As organizations continue to adopt cloud services, securing data in the cloud becomes critically important. Here are the best practices I recommend for protecting your cloud data:
Use Encryption
Encryption should be enabled for data in transit and data at rest. This prevents unauthorized access if the data is intercepted or compromised.
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Enable transport layer encryption such as SSL/TLS for protecting data in transit between your organization and the cloud provider. Require at least TLS 1.2.
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Enable disk and file encryption offered by your cloud provider to encrypt data at rest. Manage encryption keys yourself for greater control.
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Consider client-side encryption for sensitive data before uploading to the cloud. This gives you full control over encryption keys.
Implement Strong Access Controls
Limit access to cloud data and resources through identity and access management.
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Enforce principle of least privilege – only allow necessary permissions.
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Require multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all user accounts that access cloud data.
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Use role-based access controls (RBAC) to assign permissions based on user roles.
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Implement just-in-time (JIT) access to provision temporary credentials as needed.
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Monitor user activity and access for security incidents and policy violations.
Enable Data Loss Prevention
Detect and prevent unauthorized data access, exfiltration, and deletion.
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Classify sensitive data and enable data loss prevention policies to restrict copy, move, and share operations.
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Implement data tagging to track sensitive data movement. Receive alerts on anomalous activity.
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Enable object versioning and point-in-time recovery to rollback unintended file changes and deletions.
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Build retention policies to meet regulatory compliance for different data types.
Secure Your Cloud Environment
Lock down your cloud environment against vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
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Harden security configurations of cloud infrastructure like VMs, storage, and networks.
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Scan for misconfigurations using cloud provider tools or third-party solutions.
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Enable host-based firewalls and intrusion detection on cloud VMs.
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Segregate environments using VLANs, access controls, and subnets to limit breach impact.
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Encrypt internal traffic between cloud components. Don’t allow eavesdropping of internal communications.
Monitor for Threats
Log, monitor, and analyze user activity to detect suspicious behavior.
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Collect and centralize logs from all cloud components and services. Send to a SIEM system.
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Set up anomaly detection with machine learning to flag unusual user behavior and incidents.
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Monitor for vulnerable software versions, malware infections, Cryptojacking, and other threats in the cloud.
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Use third-party monitoring tools specialized for the cloud that give visibility across hybrid cloud environments.
Regularly Review Permissions and Configurations
Recertify access permissions and review security configurations for continued appropriateness.
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Enforce periodic reapproval (recertification) of user access permissions to add governance and reduce risk from entitlement creep.
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Review security group rules, firewall settings, and other configurations that define allowed traffic and access. Remove unnecessary rules.
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Scan for over-permissive IAM policies that provide more privileges than required. Continuously optimize policies.
Following strong security practices tailored to the cloud can help you securely benefit from the agility and innovation of cloud services while protecting your critical assets and data. Monitor federal and industry guidelines for cloud security best practices as threats and regulatory standards evolve.
