Cloud Security Posture Management: Getting Started

Why Cloud Security Posture Management Matters

Cloud environments introduce new attack surfaces, dynamic infrastructure, and shared responsibility models that traditional security approaches were not designed to handle. Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) provides the tools, processes, and governance needed to continuously assess and improve cloud resource security. Misconfiguration remains the leading cause of cloud data breaches, making CSPM a critical discipline.

Understanding the Shared Responsibility Model

Every major cloud provider operates under a shared responsibility model:

• The cloud provider is responsible for security "of" the cloud: physical infrastructure, hypervisor, network, and storage at the foundational level.
• The customer is responsible for security "in" the cloud: data, identity management, application configuration, and network controls.

The exact boundary varies by service model. In IaaS, the customer manages operating systems, applications, and data. In PaaS, the customer manages applications and data. In SaaS, the customer manages data and user access. Misunderstanding this model is a primary cause of security gaps.

Identity and Access Management

IAM is the most critical control in cloud environments. Key practices include:

• Enforce multi-factor authentication for all human users
• Apply the principle of least privilege to all identities, including service accounts
• Use temporary credentials and session-based access rather than long-lived keys
• Implement just-in-time access for privileged operations
• Regularly audit IAM policies, roles, and permissions
• Centralise identity management using a single identity provider

Encryption Strategies

Encryption is a baseline expectation in cloud environments:

• Encrypt data at rest using cloud-native or customer-managed keys
• Encrypt data in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher
• Manage encryption keys through a dedicated key management service
• Rotate encryption keys on a defined schedule
• Consider client-side encryption for highly sensitive data

Continuous Monitoring

The dynamic nature of cloud requires continuous monitoring rather than periodic assessments:

• Deploy CSPM tools that scan configurations against benchmarks such as CIS Benchmarks
• Integrate cloud audit logs with your SIEM platform
• Establish alerting for critical misconfigurations, such as publicly accessible storage or overly permissive security groups
• Use infrastructure-as-code scanning to detect issues before deployment
• Implement guardrails using cloud-native policy services

Getting Started with CSPM

Follow this practical sequence:

1. Inventory all cloud accounts, subscriptions, and projects across providers
2. Enable cloud audit logging in all environments
3. Deploy a CSPM tool and run an initial configuration assessment
4. Prioritise remediation of critical findings, focusing on public exposure and IAM issues
5. Establish a baseline and track configuration drift over time
6. Integrate CSPM findings into your broader risk management processes

Cloud security posture management requires ongoing attention, automation, and collaboration between security, DevOps, and cloud engineering teams.