What is Cloud Security?
Cloud Security is the set of tools and services that protect data in the cloud and prevent unauthorized access. It includes identity and access management, securing data at rest, in transit and in use with encryption and masking, and preventing malware from infecting devices used to access the cloud. It also includes monitoring to detect suspicious activity and respond quickly to threats.
Cloud security is becoming increasingly important as organizations adopt cloud applications and rely on the Internet to run their business. As a result, the number of attacks targeting cloud-based systems is increasing. These include data breaches, account hijacking, password cracking, and malware that can expose sensitive information and cause financial loss or reputation damage.
Other risks include shadow IT, where departments deploy cloud apps without the knowledge or approval of IT security managers. This can lead to data oversharing, compliance issues, and other problems. And the NSA affair has made a broad public aware that governments may have access to personal data stored in the cloud, posing a threat to trust.
Fortunately, there are several solutions for these cloud-related security concerns. For example, a centralized Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution can control access to cloud resources. It can enforce least-privilege policies to limit what users can do in a cloud environment and ensure that all accounts are properly secured with two-factor authentication or higher. In addition, vulnerability management tools can continuously scan workloads for vulnerabilities and automatically remediate them.