Cloud Security Controls: Framework, Checklist, and Best Practices for Implementation

What are cloud security controls?

Cloud security controls are measures designed to protect cloud environments from threats. These include encryption, access controls, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems. Compliance frameworks, such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2, help enforce security standards. Regular monitoring and incident response plans enhance cloud security resilience.

Below are the types of cloud security controls you can implement, as well as best practices and tools you can use to improve your cloud computing infrastructure. 

Types of cloud security controls

• Deterrent controls: Deter potential attackers from targeting your infrastructure with compliance certifications, security warning banners, and the latest technologies.

• Preventative controls: Prevent security incidents by eliminating vulnerabilities and restricting access through encryption, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and network segmentation. 

• Detective controls: Monitor strange activities or threats with tools like IDS and SIEM. 

• Corrective controls: Minimize incidents’ impact through enhanced remediation, automatic backups, and strategic recovery plans and implementation.

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Deterrent cloud security control best practices

Below are two best practices for deterrent cloud security control: 

1. Tailor and implement governance frameworks for cloud environments.

Cloud governance frameworks offer structured guidelines to help you manage your cloud resources effectively. These frameworks also ensure that you use cloud resources in alignment with your organizational policies and compliance requirements.

You can implement a governance framework using infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform or AWS CloudFormation. For example, this Terraform script allows you to enforce tagging policies:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "s3:*",
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {"StringEquals": {"aws:MultiFactorAuthPresent": "true"}}
    }
  ]
}

Your team can also create modules for each NIST function to enforce policies across your cloud infrastructure. As you implement new processes, set a goal to achieve a certain level of compliance with your chosen framework within six months.

2. Practice security awareness training, phishing simulations, and penetration testing

Your organization should train everyone on the latest threats, from non-technical employees to your security team. To do this, conduct regular education sessions to show standard attack methods and how they evolve. 

Recently, many online users have fallen victim to sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to hack personal accounts through Google Meet. The scam asks for an interview, as if for a job or news outlet, and provides an option to schedule the call. The victim receives a shortened link within the usual Google Calendar interface—but this information doesn’t go to Google. Instead, the attacker gets the individual’s account credentials. 

To avoid issues like this, conduct regular phishing simulations to assess for human errors like the above Meet invite scenario. These can help you train team members for consciously sophisticated attacks. Additionally, you can conduct penetration tests through simulated cyberattacks to find weaknesses within your cloud security. 

Preventative cloud security control best practices

1. Enforce strict permissions

Zero trust follows the principle of “never trust, always verify.” Rather than relying on traditional perimeter-based security, it takes a more holistic approach. This model significantly reduces organizations’ attack surface by thoroughly vetting each access request, regardless of whether it originates inside or outside the network.

For example, in AWS, IAM policies allow you to specify permissions and conditions:

resource "aws_resourcegroupstaggingapi_tag_policy" "compliance" {
  policy = <<POLICY
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "tagging:TagResources",
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:RequestTag/Project": "prod"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}
POLICY
}

You can implement a zero-trust architecture with these key strategies:

• Set up guardrails to enforce least-privilege access, which minimizes potential breaches’ blast radius. 

• Use AWS CloudTrail for continuous auditing—it provides a detailed record of all actions users have taken within your AWS environment. 

• Aim to reduce your attack surface significantly within the first quarter of implementation.

2. Regularly update and patch systems

Keeping your systems up-to-date is crucial for mitigating vulnerabilities. To do this, apply and manage the latest security patches to protect all your software and systems. This practice prevents attackers from exploiting known vulnerabilities, which are often the most straightforward entry points. 

You can automate patch updates in your cloud environment using tools like AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager.

3. Prioritize risk management

Implement these processes to eliminate risks:

• Conduct regular risk assessments: Risk assessments help you identify potential vulnerabilities in your cloud infrastructure and allow you to prioritize security efforts based on their severity and the likelihood of risks. To streamline this process, you can use a Python script, such as AWS Inspector, for automated vulnerability scanning in cloud settings:

import boto3

client = boto3.client('inspector')
assessment_targets = client.list_assessment_targets()['assessmentTargetArns']
for target in assessment_targets:
    client.start_assessment_run(assessmentTemplateArn=target)

• Prioritize risks based on potential impact: Prioritizing risks ensures that you allocate resources effectively to address the most critical vulnerabilities first, which strengthens your cloud environment’s resilience. You can use a cloud controls matrix in tools like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to categorize and prioritize risks based on their impact and likelihood.

Detective cloud security controls best practice

Below are two best practices you can implement today:

1. Leverage AI and machine learning for threat detection and response

AI and machine learning (ML) technologies analyze vast data sets to identify patterns and anomalies that indicate security threats. Using these technologies can help you achieve faster, more accurate threat detection and response.

You can implement an ML model for anomaly detection using Python and a cloud ML service like AWS SageMaker or Google Cloud AI:

from sklearn.ensemble import IsolationForest
import pandas as pd

# Load dataset
data = pd.read_csv('cloud_traffic_data.csv')

# Train the model
model = IsolationForest()
model.fit(data)

# Detect anomalies
anomalies = model.predict(data)

You can also adopt a cloud-native platform that implements the latest AI tech for advanced security. 

Wiz’s Cloud Detection and Response, for example, uses AI to identify and remediate risks by correlating risk factors across cloud environments. Additionally, Wiz uses third-party AI providers, such as Azure OpenAI, to power features like Ask AI, which further supports its security posture management.

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2. Conduct consistent configuration audits

Practicing audits consistently for your cloud configuration settings will help you identify misconfigurations or unauthorized changes and verify that your security posture meets standards. One way to conduct regular audits and vulnerability scanning is to use automated tools that detect inconsistencies and errors, such as AWS Audit Manager or Azure Security Center.

Additionally, a unified, cloud-native solution like Wiz can find security issues and offer priority-ranked solutions. Its platform continuously scans cloud environments across your cloud infrastructure, such as AWS and Azure, without requiring agents and spots misconfigurations, unauthorized changes, and compliance issues in real time. Wiz can also provide prioritized vulnerability assessments so you know exactly what’s at risk and which issues you should tackle first (and how).

Corrective cloud security controls best practices

You can leverage the following two controls for increased cloud security:

1. Build a cloud incident response plan

Every organization should have a plan for when a breach, vulnerability, or error affects its data’s security, integrity, and accessibility. You should plan for each incident and have specific roles, responsibilities, and protocols in place for speedy responses.

Incident responses and remediation require organized, effective plans, but the infrastructure determines how you can approach incidents. One thing to consider here is the difference between traditional cybersecurity and cloud security. Cloud security in particular involves unique challenges, such as data security across global locations, devices, data centers, and hybrid environments. 

Take containment, for example. In a traditional setting, an endpoint detection and response solution is usually the fastest method for separating a compromised machine from a network. However, for cloud environments, that may not work. Teams can instead solve the issue more efficiently by changing their security group settings through the control plane. 

Cloud incident response requires a cloud-native approach that uses AI, automation, and multi-cloud visibility. Some examples for implementing responses include:

• Data exfiltration: Automatically isolate resources, revoke credentials, and trigger forensic analysis. For example, AWS Lambda detaches EC2 instances on unusual traffic.

• Privilege escalation: Disable compromised accounts, alert security teams, and investigate. Azure Automation helps with this by disabling Azure AD accounts with abnormal access.

• Misconfigurations: Revert changes, alert teams, and prevent future errors. AWS Config, for instance, restores private S3 settings if attackers make them public.

You should also use cloud-native security platforms with automated workflows to streamline containment and remediation. Unified platforms like Wiz can help you contain and resolve these threats within a more complex infrastructure like the cloud. 

2. Adopt a cloud-native security platform

Implementing multiple security controls and practices often requires stacking a dozen tools and protocols and hoping your security works like a single machine—but that’s not usually the case. When too many variables and tools are in the mix, your security’s health isn’t always clear. As a result, it’s not easy to get a holistic, real-time picture of your vulnerabilities. 

However, a cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) allows you to manage, protect, and assess your cloud security in one place. With a more efficient system in place, you can then build stronger security controls for a safer cloud environment. 

When you use a CNAPP like Wiz, you’ll get these immediate advantages to your cloud security:

• Visibility across all clouds: Gain a complete view of your cloud environments, including AWS, GCP, Azure, and more.

• Awareness across all resources: Maintain visibility into all assets, such as virtual machines, serverless functions, containers, databases, and managed servers.

• Catch all risk factors: Identify risks, network exposure, secrets, malware, and sensitive data in real time, from prevention to detection.

• Eliminate blind spots: Use agentless visibility to detect security gaps by leveraging cloud service provider APIs, which helps you avoid agent configuration and maintenance.

Cloud security controls checklist

1. Identity & Access Management (IAM)

✅ Enforce least privilege access (RBAC, ABAC)
✅ Implement MFA for all users, especially privileged accounts
✅ Regularly audit IAM policies and remove unused credentials

2. Data Security

✅ Encrypt data at rest and in transit (TLS 1.2/1.3, AES-256)
✅ Apply data classification and access controls
✅ Enable logging and monitoring for unauthorized access

3. Network Security

✅ Restrict ingress/egress traffic with security groups and firewalls
✅ Implement private networking (VPC, private endpoints)
✅ Use zero-trust principles for internal communication

4. Threat Detection & Response

✅ Enable cloud-native security monitoring (CSPM, CWPP, SIEM)
✅ Automate anomaly detection and incident response
✅ Conduct regular security assessments and penetration tests

5. Application & Workload Security

✅ Scan container images and serverless functions for vulnerabilities
✅ Apply runtime protection (EDR, behavior-based detection)
✅ Secure CI/CD pipelines with automated security checks

6. Compliance & Governance

✅ Continuously monitor for regulatory compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST)
✅ Use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) security scanning
✅ Maintain a centralized security policy and enforcement framework

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The top cloud security control frameworks

Cloud security frameworks are more than just compliance checklists—they also serve as guides to help you implement cloud security controls.

Below are some of today’s most relevant cloud security frameworks:

MITRE ATT&CK®

This framework is a living encyclopedia of threat tactics for modeling and simulation, offering insights into potential attack paths and effective defenses. MITRE ATT&CK® also helps you understand potential threats to cloud infrastructure and strengthen your defenses accordingly.

This security standard focuses on three main areas:

• Enterprise: Targets enterprise network security

• Mobile: Emphasizes mobile-related cyber threats

• ICS: Zeroes in on protecting industrial control systems and networks

Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Security, Trust, Assurance, and Risk (STAR) program

The CSA’s STAR program provides a comprehensive suite of certifications and guidelines for assessing cloud services’ security capabilities. This framework emphasizes transparency so you can make informed decisions about cloud service providers based on their security posture.

The program includes several levels, including the following:

• Level I (Self-assessment): Communicates that organizations practice foundational security, which the certificate holder proves

• Level II (Third-party audit): Centers on an independent assessment that proves expertise and focuses on security protocols and advanced security

• Level III (Continuous auditing): Proves the top level of assurance that verifies continuous monitoring and best security practices

ISO/IEC 27017:2015

This international standard extends ISO/IEC 27002 into the cloud and offers specific guidance on cloud service acquisition, delivery, and operations. This ISO/IEC framework also helps you align your cloud security practices with globally recognized standards.

Collectively, these frameworks create a strong foundation for implementing cloud security controls. By adopting them, you can ensure compliance and strengthen your cloud environment against cyber threats.

How should cloud security controls vary by deployment model?

Below are key cloud security controls and how they can change, depending on the infrastructure you choose:

Ultimately, implementation depends on your organization, cloud infrastructure, and industry’s different needs.

Wiz's approach to cloud security controls

Wiz helps organizations reduce cloud security risks by automating compliance, providing comprehensive visibility, and enabling rapid remediation. With Wiz, your team can ensure that your cloud environments meet stringent security standards, minimize the risk of costly breaches, and improve overall operational efficiency.

As a comprehensive cloud security platform, Wiz can help you implement a wide range of cloud security controls with features and capabilities like the following:

Over 100 built-in frameworks

Wiz includes over 100 built-in frameworks, such as CIS, PCI, NIST, HIPAA, and GDPR. Its platform automatically assesses your environment against them, which allows you to understand your compliance posture quickly. These frameworks include built-in controls and cloud configuration rules, according to their control lists and recommendations. 

The platform also calculates your overall compliance score for each framework and generates a heatmap of your compliance posture, giving you clear visibility at a glance.

Customizable frameworks and controls

Wiz also allows you to customize compliance frameworks by selecting the controls that align with your organization’s unique security requirements. For example, you can create a custom framework to address specific data residency requirements or enforce internal security policies.

Guidance and automatic remediation

After you identify a failed control in your environment, determining the next step isn’t always straightforward. To help with this, Wiz provides detailed remediation guidance for any failed control so you can quickly resolve issues. 

For example, if an S3 bucket lacks the required “Block Public Access” settings, Wiz can provide the exact API call you need to remediate the issue:

Want to learn more about cloud security controls and improve your infrastructure? Download Wiz’s Cloud Security Workflow Handbook today.

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