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Cloud Security is the practice of protecting data and applications hosted on the Internet or by a cloud service provider (CSP). It involves balancing convenience with security, especially in areas where innovation has outpaced standards.

For businesses, that means securing both the physical networks and end-user hardware used for accessing cloud services. It also requires educating employees on the dangers of using unauthorized cloud services, which can expose corporate data to malicious actors or raise legal issues. For individuals, it means using secure passwords and carefully considering the privacy policies of any service providers whose servers may hold their information. This includes paying attention to where those servers are located and reading the terms of use (TOS) of each.

Depending on the type of cloud service paradigm (IaaS, PaaS or SaaS), the security responsibilities are divided between clients and CSPs. For example, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud environments provide the hardware and remote connectivity frameworks, while clients are tasked with securing all that gets stacked on top of them: applications, data, runtimes and middleware, operating systems, as well as their own IT infrastructure.

The most basic aspects of cloud security include protections against network threats, such as attacks that penetrate a firewall and seek to exploit vulnerabilities in the underlying code. This encompasses code review, application patch management and encrypting data at rest and in transit. For more advanced security, it can involve micro-segmentation to create protection measures dedicated to each live flow of traffic between a cloud environment and users. Finally, it often includes identity and access management (IAM) systems to verify the identity of users and devices accessing cloud environments.