Top 25 Cloud Security Best Practices

Cyber attackers are coming up with newer and more devious ways to penetrate cloud systems. So it’s no wonder that 65% of security and IT management professionals consider cloud security to be their top concern. Consider the consequences of a single breach: compromised sensitive data, hefty fines, and your carefully built reputation at risk. The risk is real!

But here’s some good news — securing your cloud infrastructure does not have to be overwhelming. In fact, with the right practices, you can turn it into a strategic advantage. Stellar cloud security measures will help you position yourself as a secure service provider, stay ahead of regulations, avoid penalties, and gain your customer’s trust.

This blog will educate you on 25 must-know cloud security best practices for 2024 to protect your data and maintain a secure environment.

Let us begin with the best practices for cloud security.

Why Is Cloud Security Important?

Cloud security is important because it ensures the protection of sensitive data, applications, and systems in cloud environments from cyber threats.

With more businesses migrating to the cloud, maintaining strong security controls helps prevent:

• data breaches
• minimizes risks, and
• ensures regulatory compliance

A robust cloud security framework also fosters trust between organizations and their clients, assuring them that their digital assets are safe in the cloud. Without these protections, organizations expose themselves to significant financial, operational, and reputational risks.

It is important to note that cloud systems aren’t inherently weak and susceptible to breaches. However, when migrating to the cloud organizations can expose themselves to a range of cyber threats, if they don’t have property security protocols in place. Issues such as misconfiguration of various cloud components, such as:

• storage buckets
• security groups
• identity and access management (IAM) policies

…can make the cloud environment vulnerable.

Here’s what businesses can achieve with a secure cloud infrastructure.

Secure their Cloud Against Cyber Threats

There have been many instances of public cloud security breaches over the years. Cloud ecosystems are lucrative targets for hackers, wherein sensitive data, such as financial information and intellectual property, is critical to a company’s operations. If hackers access this data, they may use it to demand ransom and extend substantial damage to the organization.

Strong cloud security establishes a series of protocols that prevent unauthorized access, minimize the risk of data leaks, ensure data integrity, and maintain the availability of critical services.

Meet Regulatory Requirements

Meeting regulatory requirements is a critical aspect of cloud security. Many sectors, such as finance, healthcare, and government, are subject to strict data protection and privacy laws that dictate how information must be managed, stored, and secured.

For instance, healthcare providers must adhere to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations, which enforce rigorous standards for the confidentiality and security of patient data.

Similarly, financial institutions must comply with standards like PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), ensuring that payment information is handled securely.

To meet these regulatory requirements, businesses must implement comprehensive cloud security measures. This includes:

• Using encryption to protect data in transit and at rest
• Establishing access control systems to ensure that only authorized personnel can view, OR
• Modify sensitive information, and conduct regular security audits

These audits help to identify vulnerabilities and confirm that the security measures in place align with compliance standards. Any form of failure to follow these requirements can result in severe penalties, legal liabilities, and loss of trust, making it crucial for organizations to stay compliant and up-to-date with evolving regulations.

Ensure Reliability and Availability of Data

Maintaining reliable access to data is essential for smooth business operations, especially for companies that rely heavily on cloud-based systems. Downtime or data inaccessibility can significantly disrupt day-to-day activities, causing operational delays, losses, and more.

For example, a financial institution affected by a DDoS attack, where an attacker overwhelms its servers with excessive traffic, may experience a system crash. This can halt critical processes such as transaction management, disrupt financial operations, and result in a poor customer experience.

To safeguard against such disruptions, thorough cloud security measures are essential. These include proactive defenses like firewalls, traffic monitoring, and backup systems to mitigate the risk of downtime. Encryption and access controls also ensure that data remains secure and accessible only to authorized personnel.

Achieve Cost Efficiency

Implementing cloud security not only strengthens protection but also delivers significant cost savings compared to traditional security models. In traditional setups, businesses invest heavily in expensive hardware such as on-premise servers, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems. Beyond initial costs, ongoing maintenance, updates, and physical space requirements further add to expenses.

Accenture reports that migrating to the cloud allows businesses to eliminate these costs, leading to IT total cost of ownership savings of 30% to 40%. This implies that a mid-sized enterprise that previously spent $100,000 annually on hardware, maintenance, and security could see the cost reduced by up to 40% after migrating to cloud security solutions. The reduction comes from eliminating the need for physical infrastructure and transferring responsibility for updates and monitoring to the cloud provider.

Additionally, businesses using cloud security can scale up or down based on demand, reducing waste and making more efficient use of resources. A report from OpsRamp revealed that 94% of companies saw lower upfront costs after adopting cloud solutions, enabling them to allocate resources more efficiently.

25 Cloud Security Best Practices

Cyber threats continue to evolve and become more sophisticated, making cloud security configurations a critical focus for businesses. Here are 25 cloud security best practices to keep your cloud environment secure in 2024:

#1. Adopt a ‘Zero Trust’ Security Model

Zero Trust is a security framework that treats every access request as untrusted, requiring verification of user identity and device health before granting access to resources. This model benefits users by minimizing the risk of unauthorized access, particularly in complex cloud environments where employees access resources from various locations. To support this, a 2024 Gartner Survey suggests that 63% of organizations globally have implemented a zero-trust strategy to handle cloud security. And in order to make the most of this framework, here’s what organizations can best practice:

What to practice?

• Implement conditional access policies using Azure Active Directory to verify user identity, location, and device health before granting access.
• Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users, including contractors and third-party accounts.
• Continuously monitor user behavior and device compliance to detect suspicious activities.

#2. Enhance Access and Identity Management

A deeper aspect of Identity and Access Management (IAM) involves using conditional access policies to improve security. Conditional access evaluates various signals, such as the user’s location, device, and risk level, before granting access to sensitive data. For example, access to critical resources might be restricted unless users are on a trusted device or network. This method offers more control and flexibility by dynamically adjusting security measures based on real-time risk.

What to practice? Implement conditional access policies using solutions like Microsoft Entra. Configure policies to assess signals like user location, device health, and login frequency. This will allow for adaptive control over who can access cloud resources based on real-time conditions. Additionally, incorporate multi-factor authentication (MFA) as a default for high-risk operations and privileged accounts. Monitor and update these policies regularly to respond to evolving threat landscapes. Also, leverage role-based access control (RBAC) in conjunction with conditional access to maintain stringent controls without impeding productivity.

#3. Encrypt Data at Rest and in Transit

Effective encryption is more than applying basic techniques. It involves selecting the right encryption protocols, ensuring proper key management, and aligning encryption policies with compliance standards. For data at rest, encryption tools like AWS KMS or Azure Disk Encryption can be used to protect stored information. Data in transit should be protected using strong protocols such as TLS 1.3, but also consider IPsec and SSH tunneling for secure communication in cloud environments. It’s also critical to enforce regular encryption key rotations and protect those keys with Hardware Security Modules (HSMs).

What to practice?

Implement AES-256 to encrypt stored data across databases, storage volumes, and backups. For transmission, use TLS 1.3, supplementing it with protocols like IPsec to secure VPNs and network traffic. Consider using SSH tunneling for encrypted communication between systems. Adopt robust key management strategies, including using HSMs to safeguard encryption keys and enforce key rotation policies to minimize vulnerabilities. Additionally, encryption policies that comply with industry regulations like GDPR and HIPAA must be maintained to ensure legal compliance and data security.

#4. Use Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs)

CASBs offer varying capabilities, typically divided into API-based CASBs and proxy-based CASBs. API-based CASBs integrate directly with cloud services, allowing seamless monitoring of user behavior and app configurations without interrupting traffic. Proxy-based CASBs, on the other hand, provide real-time control by routing traffic through a proxy, ideal for dynamic threat response. Key features to look for include data loss prevention (DLP), shadow IT discovery, anomaly detection, and compliance monitoring.

What to practice?

When choosing a CASB solution, assess your organization’s needs for real-time monitoring versus post-activity analytics. Ensure the solution integrates with existing identity management and SIEM tools. Look for capabilities such as DLP enforcement, automatic risk scoring, and comprehensive threat intelligence to protect against data breaches and unauthorized access.

#5. Secure Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Securing IaC requires more than basic secure coding practices. Each configuration must align with security benchmarks like CIS AWS Foundations or Azure Security Benchmark. Implementing static application security testing (SAST) helps in detecting misconfigurations early, while dynamic application security testing (DAST) ensures runtime validation of IaC. Also, automated scanning tools can analyze templates for vulnerabilities before deployment.

What to practice?

Use SAST/DAST tools to scan IaC templates for vulnerabilities. Apply parameterization to avoid hardcoding secrets and integrate environment segmentation to limit cross-environment risk. Use tools like AWS Secrets Manager to securely manage sensitive information and enforce the least privilege on all resource definitions, limiting unnecessary access.

#6. Develop a Comprehensive Incident Response Plan

An incident response plan for cloud environments must be tailored to the cloud’s distributed nature. It should include predefined escalation paths, automated response mechanisms through tools like AWS Lambda or Azure Logic Apps, and a robust forensic investigation process. This ensures timely detection, containment, and recovery.

What to practice?

Create a multi-phase plan for detection, analysis, containment, and recovery. Integrate cloud-native services like AWS GuardDuty or Azure Security Center for real-time detection. Also, ensure that your plan includes procedures for collecting cloud-native forensic data and maintaining communication with key stakeholders. Regularly test through tabletop exercises and red-team simulations to refine the response strategy.

#7. Continuously Monitor and Audit Cloud Activities

Monitoring cloud environments requires constant vigilance, using real-time threat intelligence and behavioral analytics. Employ SIEM tools integrated with cloud-native logging solutions like AWS CloudTrail. Aggregating these logs in a centralized solution ensures quicker identification of anomalies.

What to practice?

Leverage SIEM tools to aggregate logs from across cloud services. Use machine learning-powered analytics to detect unusual patterns and incorporate anomaly detection in real time. Conduct routine audits using automated compliance checks to ensure adherence to regulatory frameworks such as SOC 2 and HIPAA.

#8. Implement Network Segmentation

Network segmentation in the cloud separates critical systems and workloads into distinct zones, reducing the impact of potential breaches. By isolating sensitive environments like production from development or testing, you limit lateral movement within the network, thereby minimizing the chances of an attack spreading across multiple services. Segmenting based on sensitivity also helps in applying specific security policies to different zones, ensuring tighter control over high-risk areas.

What to practice?

Use virtual private clouds (VPCs) and network security groups (NSGs) to create isolated environments for different services. Configure subnets to further segment resources and apply access control lists (ACLs) to regulate traffic flow. Implement security groups to enforce strict controls between these zones and ensure that inter-zone communication is closely monitored and limited to what is necessary for business operations.

#9. Conduct Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing

Vulnerability assessments and penetration testing (pen-testing) are essential for identifying security gaps in cloud environments. Regular scans reveal misconfigurations, outdated software, and exposed services that attackers can exploit. Penetration testing goes further by simulating real-world attacks, providing a clear picture of how vulnerabilities can be exploited, and offering actionable insights for remediation.

What to practice?

Use vulnerability scanning tools to continuously assess your cloud infrastructure. Schedule penetration tests with certified professionals to identify potential attack vectors. After discovering vulnerabilities, follow up with prompt remediation, ensuring that patches and fixes are deployed quickly to reduce your attack surface. Additionally, CVE databases should be used to prioritize vulnerabilities based on severity.

#10. Enforce Strong Authentication and Access Control

Strong authentication mechanisms are vital to prevent unauthorized access to cloud resources. MFA adds an additional layer of security, significantly lowering the likelihood of credential compromise. Granular access control based on the principle of least privilege restricts users to only the necessary permissions, minimizing the damage that could occur if an account is compromised.

What to practice?

Implement MFA across all user accounts, especially those with elevated privileges. Enforce role-based access control (RBAC) to assign specific permissions based on job function and regularly audit user roles to revoke unnecessary privileges. Use conditional access policies to adjust authentication requirements based on location or device risk, further enhancing security.

#11. Keep Systems Updated and Patched

Timely patching of cloud resources addresses known vulnerabilities, preventing attackers from exploiting outdated software. In cloud environments where new vulnerabilities are frequently discovered, maintaining an automated patching system ensures that all services remain protected without requiring manual intervention. Regular updates also ensure compliance with industry standards and reduce the risk of falling victim to well-documented exploits.

What to practice?

Deploy automated patch management tools to handle patching across your cloud environment. Schedule regular updates and patches for all services, including operating systems, applications, and containers. Monitor vendor security advisories to stay informed about critical vulnerabilities and ensure that patches are applied as soon as they become available. Regularly review patching logs to verify compliance and identify missed updates.

#12. Deploy Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Solutions

DLP solutions go beyond simple data monitoring. They classify data based on sensitivity, track its movement, and enforce encryption and blocking policies to prevent unauthorized sharing. DLP can identify patterns in data usage to detect abnormal activities that signal a potential breach. Advanced DLP systems can even integrate with cloud-native encryption services and access management tools to ensure data remains secure both at rest and in transit.

What to practice?

Implement DLP solutions with capabilities to monitor data in motion, at rest, and during use. Classify sensitive data using automated classification tools and apply encryption or tokenization based on the data’s risk level. Configure policies to block or quarantine unauthorized transfers and integrate DLP with existing IAM and CASB solutions to manage security across the entire data lifecycle.

#13. Define Clear Roles and Responsibilities

In cloud environments, roles and responsibilities can become blurred between the organization and the cloud provider. Adopting the shared responsibility model ensures clarity on what security tasks the cloud provider manages and which ones remain with your organization. This prevents gaps in security management and reduces confusion during incidents or audits.

What to practice?

Clearly document security responsibilities in line with the shared responsibility model, outlining tasks like patch management, network security, and data governance. Ensure teams understand their duties by using security checklists and conducting regular role reviews to adjust for evolving cloud services. Formalize agreements with the cloud provider for specific tasks and ensure regular compliance audits to maintain accountability.

#14. Provide Regular Security Awareness Training

Even with strong technical controls, employees can remain at significant risk if they lack security awareness. Phishing, social engineering, and human error often contribute to cloud security breaches. Regular, targeted training ensures employees understand cloud-specific threats and how to avoid risky behaviors. Training should also address incident reporting, teaching employees how to recognize and act on potential security issues.

What to practice?

Implement a security training program to provide continuous education on cloud security threats. Regularly conduct phishing simulations to test employee awareness and provide follow-up training based on performance. Include specific modules on password hygiene, MFA usage, and social engineering defenses to bolster overall cloud security.

#15. Ensure Secure Remote Access

Remote access presents unique risks when accessing cloud resources. Simply using VPNs or secure protocols is no longer enough; endpoint protection, context-aware security, and continuous authentication checks should be applied. This ensures that even remote sessions are constantly monitored and secured, reducing the chance of unauthorized access.

What to practice?

Deploy Zero Trust network principles in conjunction with VPN solutions for remote access. Use MFA for all remote users and implement context-based access controls, where access is granted based on factors such as device security posture and user location. Regularly update SSL/TLS certificates and monitor remote access activity for anomalies using SIEM tools.

#16. Leverage Cloud-Native Security Services

Cloud providers offer integrated security services such as managed firewalls, DDoS protection, and threat detection tools specifically designed to protect cloud environments. These tools are continuously updated to counter the latest threats and can easily scale alongside your cloud infrastructure. Additionally, using cloud-native security services allows for seamless integration with your existing cloud workflows, ensuring minimal disruption.

What to practice?

Adopt services like AWS Shield for DDoS protection and Azure Security Center for threat detection. Implement cloud-native firewalls to monitor and control inbound and outbound traffic. IAM tools are used to handle user permissions securely and integrate security monitoring services to automate threat detection and response.

#17. Establish a Formal Cloud Security Governance Framework

A well-defined governance framework ensures that cloud security practices are consistent, enforceable, and aligned with organizational goals. The framework should include security policies, compliance requirements, and risk management strategies. Regular audits of cloud security operations within this framework help maintain accountability and adaptability as cloud services evolve.

What to practice?

Create a governance framework using industry standards like NIST CSF or ISO 27001 to establish clear security policies. Document compliance requirements for data protection and cloud usage. Conduct regular risk assessments to identify gaps and integrate cloud security monitoring tools to track adherence to policies. Include detailed documentation on roles, responsibilities, and escalation procedures.

#18. Regularly Conduct Risk Assessments

Risk assessments provide a snapshot of current vulnerabilities, helping you prioritize and address potential security issues before they escalate. By analyzing your cloud environment’s exposure to threats and potential impacts, you can proactively adjust security measures and allocate resources to areas of highest risk.

What to practice?

Build frameworks such as NIST SP 800-30 or ISO 27005 to assess risks in your cloud environment systematically. Perform regular assessments, focusing on emerging threats and newly deployed services. Based on the findings, prioritize mitigation efforts, such as patching vulnerabilities or enhancing access controls, and ensure continuous improvement by re-evaluating risks as cloud environments evolve.

#19. Implement Secure Logging and Monitoring

Comprehensive logging and monitoring enable real-time visibility into cloud activities, helping detect suspicious actions and respond quickly to security incidents. Proper logging ensures that all user activities and system events are captured, while monitoring provides analysis and alerting capabilities to highlight potential threats.

What to practice?

Deploy centralized logging solutions like AWS CloudWatch or Azure Monitor to collect logs from all cloud resources. Use SIEM tools for threat detection and event correlation. Ensure logs are stored securely and monitored for anomalies, and implement automated alerting for potential incidents, enabling rapid response to threats. Regularly review logs for misconfigurations or unusual patterns.

#20. Establish a Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Integrating security into each phase of the SDLC helps identify vulnerabilities early and prevent insecure code from being deployed. From design to deployment, incorporating secure coding practices, code reviews, and security testing ensures that security is an inherent part of the development process, reducing the need for reactive fixes.

What to practice?

Embed security testing tools like Snyk or Veracode into your CI/CD pipelines to scan for vulnerabilities before code deployment. Conduct regular peer code reviews focused on security flaws and follow secure coding standards like OWASP Secure Coding Practices. Perform dynamic security testing in staging environments and integrate automated security checks into the SDLC to detect risks early.

#21. Implement Secure Backup and Disaster Recovery Strategies

Having reliable backup and disaster recovery strategies ensures that your data and applications can be quickly restored in case of failure or attack. Backup policies should include both full and incremental backups, stored across multiple locations to prevent data loss from localized failures. Regular testing is essential to validate recovery processes.

What to practice?

Use cloud-native backup solutions like AWS Backup or Azure Backup to regularly back up cloud resources. Automate the backup process and store copies in multiple geographically distinct locations for redundancy. Test your recovery procedures frequently to ensure that data can be restored quickly and without corruption. Integrate disaster recovery into your business continuity planning to reduce downtime during failures.

#22. Conduct Third-Party Risk Assessments

Third-party vendors and cloud providers pose potential security risks if they don’t comply with security standards. Regularly assessing their security posture ensures that they adhere to your organization’s requirements and remain compliant with relevant regulations. This helps mitigate risks associated with outsourcing services to external parties.

What to practice?

Perform third-party audits or send security questionnaires to vendors and cloud providers to evaluate their security practices. Ensure they meet your organization’s security standards and include security clauses in contracts to define compliance requirements. Continuously monitor third-party vendors for security incidents or compliance lapses and adjust contracts as necessary to mitigate risks.

#23. Leverage AI and ML for security

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can significantly enhance your cloud security by identifying threats that may be missed by traditional methods. These technologies continuously learn from patterns in your environment, making them adept at spotting anomalies and predicting potential security risks before they materialize.

What to practice?

Deploy AI-powered solutions to continuously monitor your cloud environment for unusual activity. Machine learning algorithms are used to analyze vast amounts of security data in real-time, enabling faster detection and response to threats. Incorporate behavioral analytics into your security infrastructure to predict and mitigate advanced threats.

#24. Implement Secure Key Management Practices

Proper key management is crucial for maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of encrypted data. Managing keys includes ensuring they are stored securely, regularly rotated, and restricted to authorized personnel. Mismanagement of encryption keys can lead to unauthorized data access or breaches.

What to practice?

Use cloud-native key management tools like AWS KMS or Azure Key Vault to securely manage encryption keys. Regularly rotate keys and enforce role-based access controls to limit access to key management operations. Monitor key usage to detect anomalies, and implement HSMs (Hardware Security Modules) for added physical security of cryptographic keys.

#25. Stay Informed and Adapt to Emerging Threats

Cloud security is constantly evolving with the rise of new threats like ransomware-as-a-service and supply chain attacks. AI-driven attacks and the expansion of multi-cloud environments add to the complexity, with the global cloud security market projected to grow to $68.5 billion by 2025 from a market size of $34.5 billion in 2020. Thus, staying informed is critical for addressing these dynamic challenges, ensuring your strategies adapt to both technological advancements and threat developments.

What to practice?

Subscribe to threat intelligence feeds such as MITRE ATT&CK and CISA. Play audience to security conferences like RSA to learn about emerging threats and industry practices. Collaborate with peers through forums or online communities like Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) to share knowledge and maintain a cutting-edge defense posture. Regularly update security strategies based on insights from these resources to stay adaptive.

What are the Biggest Cloud Security Issues?

The most significant cloud security issues in 2024 are:

Misconfiguration and Inadequate Change Control

Misconfigurations continue to be a leading cause of cloud security breaches. In fact, human error plays a major role, with 82% of misconfigurations resulting from user mistakes rather than software flaws. As cloud environments grow more complex, misconfigurations can provide attackers with direct access to sensitive data, amplifying the risks. In such scenarios, here’s what to do.

Solution: Implement continuous monitoring solutions like Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) or similar tools to detect and correct misconfigurations in real time. Automated Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools can help ensure that configuration changes are tested and validated before deployment, reducing the risk of human error.

Insecure Interfaces and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

APIs are increasingly targeted by attackers due to the critical role they play in cloud service interactions. A Cloud Security Alliance report found that insecure interfaces and APIs are the top threat ranked at #2 under cloud computing. Issues such as weak authentication, inadequate access controls, and exposed API keys can lead to data breaches. API attacks can go undetected, making it vital to secure both internal and external interfaces. The solution?

Solution: Secure APIs by implementing OAuth 2.0, JWT tokens, and rate limiting to prevent abuse. Use API gateways and Web Application Firewalls (WAF) to enforce security policies. Regularly rotate API keys and store them in secrets management tools to prevent exposure.

Insufficient Identity, Credentials, Access, and Key Management

Weak IAM practices remain a top security challenge, with 83% of organizations reporting at least one cloud data breach linked to access permissions, and 50% indicating that a quarter of their breaches were access-related. Many organizations fail to adequately enforce MFA, leaving accounts vulnerable to hijacking. Furthermore, unused or misconfigured IAM policies can create entry points for attackers to exploit. To this problem, one can…

Solution: Implement MFA across all accounts, particularly those with privileged access. Use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) or Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) to ensure that permissions are restricted based on specific roles or attributes. Regularly audit and review IAM policies to revoke unused permissions and ensure compliance with the principle of least privilege.

Account Hijacking

Account hijacking remains a significant threat, often facilitated by phishing attacks, weak passwords, and inadequate monitoring. An IBM study found that phishing is identified as the leading attack vector, responsible for 41% of attacks. Once hijacked, attackers can move laterally within the network, causing widespread damage. To curb this, organizations can…

Solution: Enforce strict password policies and enable MFA across all cloud accounts. They can also make use of AI-powered threat detection systems to identify unusual login behaviors, such as access from unfamiliar locations or devices. Alongside this, conduct regular phishing awareness training to reduce the likelihood of credential theft through social engineering.

Insider Threats

Insider threats—whether from malicious intent or simple negligence—pose a growing risk to cloud environments. 60% of organizations report that insider threats are a constant concern, as employees, contractors, or partners expose sensitive data. Shadow IT practices, where employees use unauthorized cloud services, further exacerbate this risk.

Solution: Deploy User Behavior Analytics (UBA) to monitor for suspicious insider activities. Implement DLP tools to restrict the sharing of sensitive data and monitor for unusual data transfers. Regularly review and audit employee access to cloud services, ensuring that only necessary permissions are granted.

Secure Your Organization With SentinelOne’s Cloud Security Solution

SentinelOne’s Singularity™ Cloud Native Security is designed to offer a comprehensive, AI-powered approach to cloud protection, helping organizations secure their infrastructure with end-to-end visibility and automated threat detection.

The platform’s Offensive Security Engine and Verified Exploit Paths™ simulate harmless attacks to expose real vulnerabilities, enabling faster remediation while reducing false positives. This approach allows security teams to focus on true threats and gain a proactive stance against evolving cyberattacks.

Its key features include:

• AI-Powered Threat Detection instantly identifies and neutralizes real threats by simulating attacks in real-time.
• Secret Scanning Engine that detects over 750 types of secrets, such as AWS and GCP tokens, ensuring safe cloud environments.
• Support for Major Cloud Providers that seamlessly integrates with AWS, Azure, GCP, and more for agentless onboarding and multi-cloud coverage.
• Cloud Workload Protection (CWP) for secure containers, VMs, and serverless environments that continuously monitor vulnerabilities.
• Compliance Management for real-time compliance scores and alignment with over 29 frameworks, including HIPAA, PCI DSS, and SOC2.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Scanning that automatically scans code repositories for vulnerabilities before deployment, and more.

Singularity™ Cloud Security with its agentless deployment, can instantly correct misconfigurations and check compliance in minutes. With real-time, graph-based asset inventory, the platform provides a proactive approach to risk management. Its container and Kubernetes security posture management features offer specialized protection for modern applications, leveraging AI-driven insights for continuous monitoring and quick response, ensuring your data stays secure in this ever-evolving complex cloud environment. This very component offers visibility into all cloud resources, empowering your team to identify vulnerabilities before they become threats.

Conclusion

In an era where time, information, and data are money, robust cloud security is not just a priority anymore but a necessity. The aforementioned cloud security guidelines and cloud security practices offer a solid foundation for protecting your business’ cloud environment against breaches, unauthorized access, and other risks. Whether it is securing data through encryption, managing access with strict controls, or continuously monitoring for vulnerabilities, each step contributes to a stronger, more resilient cloud infrastructure.

Remember, securing your cloud data with these best practices is an ongoing process! As new threats emerge, staying informed and adapting your strategies is critical to maintaining a secure cloud environment.

FAQs

1. Which of the following is considered a cloud security best practice?

Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a widely recognized cloud security best practice to enhance access control and prevent unauthorized access.

2. What are the five key elements of a strong cloud security strategy?

The five key elements include identity and access management (IAM), data encryption, regular security assessments, continuous monitoring, and incident response planning.

3. What are the top 5 security practices in cloud computing?

Top security practices in cloud computing include encryption, identity and access management (IAM), network security, threat detection, and compliance management.

4. What are 3 measures used to protect the cloud?

The three key measures are data encryption, implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA), and regular vulnerability assessments.