Main takeaways from this article:
Enterprise cloud security protects data and infrastructure across multi-cloud, hybrid, and private environments.
The shared responsibility model divides security roles between cloud providers and customers, with customers safeguarding their data and providers securing infrastructure.
Threats like data breaches, misconfigurations, and APTs demand identity management, encryption, and monitoring.
What is enterprise cloud security?
Enterprise cloud security refers to the system and structure protecting your organization's most valuable data and resources in the cloud. It's a combination of tools, policies, and procedures designed to safeguard applications, infrastructure, and sensitive information across any cloud environment (public, private, or hybrid).
At its core, cloud security functions as a multi-layered defense system, combining access controls, encryption, and threat detection to guard critical assets against cyberattacks and data breaches. These layers work together to create a strong security posture, addressing potential vulnerabilities across all aspects of cloud infrastructure and adapting to emerging threats.
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Why enterprises need enterprise-level cloud security
Simply put, enterprises need cloud security to protect business-critical data from increasingly sophisticated threats.
Cloud environments offer scalability and flexibility, but they also come with unique risks, especially for enterprises juggling massive amounts of sensitive data. Based on our research, 57% of companies use more than one cloud platform, requiring advanced expertise and visibility to manage cloud security.
When you essentially become an enterprise, there are new kinds of processes you need to establish. It brings a lot of change, especially in a rapidly growing environment where there’s lots of new features constantly being added.
Uros Solar, Head of Security Operations and IT Security, Revolut
Enterprise cloud environments often rely on complex hybrid architectures, creating opportunities for misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, escalated permissions, and lateral movement. As an example, we found that 47% of companies have at least one database or storage bucket publicly exposed to the internet. This, in turn, opens the door to:
Data breaches
Financial losses
Regulatory fines
Shattered customer trust
Operational standstills.
With tools like real-time threat detection, encryption, and access management, enterprises can proactively identify and mitigate risks, safeguard compliance, and build a resilient cloud security model.
Cloud security challenges: Enterprises vs. midmarket organizations
Enterprise organizations operate on a large or global scale, requiring sophisticated IT infrastructures across multiple cloud environments. In contrast, midmarket businesses have limited resources and simpler infrastructures. These differences lead to varied challenges in cloud-based security for each.
Here are the different challenges enterprise and midsize organizations face:
| Challenges | Enterprise organizations | Midsize organizations |
|---|---|---|
| Multifaceted infrastructure |
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| Scale and complexity |
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| Regulatory compliance |
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| Data sensitivity |
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| Advanced threats |
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Understanding the shared responsibility model in enterprise cloud security
The shared responsibility model is the backbone of enterprise cloud security—a collaborative effort between you and your cloud service provider (CSP).
The cloud provider takes care of the foundation: the physical data centers, servers, and networking infrastructure.
Your organization is responsible for your data, applications, and user access.
This isn’t just a task split—it’s a clarity agreement. Storing sensitive customer data in the cloud? That’s on you. Managing virtual machine firewalls? Yours too. But stopping a physical data center breach? That’s firmly the CSP’s responsibility.
Enterprise cloud security: public vs. private vs. hybrid
No two cloud models are alike, and their security challenges vary widely. Here’s a closer look:
Public cloud: Shared spaces managed by providers like AWS or Google Cloud. They offer scalability but require stringent encryption, access controls, and monitoring to protect sensitive data. Tackling compliance in such environments can be tricky.
Private cloud: Built for use by a single organization, private clouds excel in security and compliance, making them ideal for industries like healthcare or finance. The trade-off? Higher costs and the need for specialized security expertise.
Hybrid cloud: A mix of public and private clouds, hybrid cloud architecture can offer the best of both worlds. Sensitive data stays private, while public resources handle the load. But managing consistent security across both environments takes careful planning.
Each cloud model brings its own security puzzle, but the goal is universal: secure data, meet regulations, and ensure uninterrupted operations.
Common challenges in enterprise cloud security
Enterprises must contend with sprawling infrastructure, strict regulations, and ever-evolving threats. Let’s break down the biggest challenges:
Complicated infrastructure: Managing multiple cloud providers, hybrid environments, and legacy on-prem systems (each with different requirements and languages) is a juggling act.
Scale and complexity: Enterprises often oversee hundreds of apps and thousands of users, making it easy for misconfigurations to slip through. When they do, the consequences can cascade unpredictably across systems.
Team overlap: Cloud security responsibilities can get divided across an org by CloudSec, DevOps, ITOps, compliance, infrastructure, network, and dev teams. This can heavily complicate project management and security practices.
Regulatory compliance: Meeting standards like GDPR or HIPAA is non-negotiable. Achieving compliance across regions and industries demands precise audits, detailed processes, and flawless execution—there’s little room for error.
Data sensitivity: Enterprises guard valuable data, from customer information to proprietary research.
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Enterprise cloud security threats
Beyond challenges, enterprises face a relentless lineup of threats. Here are the most significant ones to watch for:
Data breaches and leaks: Sensitive data is a goldmine for attackers, and breaches can result in enormous financial losses and irreparable damage to your reputation. An experiment we ran found open S3 buckets were targeted by attackers in just 7 hours.
Cloud misconfiguration: Simple mistakes—like incorrect storage permissions—can leave systems wide open. These errors are among the most common ways attackers find a way in.
Advanced persistent threats (APTs): These stealthy, long-term attacks infiltrate critical systems and quietly extract data or position themselves for future disruption.
Insecure APIs: APIs connect cloud systems, but poorly secured ones create an entry point for attackers to manipulate or steal data.
Account hijacking: Weak credentials are an open invitation for attackers. Once inside, they can access critical systems, delete data, or hold assets hostage.
DoS and DDoS attacks: Flooding systems with traffic to overwhelm resources can shut down operations. For enterprises, the impact extends beyond downtime to lost revenue and shaken trust.
Buyer's Guide: enterprise cloud security checklist
The following section provides a cloud security checklist with actionable items that defend against common enterprise cloud security pitfalls.
Identity and access management (IAM)
Regularly audit user permissions and roles
Create automated alerts for any suspicious logins or unusual access patterns
Rotate access keys
Enforce MFA and password policies
Use cloud-native IAM tools
Sensitive data protection
Use a cloud-delivered data security posture management solution with context-aware access controls
Extend DLP policies to cover all sanctioned and unsanctioned SaaS apps
Automate exfiltration detection and response through your SIEM
Network security
Cybercriminals view enterprise networks as high-value targets, so network security measures are essential.
Network segmentation isolates workloads within secure groups or virtual private clouds (VPCs), containing potential breaches.
Firewalls and Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS) monitor traffic for suspicious activity, blocking threats in real time.
Regular vulnerability scanning helps identify and address potential weak points before they can be exploited.
Cloud detection and response
A good cloud detection and response (CDR) solution should:
Monitor workload events and cloud activity to spot and contextualize all threats in real-time.
Detail each cloud event, including what machine or user identity performed it, and which resource it was performed on.
Prioritize threats based on protecting the most valuable resources.
Follow response playbooks and automate evidence collection
Compliance and auditing
Meeting industry compliance standards is essential to avoid legal repercussions and potential fines. When adopting cloud solutions, verify that vendors meet regulatory requirements relevant to your industry, such as HIPAA or GDPR. Regular audits and documentation of compliance practices help maintain alignment with regulations, and vulnerability scanning tools can ensure cloud configurations meet security standards. Failure to stay compliant can lead to data breaches and reputational harm.
Cloud security tools built for the cloud
Gartner forecasts that by 2026, 80% of enterprises will consolidate their cloud security tooling to three or fewer vendors, a significant shift from the average of 10 vendors in 2022. This means you should:
Prioritize integrated platforms that combine features and capabilities.
Pick tools that are built for the cloud, not bolted on through an acquisition.
Test tools for unified management capabilities and easy interfaces.
Key features of enterprise cloud security solutions
The right enterprise cloud security stack doesn’t just keep up; it keeps you ahead. Here’s what to prioritize:
Agentless architecture: Skip the hassle of installing agents on every resource. Agentless security connects directly to cloud provider APIs, delivering full visibility without slowing down your operations.
Continuous security posture management: In a cloud environment that changes by the second, continuous monitoring ensures your configurations stay secure. It identifies misconfigurations and compliance gaps before they escalate into bigger problems.
End-to-end vulnerability management: Cover all your bases, from virtual machines to serverless functions. The best solutions don’t just find vulnerabilities—they prioritize and guide you in fixing the ones that matter most.
Contextual risk analysis: Not all threats are equal. Contextual analysis evaluates risks in the context of your specific setup, helping your team focus on vulnerabilities with the greatest potential impact.
Cloud detection and response: Think of this as your cloud security watchdog. CDR monitors in real time, detects threats, and takes action to stop them—whether that’s halting an attack or mitigating risks before they spiral.
Compliance automation: Compliance shouldn’t feel like a chore. Automating policy enforcement and audit reporting saves time and keeps you aligned with industry standards, pain-free.
Wiz for enterprise
Wiz's cloud security platform helps enterprises of all sizes to protect their data and applications in the cloud.
Unlike many other solutions, Wiz is able to scale to enterprise level. Most other security solutions take months or even a year to realize the full value of your investment. Thanks to Wiz, however, we have been able to achieve that within weeks, which is almost unheard of in our industry.
Michelle Pieszko, Aon's VP Cybersecurity Operations
Wiz helps with enterprise cloud security in a number of ways, including:
Visibility: Wiz provides complete visibility into cloud infrastructure, applications, and data. This helps organizations to identify and understand all of the risks to their cloud environment.
Risk prioritization: Wiz uses a unified risk engine to prioritize risks across all of your cloud resources. This helps you to focus on the most critical risks first, and it makes it easier to allocate your security resources efficiently.
Remediation: Wiz provides remediation recommendations for all of the risks that it identifies. This helps organizations to quickly and efficiently fix the problems that are putting their cloud environment at risk.
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