Cloud Infrastructure Best Practices in 2022

The Cloud Computing infrastructure is the set of all the software and hardware elements necessary to enable Cloud Computing. It indicates not only a cloud computing system with all its components but also the individual technologies involved in it. 

To protect your organization’s cloud infrastructure against cyberattacks, you can use different controls, procedures, and technologies. In this article, you will learn some of the best cloud infrastructure practices to follow in 2022.

Managing User Access Privileges

One of the biggest mistakes some organizations make is providing employees with excessive access to systems and data at once. For cybercriminals, such user accounts are goldmines. Once they access such accounts, they can cause major harm to your organization. To prevent this, your organization can follow the principle of least privilege. The user should only have access to the data that is necessary to carry out their jobs. 

Providing Visibility With Employee Monitoring

Your organization should regularly monitor the privileged users and reassess/revoke their privileges accordingly. Monitoring can also help you detect any suspicious behavior by an employee. This may include logging in to cloud infrastructure with an unusual IP, accessing another cloud service to upload data or any other undesirable action with sensitive information. For that, the organization must have well-defined onboarding and offboarding procedures in place.

Securing Access to the Cloud

You can implement strict password management policies in your organization to enhance cloud security. A centralized password management solution can be deployed in your organization to enforce cybersecurity habits in the employees. 

There are several Zero Trust use cases that can drive your organization to implement Zero Trust. Your organization can adopt a Zero Trust Approach by using authentication methods like Multi-factor Authentication (MFA). This will make it easier for you to verify the users’ identities in your cloud computing environment. With strong password management in place, your organization can meet the requirements of various standards such as HIPAA, NERC, FISMA, and SOX.

Improving Employee Awareness

All employees should be aware of the cybersecurity basics. They should be able to detect phishing emails and malicious links. For that, your organization needs to create cybersecurity education programs and conduct regular training. You should use real-life simulations for training purposes so that employees can get hands-on experience. You can then track the simulation results and identify which employees need further training.

Responding to Security Incidents

In the digital age, guaranteeing business continuity is no longer possible through simple interventions of an episodic nature in the face of a critical situation. Organizations need to equip themselves with a permanent structure with effective tools and processes to ensure correct internal operations and solid delivery of services to end customers.

IT infrastructure downtimes and data security breaches pose a significant threat to the very survival of companies. In fact, significant economic and reputational damages can derive from them, leading to customer loss. In the most serious circumstances, it may result in the compensation of huge damages due to the violation of contractual agreements.

Picking the Right Cloud Service Provider

To support remote work, cloud usage has accelerated around the world. This was especially observed during the global pandemic. Using the third-party cloud infrastructure comes with various advantages. But there are several threats and disadvantages that also come with it. This includes a lack of support, bugs/performance, and technical and security threats. Therefore, it is important for you to consider the following factors before proceeding:

• A careful review of Contracts and SLAs
• Data Governance and Migration Support
• Reviews and experiences of the existing customers
• Compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO
• Compatibility with business
• Tools, features, and architecture of cloud infrastructure

Understanding the Shared Responsibility Model

To ensure accountability, the shared responsibility model dictates the security obligations of a cloud computing provider and its users. Each party involved in cloud management is accountable for different aspects of security. This includes both the cloud provider and the cloud user. When it comes to the cloud services provider, they are responsible for the infrastructure, including the physical layer, virtualization layer, and provider services. 

On the other hand, the customers are responsible for data, applications, credentials, outside connections, and configurations. Some factors, such as network controls and operating systems management, come under the divided cloud security responsibilities.

Implementing Identity and Access Management

The identity and access management (IAM) framework ensures that “the right people have the right access to the right resources at the right time.” It consists of policies and tools that you might use to verify identities and authorize and audit user access across the IT infrastructure. 

Some modern solution providers are now offering Identity as a Service (IDaaS) to provide IAM services specifically for cloud infrastructure. This is a cloud-based subscription service that allows businesses to outsource identity and access management tasks.

Encrypting sensitive data

Data encryption is an added layer of cloud infrastructure security that aims to hide data from unauthorized users by translating it into code. The data encryption services may be provided to you by your cloud service provider. You may even consult third-party vendors to add this feature to your security.

Enhancing Physical Security

The cloud infrastructure includes computing, networking, and storage capacity and provides an interface that allows you to access virtualized resources. These resources mirror a physical infrastructure with components such as servers, network switches, memory, and storage clusters. Physical security protects personnel, hardware, software, networks and data from any physical actions and events that may threaten the cloud infrastructure.

Implementing Next-Generation Firewalls

The main features of Next-Generation Firewalls include inspection services, protection systems, and application awareness. Next-Generation Firewalls ensure that all connections between the network, internet, and firewall are secure and valid. 

It uses VPN support and static/dynamic packet filtering. To map the IPs, the firewall should be able to translate port addresses and networks. The best feature of next-generation firewalls is their ability to block malware from entering the network.

Identifying sensitive data

Not all data is the same in organizations. There are varying degrees of data sensitivity. Different types of data might have different consequences and ramifications due to a breach. Therefore, it is important for the cloud infrastructure security team to identify, assess and classify sensitive data. 

Sensitive data is critical and confidential information that must be kept safe from any unauthorized access. The data breach of sensitive information can potentially cause personal or financial harm. The company might end up paying hefty amounts of damage compensation to customers and financial institutions.

Conclusion

Cloud service providers are responsible for the physical security of data centers and ensuring the safety of their systems. On the other hand, the organization using the service is responsible for following the best practices to ensure that privacy and safety are not compromised at their end.