Main takeaways from this article:
The biggest challenges in cloud security include evolving cyber threats, human error, compliance complexities, misconfigurations, and securing third-party integrations, all of which require proactive strategies to address.
Essential measures involve real-time detection, automated incident response, stringent identity and access management, and regular audits while securing APIs, containers, and workloads.
The shared responsibility model defines distinct security duties for cloud service providers (e.g., infrastructure security) and users (e.g., data protection and access control), requiring clear alignment to avoid gaps.
Consolidating cloud security tools into a centralized platform, like Wiz, enhances visibility, simplifies management, and strengthens defenses against risks across complex, multi-cloud environments.
Cloud security: A refresher
Cloud security, often called cloud computing security, encompasses a broad range of policies, technologies, applications, and controls to protect data, applications, services, and the associated infrastructure of cloud computing. It falls under the umbrella of IT-related security terms, including network security, computer security, and, more generally, information security.
With our growing dependence on cloud platforms, safeguarding these systems is of utmost importance. Integrating cloud security throughout the software development lifecycle safeguards sensitive data and ensures the integrity and availability of services businesses and individuals depend on daily.
From the security perspective, the main components of cloud architecture are as follows:
Compute: This is the backbone of the cloud, providing the processing power required to run applications. It can adjust in size depending on the demand, guaranteeing cost efficiency and peak performance.
Storage: Cloud storage solutions offer a place to save data in the cloud, which can be accessed anytime, anywhere. It's crucial to ensure this data remains secure from unauthorized access or breaches.
Network: This component ensures connectivity between users, data, and applications. A secure network ensures that data in transit won’t be tampered with or eavesdropped on.
Identity and Access Management (IAM): IAM systems restrict access to cloud resources so only authorized users can make use of them. IAM security is a crucial component in safeguarding sensitive data and applications.
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What makes cloud security challenging?
The cloud has strong security features, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges involved. Some of the common hurdles many organizations face include:
Constantly evolving cyber threats
Human error, which can lead to breaches and data loss
Misunderstanding of the shared responsibility model, leading to security gaps
Strict requirements to achieve and maintain compliance with regional or industry-specific regulations
Ensuring the security of third-party applications integrated with cloud services
The following section will explore best practices and recommendations to ensure a secure cloud environment in light of these challenges.
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22 best practices for cloud security
The following practices and action items form a bedrock foundation for a secure cloud environment. By adhering to these recommendations, organizations can significantly reduce their risk profile and ensure a safer cloud experience. We recommend starting with these 22 best practices:
1. Understand the shared responsibility model
Cloud security is a two-way street, requiring collaboration between cloud providers and users to maintain a secure environment. While providers handle the security of the cloud infrastructure, users are responsible for securing the data, applications, and access controls within their cloud environments. Understanding these roles is foundational to a strong cloud security strategy.
Recommended actions:
Learn your provider’s specific responsibilities—these often include securing hardware, networking, and foundational infrastructure. For example, AWS manages the physical servers and virtualization layers, while users must configure their data protection and application-level security.
Ensure your organization fulfills its part, such as implementing encryption, managing identity and access, and configuring secure network settings.
Regularly review the shared responsibility documentation from your cloud provider to align your practices with their security guarantees.
2. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA)
MFA adds a second layer of protection beyond passwords, reducing the risk of unauthorized access even if credentials are compromised. For critical accounts, like admin roles, opt for non-phishable factors such as WebAuthN or YubiKeys to bolster defenses against phishing and other cyberattacks.
Recommended actions:
Enable MFA for all cloud accounts, especially admin accounts
Inform users about the significance of MFA and offer guidance on how to utilize it
Regularly review and update MFA settings to stay up to date with new standards
3. Follow the least-privilege principle
The principle of least privilege (PoLP) is a concept in IT security that demands every user and process should have only the minimal access required to perform their functions. By adhering to PoLP, the potential damage from breaches or insider threats is minimized. Unauthorized data access or system changes become significantly more challenging.
An example IAM policy can be defined as follows only to give listing access to a bucket:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": {
"Sid": "ListObjectsInBucket",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": "s3:ListBucket",
"Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::example-s3-bucket"
}
}Recommended Actions:
Review user roles and permissions regularly
Assign roles based on job functions
Regularly review machine identities
Promptly remove access for individuals who change roles or depart from the company.
Periodically review the business need for granting access to specific personas/roles
4. Perform regular audits
As cloud environments grow and change, configurations can drift from security best practices. Regular audits help identify and rectify these discrepancies. Audits ensure continuous compliance with security standards, reducing the risk of breaches due to misconfigurations.
Recommended actions:
Schedule periodic security audits
Use automated tools to continuously monitor configurations
Address audit findings promptly and document changes
5. Keep your data encrypted
To prevent unauthorized access or data being intercepted, it's crucial to encrypt data both when it's stored and while it's being transferred. Through encryption, data remains confidential. So, even in the event of a breach, the data stays indecipherable without the decryption key.
Recommended actions:
Encrypt data at rest using strong encryption standards
Ensure data in transit is encrypted using protocols like TLS
Frequently change encryption keys and ensure secure storage
6. Back up data on a regular basis
Regularly scheduled backups ensure that data can be restored with minimal disruption in the event of data loss, whether they take place because of an accidental deletion, a cyberattack, or a some other disruption to the system.
With regular backups, organizations can quickly recover from data loss incidents, minimizing downtime and data unavailability.
Recommended actions:
Schedule regular backups for all critical data
Test your backup restoration processes periodically
Store backups in geographically separate locations for redundancy
7. Secure your APIs
APIs act as gateways to applications, which can make them appealing targets for cyberattacks. It’s crucial to ensure these APIs have proper authentication and authorization mechanisms, so malicious actors can't exploit them to gain unauthorized access or disrupt services.
Recommended actions:
Implement strong authentication and authorization mechanisms for APIs
Regularly review and update API security configurations
Monitor API access logs for suspicious activities
8. Stay on top of patch management
Software vulnerabilities are a prime target for attackers. Regular updates and patches guarantee that recognized weak points are tackled. This reduces the attack surface by removing potential attack vectors.
Recommended actions:
Subscribe to vulnerability feeds for your software and services.
Implement a regular patching schedule.
Test patches before applying them using a staging environment.
9. Harden your network security
The network serves as a wall that’s built to keep out cyber threats. So any holes in that wall are going to produce risks. It’s up to you to find them and plug them up.
A robust network security posture, including firewalls, virtual private clouds (VPCs), and other tools, ensures that malicious traffic is kept at bay and only legitimate traffic can access your resources.
Recommended actions:
Implement firewalls to filter out malicious traffic
Use Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) to isolate resources
Regularly review and update network security rules
10. Understand your compliance requirements
Compliance frameworks are more than guidelines—they’re your blueprint for safeguarding sensitive data and meeting legal obligations. Knowing which regulations apply to your organization ensures you're prepared to protect your cloud environment while maintaining trust with customers and regulators.
Recommended actions:
Identify relevant regulations, such as GDPR for personal data protection, HIPAA for healthcare, or PCI DSS for financial transactions.
Map compliance requirements to security measures, like data encryption for safeguarding information or audit logging for traceability.
Review your compliance posture regularly to identify gaps and address them before they become issues.
11. Verify cloud service provider security practices
Your cloud provider is an extension of your security perimeter, so it’s vital to verify that their practices meet your standards. Begin by reviewing their certifications, such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, or FedRAMP. These certifications indicate that a provider adheres to recognized security standards. Dive into their security documentation, including white papers and audit reports, to gain a clear picture of their practices.
Recommended actions:
Assess providers’ certifications to ensure they align with industry best practices (e.g., SOC 2 for service organizations or ISO 27001 for information security).
Review their audit reports for insights into security controls and any identified gaps.
Confirm that the provider’s practices align with your organization’s unique security and compliance needs, such as data residency or encryption standards.
12. Secure containers and workloads
Containers and workloads are dynamic by nature, but that flexibility can also introduce risks. To secure these environments, use vulnerability scanning to identify weaknesses in your images and code before deployment. Always start with secure, trusted base images to minimize the risk of introducing vulnerabilities. Once deployed, implement runtime protections to detect and block suspicious behavior in real time.
Recommended actions:
Perform regular vulnerability scans on container images and workloads.
Use secure, verified base images to reduce attack surfaces.
Implement runtime protection to monitor for anomalies and prevent exploits in active environments.
Integrate container security into your CI/CD pipeline to identify and fix issues during development.
13. Monitor cloud activity continuously
Cloud environments evolve rapidly, making continuous monitoring essential to staying ahead of potential threats. Real-time monitoring helps detect anomalies, such as unusual login patterns, unauthorized access attempts, or changes to critical configurations. Without proactive detection, these activities can go unnoticed until it’s too late.
Recommended actions:
Deploy monitoring solutions that provide real-time alerts for suspicious activities, such as unauthorized data access or irregular network traffic.
Use tools with centralized visibility to oversee multiple cloud providers and streamline monitoring in hybrid or multi-cloud setups.
Regularly review monitoring data to fine-tune alerts and reduce noise, focusing on the most critical threats.
14. Conduct regular penetration testing
Penetration testing lets you identify vulnerabilities before malicious actors do. These tests simulate real-world attack scenarios, exposing weak points in your cloud environment, applications, or configurations. Regular testing ensures that your defenses stay resilient against evolving threats and gives you actionable insights to improve your security posture.
Recommended actions:
Schedule regular penetration tests to uncover vulnerabilities in your cloud infrastructure and applications.
Involve external experts to conduct objective security assessments or use automated tools to simulate realistic attack scenarios.
Prioritize remediation efforts based on the test results, focusing on high-risk vulnerabilities.
15. Regularly update and review cloud configurations
Misconfigurations are one of the most common causes of cloud breaches, often leaving sensitive data exposed or enabling unauthorized access. Regularly reviewing your cloud configurations helps catch these vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. Consistently updating configurations ensures alignment with your organization’s cloud security policies and evolving threat landscape.
Recommended actions:
Conduct periodic reviews of your cloud configurations to identify and correct misconfigurations, such as open storage buckets or overly permissive access controls.
Automate configuration checks with tools that enforce security baselines and flag deviations in real time.
Establish a process to update configurations when new services or changes are introduced into your cloud environment.
16. Leverage agentless vulnerability management
Agentless vulnerability management simplifies the process of securing cloud environments by eliminating the need for software agents. These tools connect directly to your cloud provider’s APIs, allowing for seamless scanning and assessment of your cloud resources without impacting performance. This reduces operational overhead and ensures you can focus on addressing risks instead of managing agents.
Recommended actions:
Deploy agentless vulnerability management tools to scan cloud-native resources like virtual machines, containers, and serverless functions.
Use these tools to identify risks, including misconfigurations, outdated software, and potential vulnerabilities, across your cloud environment.
Integrate results into your existing workflows for streamlined prioritization and remediation.
17. Strengthen data governance policies
Data governance is the backbone of secure cloud operations, ensuring that sensitive data is managed, accessed, and protected appropriately. Defining clear policies for data classification helps differentiate between public, confidential, and highly sensitive information. Combined with robust access controls and encryption, these measures prevent data misuse and unauthorized exposure.
Recommended actions:
Establish and document data classification standards to ensure consistent handling of sensitive and non-sensitive information.
Implement role-based access controls (RBAC) to limit data access to only those who need it for their role.
Enforce encryption for data at rest and in transit to protect against unauthorized access.
Align governance policies with regulatory frameworks like GDPR or HIPAA and your organization’s specific business needs.
18. Limit public exposure to cloud resources
Exposing cloud resources like storage buckets or databases to the public internet significantly increases the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches. Identifying sensitive resources and restricting their access is a crucial step in reducing these risks. Misconfigurations that enable public access are common culprits behind cloud security incidents, so proactive security monitoring is essential.
Recommended actions:
Identify resources that are publicly accessible, such as storage buckets, databases, or VMs, and restrict access to authorized users or systems only.
Use network security measures like private endpoints to limit exposure and enforce secure communication protocols within your cloud environment.
Configure firewall rules to allow traffic only from trusted IP addresses and block all unnecessary public access.
19. Automate compliance monitoring
Manually tracking compliance across a dynamic cloud environment is time-consuming and prone to errors. Automating compliance monitoring ensures that your organization adheres to regulatory standards and internal policies without the need for constant manual oversight. Automation also helps identify violations in real time, so you can address cloud security issues before they escalate into costly problems.
Recommended actions:
Use tools that automate compliance checks against regulatory frameworks to ensure continuous adherence.
Leverage solutions that provide real-time tracking of compliance metrics and flag deviations as they occur.
Generate detailed reports for audits and internal reviews, simplifying the documentation process and ensuring transparency.
20. Conduct regular incident response drills
Incident response is only as effective as your team's readiness. Regularly conducting drills prepares your organization to react swiftly and effectively to potential breaches or attacks. Proactive testing highlights gaps in your response plan and ensures that everyone knows their role during an actual incident.
Recommended actions:
Schedule regular incident response drills to simulate realistic security breach scenarios and test your organization’s preparedness.
Involve cross-functional teams, including IT, security, legal, and communications, to ensure a coordinated response during an incident.
Review the outcomes of each drill to identify weaknesses and update your incident response plan accordingly.
21. Implement zero-trust architecture
A zero-trust approach shifts the security mindset from assuming trust within the network to verifying every user and device before granting access. In cloud environments, this "never trust, always verify" principle minimizes the risk of insider threats and lateral movement during breaches. It’s a key strategy for protecting modern, distributed systems.
Recommended actions:
Enforce strong identity verification through multi-factor authentication (MFA) and continuous monitoring of user behavior.
Implement least privilege access controls, ensuring users and systems only access the resources necessary for their roles.
Use network segmentation and micro-segmentation to limit the spread of potential threats.
22. Consolidate your cloud security solutions
Managing multiple, disconnected security tools can lead to inefficiencies, overlooked vulnerabilities, and wasted resources. Consolidating these tools into a centralized platform simplifies operations, enhances visibility, and improves your ability to identify and address risks. A unified solution enables security teams to focus on what matters most: protecting your cloud environment.
Recommended actions:
Transition from siloed tools to an integrated platform that provides a single-pane-of-glass view of your cloud security posture management (CSPM).
Choose a solution that combines essential features like vulnerability management, compliance monitoring, and identity management into one streamlined interface.
Leverage Wiz to unify your cloud security efforts, offering comprehensive protection with features like CSPM, KSPM, and automated vulnerability detection.
Going beyond the basics with Wiz
Wiz is a cloud security platform that helps organizations proactively identify, prioritize, and remediate risks across their cloud environments. Wiz provides a single pane of glass view of all cloud resources and their associated risks, including misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, malware, sensitive data, and identities.
Wiz can be used to implement many of the cloud security best practices discussed above and cover more advanced use cases by offering solutions in the areas of:
Visibility and control: Wiz provides a comprehensive view of all cloud resources and their associated risks, giving organizations the visibility they need to identify and address potential security issues.
Least privilege: Wiz can be used to enforce least privilege access to cloud resources, ensuring that users only have the access they need to perform their job duties.
Data security: Wiz can be used to identify and protect sensitive data in the cloud, including data that is stored in object storage buckets, databases, and other cloud services.
Threat detection and response: Wiz can be used to monitor for threats in the cloud and respond to incidents quickly and effectively.
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