The public cloud offers various advantages – unparalleled scalability, extreme agility, and outstanding cost-efficiency. However, unlocking these advantages takes work. Organizations adopting public cloud face an increasingly complicated web of security challenges that demand constant attention. You can navigate this complex landscape only through a proactive approach that ensures the security of sensitive data and adherence to regulatory requirements. This post will explain the strategies for adequate security and compliance governance in the public cloud. But first, let us go through some challenges organizations face in the public cloud.

Security Challenges in the Public Cloud Environment

Here are some challenges that organizations encounter in their pursuit of secure and compliant cloud operations:

• Managing users’ identities and access rights can become increasingly challenging in the cloud. This is particularly true in large organizations with hundreds of employees and varying access levels.
• Thanks to a myriad of regional and industry-specific regulations governing data handling and privacy (such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA), staying up-to-date and compliant with these standards becomes more challenging.
• Since a cloud provider might have their own set of tools, services, and security configurations, it can complicate security and compliance efforts for those organizations employing a multi-cloud ecosystem.
• Maintaining visibility into cloud infrastructure and workloads is a challenge. This is mainly because of the dynamic nature of cloud environments, which makes it tedious to track all changes and activities.

Strategies for Effective Governance of Security and Compliance in Public Cloud

Here are a few strategies you can adopt in your organization so that your data is secure in the public cloud –

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

A robust IAM strategy is critical for any public cloud environment. You need to adopt role-based access control (RBAC) and assign necessary permissions to users based on job roles and responsibilities. This will ensure that your users only have access to the resources necessary for their tasks.

You can also implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) in your organization. This will further enhance your security. In this, users must provide multiple verification forms before gaining access.

Lastly, you need to review and audit user access privileges continuously. More importantly, remember to promptly revoke or adjust permissions for employees who change roles or leave the organization.

Data Encryption and Classification

It is essential to apply encryption to data in transit and at rest. Always use industry-standard protocols to protect the data, even if it reaches a malicious user.

It would be best to implement strong data classification mechanisms to categorize data based on its sensitivity and importance. This is because different data types may require different security measures, access controls, and encryption methods.

Lastly, deploy data loss prevention (DLP) tools to monitor and prevent unauthorized data sharing or leakage. This will automatically create an additional layer of protection for your organization’s most valuable information.

Compliance Monitoring and Auditing

Leverage cloud-native auditing tools to track and log activities within your cloud environment. This will offer visibility into user actions and system events. You must also frequently conduct audits of configurations, permissions, and data handling practices. This will help in identifying any deviations from regulatory and internal standards.

Also, establish automated compliance checks to quickly detect and remediate non-compliance issues. This will considerably reduce the risk of regulatory fines and data breaches while maintaining high confidence in your security posture.

Resource Tagging and Inventory

To maintain complete control in a public cloud environment, you must have an adequate resource tagging and inventory management policy. Build a comprehensive tagging strategy that will categorize your cloud resources. This idea is to make tracking and managing your resources easy and seamless.

You must also regularly update and maintain this inventory of resources so that they always reflect your cloud environment’s current state. This proactive approach will also help in optimizing costs by identifying underutilized resources.

Vendor Selection

The last strategy is to pick a security solution provider with a cloud-centric approach. It would be best if you mainly focused on those specializing in cloud-driven security solutions tailored to the unique challenges of public cloud environments. Evaluate their track record in delivering practical security tools and services and their compatibility with your organization’s security needs and regulatory requirements. Consider factors such as their cloud security offerings’ comprehensiveness, expertise in cloud-specific threat detection and response, and reputation for providing timely support and updates. One platform that checks all these criteria is Cloudlytics.

About Cloudlytics

Cloudlytics is a leading security solution provider for cloud environments. We provide comprehensive and cutting-edge cloud security solutions for modern enterprises, helping them safeguard their cloud environments in an era of evolving threats and complex regulatory landscapes. We offer tailored security solutions that seamlessly integrate with your cloud infrastructure. Contact us to learn more about us and how we can help.