Attackers are moving faster than ever, becoming increasingly good at exploiting vulnerabilities within just days of their initial discovery. This makes mitigation an extremely important component to any risk or vulnerability management program, as it allows security teams to act quickly, reduce risk immediately and prevent the likelihood of exploitation. While full remediation, either deploying a patch or implementing a code change may be the end goal, it isn’t always possible right away due to patch availability, incompatible infrastructure, resource limitations, etc. By leveraging cloud-native tools and other existing controls, security teams can “stop the bleeding,” addressing vulnerabilities immediately while working toward a more comprehensive remediation plan in the background.
This blog explores 6 essential cloud-native services and controls that can be implemented to mitigate cloud risks.
1. Protect Cloud Network Using Segmentation
Why is this important?
Network segmentation allows security teams to divide the network into segments and isolate critical assets so they are only accessible to authorized users or services, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and lateral movement.
How to implement
For cloud network segmentation, security teams can configure subnet routes table, security groups and gateway.
2. Prevent Malicious Traffic with Traffic Inspection Tools
Why is this important?
Security teams can implement firewalls and Load Balancers to analyze and control traffic flow between segments to prevent malicious traffic.
How to implement
Security teams can use WAF, Network ACLs, Firewall and Load Balancers to prevent malicious traffic.
3. Implement Continuous Monitoring and Logging
Why is this important?
Continuous monitoring and logging allows security teams to detect anomalies and potential threats. This allows security teams to gain visibility into various activities that can indicate malicious activity such as CPU spikes, which can indicate Cryptomining. Continuous monitoring and logging can also be a way to, in the event that remediation isn’t immediately possible, detect any exploitation or malicious activity resulting from a known vulnerability that has yet to be fixed.
How to implement
Security teams can enable cloud-native tools such as CloudTrail and CloudWatch to continuously monitor for anomalous activity and tools such as AWS GuardDuty or Azure Sentinel for real-time detection of malicious activity.
4. Secure APIs and Cloud Services
Why is this important?
Securing APIs protects the data exchanges between applications and services in the cloud. By validating inputs, controlling access and using strong authentication, security teams can prevent attackers from exploiting vulnerabilities in applications and API servers.
How to implement
Security teams can leverage API Gateway with WAF to protect APIs from web-based attacks.
5. Automate Cloud Resource Discovery and Classification
Why is this important?
Automating cloud resource discovery and classification ensures an up-to-date inventory of all cloud assets. This enables security teams to more easily apply the appropriate security controls based on how critical the asset may be. It also allows security teams to quickly respond to any unexpected changes in the cloud environment that could indicate potential risk.
How to implement
Security teams can use cloud-native auto discovery services such as AWS Systems Manager or GCP Cloud Asset Inventory.
6. Limit access with Identity Access Management (IAM)
Why is this important?
Implementing IAM controls enables organizations to enforce the principle of least privilege, granting users only the access needed for their roles. This reduces the attack surface and helps prevent unauthorized access, privilege escalation and lateral movement.
How to implement
Security teams can use cloud-native Identity Access Management (IAM) such as AWS IAM, GCP IAM, or Azure Active Directory.
At ZEST, we believe that the future of vulnerability management and cloud security relies on implementing both mitigation and remediation strategies. This holistic approach enables security teams to move beyond remediation and leverage existing tools and infrastructure to drastically reduce the risk of exploitation. To learn more about how ZEST’s Resolution Paths eliminate cloud vulnerabilities and misconfigurations way before attackers can take advantage of them, reach out to our team.
