A cloud environment consist of of various distributed components, where each component constantly consumes and generates diverse data types across different geographical locations. It is inherently complex to manage this type of dynamic process and to simultaneously ensure data integrity. To keep up with this process effectively, cloud businesses and security teams should continuously develop efficient security strategies as they scale.
As per Nord layer, in 2024, the global average cost of a data breach increased to record breaking $4.88 million, which is the highest ever. On the other hand, breaches in cloud environments were much more expensive which averaged $5.17 million. These numbers highlight the urgent need for strong and scalable cloud data security implementation by security teams.
This blog explains the basics of cloud data security and top 8 cloud solutions that address cloud vulnerabilities effectively.
What is Cloud Data Security
Cloud data security is a comprehensive security practice to secure digital information assets or data stored in cloud environments. The main goal of cloud data security is to maintain confidentiality of data and allow access only to authorized users across various cloud deployments such as public, private and hybrid configurations. This security practice helps in protecting cloud data and prevent them from various threats such as human error, security breach and malicious insider activities.
Cloud data security framework extends beyond data storage and includes securing data throughout the entire lifecycle within cloud based applications, cloud infrastructure and services. It follows the guiding principles of data governance and information security that include data confidentiality, data integrity and data availability. Besides this, it also addresses the protection of cloud data in various states such as data in use, data in transit and data at rest.
Cloud Data Breach Examples
Here are some of the examples of cloud data breach incidents that highlight the severe consequences of insufficient cloud security measures:
Capital One Breach (2019)
Capital One faced a data exposure that affected more than 100 million customers. The cyber attacker exploited a misconfigured firewall in Capital One's cloud infrastructure and got unauthorized access to customer's sensitive data that was stored in the cloud. This incident highlights how just a single misconfiguration can result in massive data exposure despite significant security investments. The breach lead to significant financial and reputational damage and also indicates the importance of efficient cloud security configurations and implementation of regular security audits.
LinkedIn Data Exposure (2021)
LinkedIn faced an exhaustive data breach attack, when an attacker said to have breached their systems and provided data from 500 million LinkedIn users for sale. The attacker exploited a vulnerability in an API used by LinkedIn to gather and consolidate data from other websites. This massive security attack showcases how even large technology companies could become vulnerable to advanced attacks targeting specific cloud components. And also, indicates the importance of securing APIs and all access points to cloud systems.
Microsoft Azure Misconfiguration (2021)
A major cloud misconfiguration in Azure revealed sensitive data related to over 38 million users. This incident happened due to improper configuration of access controls that allowed cloud resources accessible to public. This humongous data exposure highlights how misconfiguration in cloud environments can affect millions of users at the same time. Cloud misconfiguration is one of the most common reason for data breaches and it is important to implement continuous configuration validation and security assessments.
Cloud Data Security Benefits
Some of the key advantages of cloud data security include:
Improves Cloud Data Protection
Cloud data security incorporates strong access controls like multi factor authentication (MFA) and role based access control (RBAC), where only the authorized users can get access to sensitive or confidential data. Encryption of data prevents the risk by making stolen data unreadable to unauthorized parties. These layered security measures minimizes the risk of data breach, unauthorized access and secures sensitive business and customer data.
Ensures Compliance and Regulation
Cloud data security helps in meeting stringent compliance and regulatory standards like GDPR, HIPAA and PCI - DSS. The built in tools in cloud data security platforms assist in data encryption, auditing of access, and continuous monitoring to keep security teams aligned with evolving regulatory requirements. Automated compliance assessments minimizes the risk, prevents penalties, and help maintain customer trust by showcasing commitment to data protection.
Maintains Customer Trust
Customer expects their data to be secure, and this can be achieved only through sufficient and strong cloud data security measures. A strong cloud data security framework provides privacy to customers data and offers them reassurance. This trust enables long term retention and business loyalty. Demonstrating security practices makes the security team standout, sets business apart, improves credibility and reputation in a competitive market.
Facilitate Business Continuity with Disaster Recovery
Cloud related disaster recovery solutions secures cloud data and ensure quick recovery from accidental disasters or incidents. Automated backups and snapshots reduces downtime and preserve critical operations. A strong recovery plan consists of incident response, forensic investigation, and data restoration and ensures business continuity in the face of disruptions.
Minimizes Risk of Data Breach and Downtime
Security strategies like access control, continuous monitoring and encryption helps in identifying threats and mitigate them at the earliest. This approach reduces the chance of data breaches and prevents expensive outages. A reliable and strong cloud data security prevents operational disruptions and secures bottom line and operational resilience.
Offers Visibility and Control
Cloud data security tools offer real time insights into data usage, storage and access patterns. This visibility delegates power to identify risks, implement security policies, respond quickly to malicious activities. Regular audits and user activity logs helps in gaining control over the data environment. And also complies with regulatory standards to reduce vulnerabilities.
Cloud Data Security Challenges
Cloud data security experiences multiple challenges as security teams increasingly rely on cloud services for processing confidential or sensitive information. Here’s a breakdown of some of the challenges.
Data Breaches and Unauthorized Access
Cloud environments are prime targets for cyber attackers due to the vast amount of sensitive data stored in cloud. Data breaches often stem from poor security controls or misconfigurations. This weakness allows attackers to gain access to confidential information. It results in hefty penalties, financial loss and reputation damage. Preventing unauthorized access requires strong authentication and monitoring mechanisms.
Data Loss and Integrity Issues
Data stored in the cloud could be lost due to system failures, accidental deletion or security attacks. Loss of important and sensitive business data can disrupt operations and damage trust with customers. Corrupted data can lead to poor business decisions. In order to prevent such issues, security teams must ensure data integrity, maintain accuracy and consistency.
Insufficient Access Controls
Managing access controls is complex in the cloud. Excessive permissions or weak access control implementation can let unauthorized users to view sensitive data. This challenge is compounded by balance with security, usability and performance.
Lack of Visibility and Control
Security teams often have limited visibility into their cloud assets and data flows, especially in hybrid or public clouds. This lack of oversight makes it challenging to identify malicious activities. Security teams must enforce security policies and compliance with data protection regulations
Insider Threats
Employees or contractors with access can compromise data security accidently or intentionally. Insider threats are difficult to identify and can result from phishing, poor security awareness or social engineering attacks which eventually leads to data leaks.
Data Storage, Transmission, and Processing Risks
Transmitting or Storing unencrypted data in the cloud environments exposes it to data theft. If there is poor encryption and secure communication protocols, sensitive information can be easily exploited and accessed by unauthorized users during the storage or transfer.
Regulatory Compliance Complexity
Cloud data often has multiple jurisdictions and each has its own regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA). Complying to these regulatory requirements is challenging, and non-compliance can result in hefty fines and legal issues. Security teams should ensure their cloud practices align with all required standards and laws.
Top 8 Cloud Data Security Solutions
Cloud data security solutions comprises of vast set of technologies, policies and practices designed to protect data transmitted, stored and processed in cloud environments from vulnerabilities and threats such as data breaches, misconfigurations and insider attacks. To address these we have to implement proper and reliable cloud data security solution. Here’s a breakdown of top 8 of cloud data security solutions.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Microsoft Defender is complete security management system that offers threat protection across multiple cloud environments that include AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.
Image Source: Microsoft
Features
Has capabilities to scan azure virtual machines without agents that includes encrypted customer managed keys.
Continuously monitor critical files and registries in real-time to identify unauthorized changes.
Improves threat detection and response capabilities.
Offers actionable insights to improve cloud data security.
Ensure compliance with regulatory standards.
Google Cloud Security Command Centre (SCC)
Google Cloud Security Command Centre (SCC) is comprehensive security platform google cloud that prevents, identifies and responds to threats.
Image Source: Google cloud
Features
Offers visibility into cloud assets and their security posture.
Detects threats like misconfigurations, malware and suspicious activities.
Assesses compliance with standards such as PCI DSS.
Evaluates configurations to identify security misconfigurations.
Works with services like cloud monitoring and logging for complete security insights.
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud is cloud security platform that offers full visibility and threat detection across security teams hybrid and multi cloud environments.
Image source: Prisma cloud
Features
Offers security for hosts, containers and serverless functions.
Provides constant monitoring of cloud environments for misconfigurations.
Checks permissions to detect excessive permissions for access.
Offer protection for sensitive data for multiple cloud environments.
Report generation to highlight compliance with industry standards.
Check Point Cloud Guard
Checkpoint cloud guard is cloud native security platform that provides advanced threat prevention and posture management in cloud environments.
Image source: Checkpoint
Features
Continuously check cloud configurations.
Leverage real time threat detection intelligence to prevent attacks.
Offers firewall protection for cloud networks.
Secures applications against unknown and known threats.
Automates security responses and policies across different cloud environments.
Crowd Strike Falcon Cloud Security
Cloud strike falcon cloud security provides unified security platform that delivers complete protection across cloud containers, workloads and applications.
Image source: Crowd Strike
Features
Has AI and machine learning capabilities to detect and respond to threats and vulnerabilities quickly across cloud environments.
Protects workloads across different cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS and Google Cloud.
Continuously analyzes cloud configurations to find and mitigate misconfigurations.
Administers and protects identities and access permissions in cloud environments.
Ensures compliance to CIS, NIST, and MITRE ATT&CK and regulatory standards such as GDPR and HIPAA.
Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud
Acronis cyber cloud is cyber protection solution that integrates backup, AI based malware, disaster recovery and security management.
Image source: Acronis
Features
Identifies and prevents malware attacks in real time.
Ensures data availability and fast recovery.
Keeps the systems updated to prevent threats and vulnerabilities.
Secures sensitive data from unauthorized access.
Simplifies management of security and backup tasks
Trend Micro Cloud One
Trend micro cloud one is a security services platform designed for cloud builders. It offers protection across different cloud environments and services.
Image source: Trend micro
Features
Offers runtime protection for containers, virtual machines, and serverless functions.
Provides integration with CI/CD pipelines to scan the images of containers, before the development process to find vulnerabilities.
Protects cloud file and object storage services against unauthorized access and malware
Offers effortless implementation for intrusion prevention systems (IPS) at the cloud network layer to find and prevent threats.
Constantly monitors cloud infrastructure for compliance with best practices and regulatory standards.
Cisco Secure Cloud lock
Cisco Secure Cloud lock is a cloud native access security broker (CASB) that helps security teams protect their cloud apps and environment.
Image source: Cisco cloud
Features
Detects and continuously monitors cloud applications that are in use across the organization to find shadow IT.
Secures sensitive data across cloud platforms by implementing DLP controls and policies.
Identifies suspicious user behavior to find compromised accounts and potential insider threats.
Implements strict security policies across cloud applications to control access and data sharing.
Works smoothly with other Cisco security solutions for all round security.
Final Thoughts
The above cloud data security solutions help security teams in providing all around security for data in cloud environments. By focusing on protecting APIs, the primary channels in which cloud resources exchange data, Akto serves important role in securing sensitive information in cloud and has a vast library of over 850 security test cover OWASP top 10 vulnerabilities. It provides flexible deployments options such as cloud based, self hosted, or local deployments which allows security teams to choose the ideal setup that fits the business and compliance requirement.
Akto recently introduced industry-first agentic AI suite for API security with groundbreaking AI features for Modern Appsec teams. Book a demo today to learn more!
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