Cloud security automation is vital to protect your cloud environment from the ever-changing threat landscape. Automating security processes can be overwhelming, particularly for teams that are unfamiliar with cybersecurity. A simple 6-step process can help you go from standard security protocols to an individualized automated cloud security framework.
6 Ways to Implementing Cloud Security Automation
1. Evaluation and Risk Assessment
The first step in automating cloud security is to conduct a thorough analysis of risk and assessment. Before you automate everything, you must know how your cloud environment is functioning. The first step is to identify the most important automation opportunities and highlight risks and vulnerabilities. That data will form the foundation for your strategy of cloud security automation.
If you or your company have never conducted an assessment of cybersecurity risks before. In that situation, a basic five-step strategy can help to avoid confusion. The risk assessment must be inclusive of all the systems in the organization prioritizing cloud-related data and infrastructure. Be aware that an application could be extremely secure but nevertheless be a high-risk application.
A risk assessment should identify the dangers that threaten your organization’s most critical data, applications, and infrastructure. Risk rankings for cybersecurity provide a snapshot of what might happen in the event of a breach. In the ideal scenario, all high-risk systems and data are well-protected. Note when the risk assessment shows that anything that is at risk and extremely susceptible.
It’s essential to set the goals of your company for cloud security. After reviewing the findings of your risk assessment, identify some areas that require improvement. For instance, you might be looking to automate a few software updates by using scripting or setting up the automated API Security scanner.
These goals will be the base of your strategy of cloud-based security automation. It could be beneficial to prioritize a few goals in order of highest to low priority. This will give you a base that your team can focus on when you start the process of implementing automated cloud security solutions.
Also read: Enterprise Risk Management: A Complete Guide
2. Increase Cloud Visibility
One of the most crucial aspects of a successful cybersecurity strategy is visibility However, it can be difficult to see aspects in a cloud-based environment because of the dispersed nature. Secure the cloud requires increasing your awareness of cloud resources.
When you’re in the process of assessing risk You may have missed opportunities or risks that you weren’t aware of. These are indicators that you should to enhance your awareness of your cloud-based environment. Implementing an asset management system for the cloud will allow you to pool all of your cloud resources in one central location that allows you to monitor things.
A cloud asset management platform is a control point to manage your cloud-based environment. It encompasses all devices, applications, services servers, systems, and devices operating in your cloud system — and any vital data, including usage data.
Make sure to add physical devices to the management system you use. It’s easy for you to concentrate solely on your software when you work in cloud computing, but the majority of cloud-based systems depend heavily on physical technology. These same devices could rely on cloud services to function properly.
One great example can be seen in IoT appliances. These devices are fantastic for automating the collection of data from sensors, but they’re also very susceptible to DDoS attacks and frequently suffer from inadequate visibility. IoT devices are notoriously vulnerable to attacks and have inadequate security settings that default to the default and also. This is why it is essential to maintain an eye-opening view of IoT devices’ activities and connections in order to ensure tight security.
Many cloud platforms for asset management are available at present, however, creating your own is a possibility. Make sure you check in with the provider of your cloud prior to buying or constructing a management platform. Some might offer it as part of the subscription discounts or partnerships for third-party management platforms.
3. Automatic Cloud Security Basics
Once you have a knowledge of the main threats and the top priorities of your cloud environment and have a method to monitor all of it, you are able to begin to implement automated measures. It’s usually recommended to begin with the most basic safeguards for cloud environments. This includes automating security gaps that pose a high risk and creating an acceptable security level for the entire cloud.
For instance, each cloud service must use encryption, which the majority of the top cloud providers have some form of. You should encrypt your cloud data in three stages — transit, rest, and in-use. This safeguards your data from misuse even if accidentally compromised or intercepted at any time.
The encryption doesn’t automatize any processes but does guarantee the security of your data when it travels through your cloud. This lets you implement automated strategies and have less worry regarding putting your personal data in risk.
Automated cloud backups of data are yet another important security measure you should put in place. Backups of data to the cloud are becoming more popular in the present, but it is also possible to back up existing data on the cloud. Automating backups regularly is a vital element of any plan for disaster recovery which includes natural disasters and cyber-attacks.
The cloud is more tolerant in the face of natural disasters than traditional servers, however, accidents are still possible. It doesn’t matter if it’s due to an attack by hackers or a haphazard incident, losing important data can cause approximately 60% of small-sized businesses to be bankrupt in the first six months following loss. Therefore, make sure you have your data in the cloud backed up on an alternative server location to the data center where your cloud-based resources typically operate. Backups can be stored in on-premises storage. It is important to ensure backups are performed autonomously on a regular basis.
Controlling access is the 3rd important protocol to implement prior to making security more automated on a large scale. It’s all too easy for users who are not authorized to access cloud-based environments as they are distributed and not tied to physically-based devices. A good access control system automates the process of denial of access to users who are not authorized and accounts.
Also read: 7 Tips for Choosing the Right Automation Tools for Your Small Business
4. Implement the Case-Specific Cloud Security Automation
Once the fundamental cloud security precautions are set, it is possible to automate more complicated procedures. At this point, you can think about the objectives you defined during the initial stage of the process of automating cloud security. Make use of those goals to identify the things you’d like to automate first. You can then choose the integration of one or two new features at each time.
At this point, your team will automatize higher-risk more complicated security procedures beyond the basic. Every organization’s cloud security automation plan will be different based on the specific risk factors you have and the cloud environment.
For instance, your team may use lots of APIs in their workflows. APIs can be great for allowing various apps as well as services to work together, but they also pose significant security risks. It is possible to automate API security checks to confirm that the tools your team is using are secure. Workload security scans are also able to be automated.
In the same way, you can utilize MFA and 2FA in order to automate identification verification and improve your access control. The cloud scripting tool is another great automated cloud tool that you can test. It can automate routine security tasks like configuration and server updates.
Certain circumstances could also require special cloud security automation techniques. For instance, if a portion of team members are remote, you may be faced with specific cloud security threats. Muli-factor authentication as well as automatic security updates made using scripting can be particularly beneficial in this case.
What happens if you wish to automatize certain processes on certain cloud services but not on others? In this scenario, you could separate the cloud into separate segments. There is no need for an individual cloud for this, either. A hypervisor can be used to set up a remote server within any cloud, including cloud services that are shared.
A virtual private server lets you modify the security protocols of various segments of your cloud. In fact, segmenting your cloud resources can even improve cybersecurity. It stops malicious actors from gaining full control over your cloud assets and reduces the risk of cyber attacks.
5. Integrate automated threat monitoring
Monitoring for threats is an essential aspect of any cloud security automation plan. Automating this process is a high-risk process, which is why it’s ideal to automate security monitoring that is free of interruptions. If you’re relying on an AI to monitor the cloud, it is essential to invest time and energy to ensure you’re using a trusted algorithm.
Numerous companies are investing in AI tools, such as cybersecurity algorithms. Utilizing AI on the cloud allows users to utilize these tools without the need for expensive on-premise computing resources. AI is beneficial for employees’ and customers’ maintenance, security, and much more, but it is not without risk.
For instance, poorly trained AI models may be affected by outdated data as well as data that has been compromised or even bias in data. Investigating an AI model and the person who developed it thoroughly is essential prior to making a decision to invest in an AI security tool. Choose an algorithm that is developed on a massive dataset that is updated frequently. Regular updates are essential for stopping zero-day attacks.
Create a pilot program after you’ve identified an AI threat monitoring software that matches the cloud environment you have in place. There are numerous options to implement this. For instance, you can automate the monitoring of threats in one part of your cloud infrastructure and keep monitoring manually in the other. Be sure to monitor and analyze the effectiveness of the algorithm during the testing phase.
You may incorporate AI into your cloud-based environment in the event that it’s more efficient than manually-based monitoring. If the performance of the algorithm isn’t satisfactory Don’t hesitate to explore alternative AI threat-monitoring tools. Be patient and discover the one that offers Cloud resources with the highest security.
Also read: What is Cyberthreat Intelligence? Types, Uses and Providers
6. Track, evaluate and then adjust
Each time you add a new cloud security tool, be sure to monitor and analyze the effectiveness of your new measure. In the ideal case, automated tools will help you save time and will catch more suspicious actions. If something is harming the network or isn’t feasible, you should modify the issue or substitute it with another security tool that is automated.
Security automation on the cloud is a continuous process. It requires regular checks to assess the effectiveness and determine the areas that require upgrading. Keep in mind that the threat landscape in cloud computing is constantly changing. Certain automation tools may be outdated or outdated. Keep an eye on security news and new threats, and then analyze your automation plan for ways to keep one step ahead of the hackers.
Final word — Automation Security in the Cloud
As more companies, operations as well as tools, and computing environments shift into the cloud, creating secure cloud security is becoming more important. It is possible to follow these steps to go from no cloud security to a secure and flexible automated cloud security system. Continuous improvement is essential in adapting to new threats, so make sure you repeat this procedure regularly and examine the performance of automated security.
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