Cloud services have become vital for the modern enterprise and so the security measures to protect them from malicious third parties. These systems are highly efficient and do not stop improving their features and capabilities. Still, cybersecurity continues to be an issue to attend.
Security in the cloud brought new challenges to the table, challenges that are quite different from those we are used to with traditional, local-based network infrastructure.
Switch-layer controls do not exist in the cloud. Instead, we have massive networks that are flat and software-defined. Indeed, cloud networks are a completely different beast.
And being of another kind, we need a different approach when it comes to strategy and keeping it safe.
What is a Cloud Network Security Strategy?
In very simple terms, a cloud network security strategy is the body of controls, procedures, policies, services, and technologies that exist and cooperate between each other to protect the integrity of cloud-based infrastructure and the data it contains.
This strategy can be more or less in-depth, depending on the available resources and the interest the organization has to protect its infrastructure from potential breaches and attacks coming from malicious third parties.
In essence, it continues to be a modern network security strategy, like the one that focuses on local infrastructure. However, controls, procedures, policies, services, and technologies implemented to the strategy change to face the new challenges that the cloud imposes.
Why a Cloud Network Security Strategy?
What most businesses ask at this point is why a cloud network requires a completely different strategy in comparison with the one they may have used to protect their local-based systems.
Above we mentioned that switch-layer controls do not exist in the cloud as they exist in traditional networks. This is a key difference but there is more beyond this point.
For example, cloud networks often use native firewalls and access controls that aren’t up to the challenge when it comes to cybersecurity, operating at layers 3 and 4. We can also find flat networks in the cloud with systems interacting with each other, most of the time lacking proper controls to regulate this activity. Then, you should add limited routing control and limited or nonexistent east-west traffic monitoring.
Enjoying an Effective Cloud Network Security Strategy
While the challenges we find are many, a solid strategy can cover all the flanks effectively.
Your IT expert must begin by implementing market-leading solutions in firewall and traffic control. For AWS and Azure users, there are Security Groups and Network Security Groups respectively. It is important to understand the tools that the cloud solution is natively offering and complement them with leading options.
A big part of the strategy must focus on isolating the cloud network. Virtual Private Cloud (VPC for AWS) and Virtual Network (VNet for Azure) can provide all the needed resources for this plus highly capable monitoring and controlling tools.
Have your expert audit the cloud network and recognize patterns in traffic. This also means that the strategy must evolve over time in order to adapt to the network’s current use and potential threats that may arise in the long term.