What Tools Are Used to Protect the Cloud?

Many companies prioritize their transition to multi-cloud environments to meet their overly aggressive deadlines. And this transition often includes adding new integrated security capabilities entirely different from their current on-premises tools.

That’s because a cloud security breach can lead to production delays, loss of revenue, and even a loss of consumer and employee confidence.

Cloud risks exist across many cloud-native security platforms. However, advancements in cloud security tools, cloud-based solutions, and cloud technology services seamlessly integrated into the CI/CD application development process have rendered this concern obsolete.

For an organization to develop a successful cloud strategy, they need a talented cloud workforce, a DevOps culture, and proper security tools with advanced features. With these tools, talent, and the DevOps framework, most cloud transformation strategies will succeed in meeting expected operational gains and cost reductions. 

In this article, we’ll outline the importance of DevOps for cloud transformation as well as the various tools used for cloud protection.

Why Is DevOps Needed for Cloud Transformation?

DevOps strategies, combined with continuous innovation and delivery (CI/CD), help with development, modifications, and adjustments to existing platforms without removing systems from production. Before DevOps, organizations often had to go without creating new features and enhancements. They feared that taking systems out of production would result in a failure to return to a steady state.  

Human error, cloud misconfiguration, and configuration drift were prevalent before organizations adopted DevOps and automation. 

DevOps provides the framework and culture for cloud transformation. DevOps teams need specialized tools and cloud-based platforms specializing in security, protection, fortified attack surfaces, and ease of use. Cloud-based tools with a security focus can often be complex to set up and maintain. Organizations spend their capital and resources on these tools and never see benefits. 

Organizations investing in transformation in the cloud consider industry-proven tools to align with their DevOps strategies. A good example of these tools include:

• Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
• Static Application Security Tools (SAST)
• Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
• Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
• Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)
• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

What are Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) Tools?

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) deliver secure online security services for organizations. CASB delivers several services, including a unified data loss prevention strategy across all organizational domains. Hackers could attempt to steal data from one or many locations as more data becomes dispersed. CASB overcomes the lack of visibility by protecting data across several environments, including on-premises data centers, cloud instances, and SaaS-based applications. 

CASB uses threat detection and intelligence data to help protect against issues affecting regulatory compliance and other risks.

What are Static Application Security Testing (SAST) Tools?

Software tools like SAST use proprietary algorithms to detect and exploit vulnerabilities and unauthorized actions. SAST uses the known security programming functions when testing the source code before it gets compiled. SAST is excellent for identifying security vulnerabilities, including specific details around exploits. This testing sequence gives developers valuable security insights before compilation occurs. Development teams will use the output from SAST, go back into their various code projects, and make the needed changes. Once these changes have been completed, the developer reruns the SAST test.

What are Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Tools?

As more organizations begin their remote-access transformation, including adopting Zero-Trust, the need for the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) becomes essential. SASE sits ahead of the Zero-trust architecture.

SASE offers security solutions for cloud applications across multi-cloud environments and supports a remote workforce. This cloud-based architecture provides connectivity management replacing legacy VPN and other remote access strategies. SASE also helps level up remote connectivity for the organization by providing wide-area optimized networking and incorporating SD-WAN. These revolutionary capabilities help map secure connections for remote users to the cloud instances and corporate on-premises data centers by providing redundant routes, routes with optimal quality of service (QOS), and failover connectivity.

The SASE platform allows secure access to cloud resources without needing hardware. It provides customers and companies with an integrated security solution for using security features in the cloud. 

What are Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Tools?

The CSPM tool enables organizations to control access to cloud infrastructure tools. It will help organizations transition from on premises to cloud-based business services. CSPM software is excellent for maintaining security standards and offers relatively easy setup and deployment. This software helps detect problems, including key management issues and configuration control failures.

What are Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)?

The CWPP security platform is a workload-based cloud platform offering protection for physical and digital assets, including containers and virtual machines. Organizations frequently rely on outdated applications and frameworks, so moving to the cloud can be more complex than necessary. CWPP solutions bridge the gap between the legacy components of the cloud and newer environments. These services help to find and manage the already deployed workloads in public or on-campus cloud environments.

What is a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attack?

DDoS is one of the most formidable attacks an organization can endure. DDoS attacks focus on disrupting systems and networking devices by overwhelming their resources. These attacks include volumetric attacks used by hackers, insider threats, and other attack vectors. They leverage several methods, including TCP/IP connection requests, port-based attacks, and pinging, to force a host, router, firewall, or cloud-based applications to become unavailable. For example, hacktivists used DDoS attacks on both sides of the Ukraine-Russian conflict to disrupt critical services, typically as a political statement related to the ongoing war.

DDoS attacks are often bundled with other cyber-attacks, including email phishing, brute force password attacks, and ransomware. Cloud engineers and security will use a series of DDoS protection layers, and cloud-based environments, including an agreement with the internet service provider, to rate limiting inbound connections.

Protecting against DDoS is essential for organizations and helps secure their cloud transformation investments, applications, sensitive data, and remote access systems. Most cloud transformation strategies fail due in part to the need for more investment in cybersecurity protection layers like DDoS cloud security services and rate limiting.

Knowledge for Today and in the Future

Cloud transformation requires a new level of thinking, strategy, and investment. Companies continue to hire cloud engineers, administrators, and architects familiar with cloud security tools. These tools are essential to the success of any cloud strategy.

Software developers, cybersecurity engineers, and data analytics engineers wanting to learn more about cloud architecture, what tools are essential for cloud deployment, cloud administration, and security should review the following programs:

• Applied Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Information Systems – Cybersecurity Concentration
• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification
• AWS Solutions Architect Certification
• Google Cloud Engineer Associate Certification
• Microsoft Azure Security Engineer–AZ-500

Adding additional cloud engineering, architecture, and security knowledge to your current skillset will help open some exciting doors to new cloud career opportunities!