Cloud Security Reinvented: Nexigen’s Approach to Mitigating Cloud-Based Threats

Even as we step into the post-2020 world, old-school security aficionados carry the perception that nothing can surpass the security levels offered by on-premise operations. The pandemic-induced remote work surge, however, necessitated a degree of cloud adaptation even among these skeptics.

As the global scenario stabilizes, IT departments worldwide are planning their future roadmap. Given the persisting remote work requirements and corresponding cybersecurity concerns, cloud security stands as a pressing priority. Regrettably, bad actors have evolved their strategies to target cloud environments and a swirl of misleading information regarding cloud security practices further complicates the situation.

One key area of confusion in public cloud security is defining the boundaries between customer and cloud provider responsibilities. In response, most cloud providers adopted the “shared responsibility model”, first introduced by AWS, outlining respective obligations. Analyzing this model reveals that customers shoulder a substantial responsibility for their cloud resource security.

Shared Responsibility Model

“Through 2024, the majority of enterprises will continue to struggle with appropriately measuring cloud security risks.”
— Gartner

Accepting the weight of responsibility for cloud security is one thing, implementing robust measures is another. Cloud provider security settings, aimed at facilitating ease of use, often fall short in offering optimal security. Navigating through convoluted interfaces and diverse methods to tweak settings and policies can be a daunting task.

When turning to the marketplace for help, users may find it overflowing with tools primarily focusing on IaaS, a known attack surface. However, equal attention must be given to SaaS applications such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. The increasing reliance on these cloud-based tools has led to a significant rise in damages from account takeover (ATO) and business email compromise (BEC) attacks.

Moreover, many market-available tools that merely echo provider-created data fall short in today’s dynamic cloud environment. When employing such tools, or relying on provider data (like Microsoft Office 365 Security Center data), users can be lulled into a false sense of security. Our seasoned security professionals have observed that, across sectors, cloud security measures are often inadequately deployed, leaving the cloud environments vulnerable.

At Nexigen, we believe that strengthening your cloud environment and responding to cloud-based threats should follow a strategy common to any enterprise technology component. Start by assessing vulnerabilities based on recognized standards and best practices, then prioritize risk remediation based on probability and impact. Lastly, ensure you have the capacity to monitor and respond to threats before they escalate.

The distinguishing factor while integrating cloud environments into your enterprise risk management processes is the agility necessitated by the ever-changing cloud sphere. We recommend a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tool that not only offers comprehensive coverage of public cloud IaaS and major SaaS providers, but also enables near real-time configuration standard assessment and enforcement. Furthermore, it’s essential to make sure that threat data from your cloud instances is accurately feeding into your SIEM or other monitoring and threat response tools. Equip your organization to effectively respond to cloud-based threats and proactively search for compromise indicators in these environments.

At Nexigen, we’re here to guide you in adapting to this rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape. Our expertise lies in developing, implementing, and managing robust cloud security strategies designed to combat cloud-based threats. Trust us to help you safeguard your cloud environments as we navigate the world of remote work and cloud computing together.

Nexigen introduces Cloud Detection and Response Services to our clients as a managed service.  With clients moving more and more data to the cloud on SAAS and PAAS solutions from servers on premise and endpoints on premise we needed a real-time system to respond to attacks that never touch the on premise environment.  With latest reports showing BEC Breach Email Compromise hitting central Identity management services had doubled and legacy weekly IOC Scans just were not cutting it.  Nexigen upgraded to a state of the art tool set which monitors activity across SAAS, and PAAS systems but also allows for automation and fast response.  Just like EDR for the endpoints but focused on the cloud.