protecting their data in the best way possible. 

Implementing strong security protocols, ensuring all users have unique user accounts, and regularly monitoring suspicious activity are just a few essential tips for keeping any cloud network secure. With the right approach, businesses can rest assured that their systems are safe from attack and better protected against potential threats.

An Ultimate Guide on Cloud-based Application Security Assessment for Your Projects

Posted on by Abhijeet Chinchole

With increasing cyberattacks, application security is one of the essential aspects of the business. Global cybercrime costs have reached almost 32.4% of the world’s GDP.  So, it can be costly if you don’t have enough application security assessments. However, neglecting the application security can have a cascading impact on your business than just being costly.

Fortunately, cloud-based security assessment can help you reduce such risks. There are many cloud security assessment tools that you can use to secure apps. Apart from the tools, you also need best practices implemented at an organizational level for enhanced protection. So, let’s look at cloud-based application security assessment best practices, strategies for cloud-based application security, and a checklist. First, it is essential to understand the fundamentals of app security assessment.

What is Application Security Assessment?

A security assessment evaluates your application’s security against different types of cyberattacks. The purpose is to identify potential vulnerabilities and recommend necessary corrections. Application security assessments typically include the following: 

  • Inspecting application source code for potential vulnerabilities 
  • Analyzing attack vectors and identifying threats 
  • Identifying privileged access points and weak policies/certifications that attackers could leverage
  • Evaluating the organization’s security controls and their effectiveness
  • Testing the applicability of security controls to realistic attack scenarios 

The assessment will also identify gaps and recommend enhancements to improve system security. Applications are routinely subjected to security assessments to identify vulnerabilities and recommend appropriate countermeasures. A typical process includes inspecting application source code for suspicious or buggy coding practices, covering these steps:

  • Identifying attack vectors that could be exploited by malicious actors
  • Profiling the operating system, browsers, and other components used on the target system; assessing which users have access to sensitive data areas
  • Performing penetration tests against realistic threat scenarios using common hacking tools and techniques
  • Evaluating organizational security controls against real-world attacks (e.g., ransomware); verifying compliance with applicable policy directives.

Why is Assessing Application Security Important?

Different application security assessments can help organizations identify and mitigate threats to their apps before they can impact users. You’re also enabled to identify and mitigate potential weaknesses in an application’s configuration, design, implementation, and operation. Especially if you have a cloud-native application, it becomes crucial to identify and mitigate data risks with a stringent cloud security risk assessment process.

Organizations can reduce the likelihood of attackers successfully compromising sensitive information by identifying and mitigating potential weaknesses. Cloud-based monitoring of applications ensures organizational leaders can quickly detect and recover from system breaches. By taking appropriate action before such a breach occurs, they can minimize its impact on both their users and the organization.

How Cloud Computing Facilitates Application Security Assessment and Strategy Building?

Cloud computing has made it easier for organizations to access and deploy applications securely. In addition, cloud computing enables organizations to dynamically provision resources as needed, which helps improve application security. Organizations can use an application security assessment tool to identify potential vulnerabilities in applications before they are deployed on the cloud. Once vulnerabilities have been identified, an organization can develop a strategy for mitigating those vulnerabilities. 

This includes implementing secure coding practices and deploying firewall solutions. Cloud computing also provides an opportunity to improve application security by using security-related features of cloud platforms. For example, a company can use public clouds for hosting applications and then use platform-based security features (including authorization management) to enforce access control and protect data.

However, you need a strategy to create cohesive efforts to enhance data protection and app security. So, here is a cloud-based security assessment checklist to keep in mind while strategizing the assessments.

Cloud-based Application Security Assessment Checklist

Here is a list of elements to cover in a cloud-based application security assessment checklist:

  • Identity and access management (IAM) ensures that users have the appropriate permissions to access applications, data, systems, and services. IAM solutions can help you manage user identities, authentication methods, policy settings, user profiles, entitlements, and security architectures.
  • Network security includes a variety of technologies that can be used to counter attacks on computers connected to the network as well as data stored on those systems. Itis an essential part of any information system, but it’s also critical in business-to-business (B2B) environments where sensitive customer data may be at risk. 
  • Data security ensures that sensitive data is encrypted both in transit and at rest. Apart from encryptions, it is essential to check whether appropriate controls are in place to protect against data leaks. 
  • The compliance part is where you confirm that the application complies with relevant industry regulations and standards (PCI DSS and HIPAA). 
  • Security monitoring and reporting ensure that the application has mechanisms for monitoring and reporting security-related events.

This is just a starting point, and the specific items on your checklist will depend on the specific requirements of your application. You can create a cloud-based application assessment strategy based on the above checklist. Cloud-based application assessment strategy implementation is not just about choosing the right cloud security assessment methodology, but the execution, too, needs to be spot on. It requires certain best practices to ensure optimal security.

Best Practices to Overcome Application Security Risks on the Cloud

Here are some cloud-based application assessment best practices for overcoming application security risks on the cloud:

  1. Use a cloud provider with strong security measures and certifications, such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001.
  2. Enable multifactor authentication for all user accounts to add an extra layer of security.
  3. Use encryption for data in transit and data at rest to protect sensitive information.
  4. Regularly update and patch your applications to prevent vulnerabilities from being exploited.
  5. Use a web application firewall (WAF) to block malicious traffic and protect against common web vulnerabilities.
  6. Follow the principle of least privilege when setting up user accounts and permissions.
  7. Use a network intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS) to monitor and respond to security threats.
  8. Monitor your cloud environment for unusual activity and implement security incident response plans to handle any possible breaches.
  9. Consider using a cloud access security broker (CASB) to provide additional security controls and visibility into cloud usage.

Conclusion

When it comes to cloud-based application security risk assessment and data protection, planning becomes crucial. However, it is a multi-faceted strategy, so you need effective analytics to make the right decisions. Cloudlytics offers you cloud intelligence solutions that allow you to enhance application security assessment. So, if you are looking to secure your app experience, start assessing the vulnerabilities and security risks with our intelligent solutions.

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