Most organizations consider data security a crucial strategy in a digital era where most business operations run majorly on various data sources across multiple environments. According to the 2024 State of the Cloud Report, around 87% of organizations have opted for multi-cloud environments, while 73% have opted for hybrid-cloud environments. The report also revealed that some challenges for organizations switching to cloud environments are cloud security, cost optimization, and the need for more expertise.
With security being such a significant concern, it becomes imperative for organizations to deploy cloud-based security strategies to prevent data loss or misuse. In this article, we will delve into cloud security posture management, why it is essential, its benefits, and more.
Let us begin by understanding what cloud security posture management is!
What is CSPM?
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) is a strategy that involves monitoring and maintaining the security of cloud-based environments and infrastructures. It does this by identifying security weaknesses, mitigating the associated risks, and remedying compromised security measures, such as misconfigurations within web applications or compliance infractions. CSPM tools provide your organization’s security teams with a comprehensive view of the security status of your cloud environments. They also automatically monitor and offer remediation efforts to rectify data loss, leak, or misuse.
Why is Cloud Security Posture Management Important?
Companies are increasingly switching to public cloud infrastructures or cloud-based services as they are highly productive due to their accessibility and flexibility. However, these very traits could also pose security risks, such as data breaches. Hence, organizations opting for cloud infrastructure must also invest in data security posture management. Here are a few reasons why cloud security posture management is essential and why your organization must invest in a CSPM tool:
Avoid Security Risks
Most organizations that utilize cloud-based services lack visibility into their business’s overall security posture. Some common questions that may arise due to this are:
- Who made changes to data sources located in multi-cloud environments?
- What changes have been made to my cloud resources?
- Who has access to my data sources located in multi-cloud environments
- Does my cloud environment contain any misconfigurations?
- Is my organization compliant-ready?
A cloud security posture management tool grants your organization real-time visibility of your security posture and helps your security team answer these questions accurately. It helps you proactively recognize security threats and vulnerabilities by conducting automated scans of your cloud infrastructures. Once your organization is aware of these threats, these CSPM tools automatically address them by minimizing the impact of the risk while also offering remediation efforts.
Recognize Compliance Violations
Most organizations must comply with policy and/or regulatory requirements such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, etc. Lack of cloud server security may lead to misconfigurations and non-compliance to these requirements. CSPM solutions play a significant role in helping your organization identify whether it adheres to these compliance requirements. Some of these CSPM solutions also offer remediation measures in the event of non-compliance to key requirements, helping your organization prevent legal consequences, reputation loss, and hefty legal fines.
Prevent Cloud Infrastructure Complexities
Most cloud-based service providers offer multi-cloud environments with different architectures and infrastructures that they may update with new features or in-built applications. These may be challenging for your organization’s security teams to learn and keep track of, paving the way for potential security blind spots where one might miss spotting one or more misconfigurations within an app or feature update. With CSPM companies offering their solutions, your organization can automatically monitor all cloud services into a single cloud CSPM platform and detect any changes in cloud applications or within cloud network security posture.
Benefits of Cloud Security Posture Management
Let us explore some key benefits of cloud security posture management and why your organization must engage the services of a CSPM vendor:
Gain Visibility Into Cloud Infrastructure
One of the most important benefits of cloud security posture management is that it helps organizations overcome the complexity of using cloud services by offering comprehensive visibility into their cloud security posture. Most CSPM vendors offer services that enable your organization to gain real-time access to threats and vulnerabilities within your cloud network security posture.
At the same time, some other CSPM platforms provide a single dashboard that your security teams can use to gather information regarding your cloud resources and assets, sensitive data sources or assets, and risks associated with these sources. This unified dashboard will be highly beneficial for your organization in combating an unwanted cybersecurity attack.
Address Cloud Security Risks
Deploying a CSPM tool will help your organization detect weaknesses or threats in your cloud network security posture and help quickly remediate security threats in a scalable manner. Most CSPM platforms or tools will help your organization create a security incident response report and automatically apply remediation measures to reduce the impact of the security risk, securing crucial and sensitive organizational assets.
Improve Organizational Compliance
A CSPM company or solution will help your organization improve its compliance by monitoring and reporting areas lacking adherence to regulatory policies and requirements. It secures your organization’s compliance by continuously monitoring your data environments while mapping them against common compliance frameworks to detect any non-compliance. It creates detailed data audit reports showcasing user access control and management while also enabling security teams to identify unauthorized access by analyzing these data audits.
Reduce Security Costs
As mentioned earlier, most organizations cited cost-effectiveness and security as their prime concerns when opting for cloud infrastructures or services. By engaging the services of a CSPM company, your organization will be able to overcome both of these challenges. A cloud security posture management tool will help your organization reduce the cost of hiring a full-time security team. With a CSPM tool, your organization can automate most of your security tasks, strategies, and processes, reducing dedicated CSPM resources and thereby allowing your team to focus efforts on business-critical tasks.
How Does Tenable Cloud Security Help with CSPM?
Finding the right CSPM vendor or solution for your organization may be tedious! However, it doesn’t have to be. ComplyTec offers the Tenable Cloud Security solution, allowing your organization to secure your cloud assets located across multi-cloud environments. This CSPM solution helps your organization curate an asset inventory by discovering all your organizational assets. It also helps conduct a deep risk assessment of existing security threats and vulnerabilities, aiding your organization in prioritizing remediation efforts for high-risk assets. Moreover, it helps your organization automate complex security processes seamlessly and computes data visually to help your security teams easily understand the data sources at stake.
We have given you an overview of Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), why your organization needs to deploy a CSPM strategy, and its benefits. To secure your organization’s data, your security team must contact a CSPM vendor and engage their services. Get started today!
Secure Your Organization’s Cloud Environments with ComplyTec!
Meet ComplyTec, your organization’s trusted partner for vulnerability management! We partner with your security team to curate cybersecurity solutions that strengthen protection against threats and vulnerabilities based on your organizational needs.
ComplyTec has provided IT solutions to various North American organizations, including Fortune 100s and government agencies. We bring vulnerability management and security expertise to your organization while enhancing its operational efficiency.
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FAQs
1. What is CSPM?
Cloud Security Posture Management is a process that maintains the security posture across cloud environments by detecting threats and vulnerabilities, mitigating the associated risks, and remediating the impact of these risks that may compromise your cloud environment’s security.
2. Who are Cloud Security Posture Management vendors?
Cloud security posture management vendors offer comprehensive CSPM solutions for organizations looking to secure their cloud infrastructures, such as Software as a Service (SAAS), Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS), and Platform as a Service (PAAS).
3. What are some popular CSPM companies my organization can deploy for cloud security?
According to Gartner, some popular CSPM companies that offer CSPM tools or solutions that your organization can deploy for cloud security are Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Tenable Cloud Security, InsightCloudSec by Rapid7, and many others.
4. Are data security posture management (DSPM) and cloud security posture management (CSPM) the same?
No, data security posture management (DSPM) and cloud security posture management (CSPM) are not the same. While they sound like similar concepts, they differ in their approach. Cloud security posture management (CSPM) focuses on detecting threats and vulnerabilities within cloud-based environments and infrastructures. In contrast, data security posture management (DSPM) focuses on detecting sensitive data sources, identifying who has access to them and at what permission level, assessing whether these sources are secure through various means, such as encryption and access control, and detecting and preventing anomalies. If your organization is keen on overall security posture, you must deploy both strategies to secure your organizational data optimally.