Prioritizing Holistic Security in Managed Cloud Services: What It Means and Why It Matters

A Top-of-Mind Concern

For any business or organization with hybrid or private cloud environments, security is a paramount concern. Recent surveys reveal that 94% of organizations are "extremely concerned about cloud security," with misconfiguration and unauthorized access being primary worries. The continuous news of data breaches and other security incidents, coupled with the subsequent brand and financial fallout, underscores these concerns.

The shift to remote work and increased reliance on cloud environments and solutions in recent years have exacerbated security challenges. Identity and access management (IAM) has emerged as the most pressing cloud security issue, especially considering that 82% of data breaches involve social attacks like phishing and human errors, such as weak passwords. Phishing attacks are not only trending rapidly upwards but are also becoming more sophisticated.

Securing cloud environments is inherently complex due to their distributed architectures, necessitating numerous interconnected services and components. The shared responsibility model, wherein both the cloud provider and the user have distinct security obligations, can create confusion and vulnerabilities when not managed effectively.

Adopting a Holistic Security Approach

The key to ensuring cloud security lies in adopting a holistic approach. But what does this entail, and how can small to mid-sized businesses with limited budgets and IT resources comprehensively address their security needs? In this blog, we will:

-Delve into the layered challenges associated with cloud security.

-Outline seven key components of an "ideal state" holistic cloud security approach.

-Compare the ideal state with potential costs.

-Present the unique approach employed by a cloud solutions provider to make holistic cloud security more accessible and affordable.

Cloud Security Gaps: Seeing the Full Picture

Identifying security gaps in cloud environments can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. IT teams require in-depth knowledge, expertise, and vigilance to uncover and address hidden vulnerabilities within complex hybrid and multi-cloud landscapes. While enabling multifactor authentication (MFA) is an essential step, it is only a small piece of the puzzle.  

Public cloud security can be particularly confusing. While cloud providers often excel at securing their infrastructure, they usually adopt a hands-off approach to individual environments within their cloud. Consequently, the security of your environments depends on your efforts in configuring them since virtual machine instances, operating systems, and applications in public clouds remain vulnerable to the same risks as on-premises environments.

For example, with identity management, hosting an active directory in a hyperscale environment does not guarantee high security. Additional steps such as implementing multi-factor authentication, setting up proper access controls, monitoring for suspicious activity and anomalies, and regularly updating security measures are crucial. Default settings may be a good start, but they are insufficient for protecting sensitive data and workloads, especially when dealing with personally identifiable information (PII).

Even private clouds, while not publicly accessible like major hyperscalers, are not inherently secure. By default, private cloud solutions may permit actions that do not align with your organization's security objectives. Therefore, investing in holistic security measures, managing access controls, and monitoring for vulnerabilities is vital when running private clouds. Keeping up with the latest threats and security best practices is equally important.

These are high-level considerations before delving into more advanced strategies like establishing a zero-trust architecture, a common goal for many organizations but rarely fully realized.

The Role of Managed Service Providers

Managed service providers (MSPs) can help address many vulnerabilities that an overstretched or inexperienced team might overlook. However, many MSP security approaches also include gaps, such as:

- Limited investment in partnerships and certifications for key technologies.

- Fundamental services like continuous holistic monitoring and 24/7 SOC teams may come at a premium or be unavailable.

- Incident management services may not be available.

- Handoffs between MSPs and incident response teams during security incidents can cause costly delays.

- Licensing costs for specialized security tools can add up quickly.

7 Key Components of Holistic Cloud Security  

1. Penetration Testing: Conduct penetration testing supported by offensive security certified professionals (OSCPs) during onboarding to a new environment.

2. Unified Management: Rather than Manage multiple environments as one extended network rather than separate entities.

3. AI and ML Augmentation: Enhance human expertise with AI and ML tools like endpoint detection and response (EDR) and extended detection and response (XDR).  

4. Diverse Skill Sets: Access specialty skills such as OSCPs and compliance experts as your environment grows in complexity and ensure your environment is as secure and compliant as possible.

5. Tailored Security Tools: Choose security tools that best fit your specific needs, provided by your cloud providers.

6. Continuous Monitoring: Utilize a SOC team to continually monitor behavior patterns and data movement 24/7.

7. Beyond Compliance: Think beyond basic compliance to consider security from a regulator’s perspective and protect both sensitive physical and virtual environments using best practices and KPIs.

Balancing Security Essentials and Budget Realities

The ideal state of cloud security can seem prohibitively expensive, especially if pursued independently or through most cloud and managed service providers. However, there are options that balance the costs and logistics of a comprehensive approach.

Move Forward Confidently with a Proven, Holistic Solution

TierOne, a managed cloud solution provider, specializes in affordable private and hybrid cloud solutions with comprehensive security and compliance support. TierOne combines access to top-tier security technologies, reducing barriers and costs for small and medium-sized businesses seeking cutting-edge cloud security. They initiate every engagement with penetration and vulnerability testing during the onboarding process, ensuring the highest possible security from day one.

Finding the Right Cloud and Security Fit for Your Business

Balancing scalability, flexibility, performance, and security while keeping costs in check can be daunting. The TierOne team brings a broad range of expertise to cloud deployments, ensuring environments and security are tailored to organizational needs. With hundreds of years of collective network security expertise, TierOne's solutions optimize cloud environment security for business needs, industry standards, and regulatory requirements. Contact TierOne today to learn how they can advise you on cloud and private cloud security solutions.

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