Cloud security has gained primacy as more and more companies migrate to the cloud. The cloud is primarily attractive because it is flexible and scalable, allowing companies to respond quickly to changes in the market. However, it also brings with it a set of new CIEM security challenges. Traditional security methods, which were designed for on-premises setups, are not well-adapted to the dynamic and distributed nature of cloud infrastructure.
Over 80% of data breaches have cloud data stored in their attack vector, per Harvard Business Review. Some of the common cloud environment problems—the majority—are over-permission identities, misconfigured permissions, and unmanaged or orphan accounts that lay the foundations for unauthorized access and subsequent data breaches. This is where CIEM comes in handy. CIEM security solutions offer identity and permission management to restrain unauthorized users from accessing information on cloud resources.
Understanding CIEM
CIEM is the abbreviation for Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management, a security solution to access control over cloud resources. The central goal of this approach tends to be only the right people have access to specific cloud resources. This reduces security risks.
Key components of CIEM are:
Identity Governance: This module sets up and governs user roles and access permissions.
Role Management: This sets up and role management pertaining to the permissions.
Entitlement Auditing: It looks to scan and review permissions continuously to identify and correct issues to ensure that security policies and regulations are met.
CIEM is an essential security measure while using the cloud because as organizations increase their use of the cloud, their identities and permissions have the potential to rise exponentially, resulting in complex access management. The positive aspect of it is the strict access controls. It lowers the various risks against attacks by making sure that the cloud is secured.
Cloud Security Risks Mitigated by CIEM
Over-Permissioned Identities: When too many permissions are present, the probability for any data breach also increases. CIEM enforces the principle of least privilege. It makes sure that users have only the permissions they need. The data entitlement management solution minimises the threat of any access that is not authorised and reduces the effect of accounts that are compromised.
Misconfigured Permissions: A properly arranged permission might introduce an accidental entrance to critical data. CIEM continuously scans and remedies access settings to guard against such occurrences.
Unmanaged and Orphaned Identities: Accounts that are poorly managed and belong to former employees can be problematic. CIEM will discover and disable these accounts.
Insider Threats: Insider exploitation of access is becoming more and more scary. CIEM institutes tight access controls and controls user activities to reduce insider attacks.
CheckRed’s Advanced CIEM Capabilities
CheckRed has enhanced its CIEM capabilities to be able to deal with modern-day cloud-security issues successfully.
Advanced Identity Governance:
Improved role management and user provisioning offers users appropriate authorizations based on job roles. Consequently, it helps in reducing administrative overhead and at the same time excelling in better security.
Advanced Entitlement Auditing:
Instant visibility and the ability to recognize trends through the monitoring of permissions in real time and analysis of the historical state.
Robust Role Management:
Granularly being able to control permissions, avoiding unauthorized access and increasing security.
CNAPP Integration:
CheckRed’s CIEM is integrated into its Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform. It is a fusion of CIEM with Cloud Security Posture Management. It further incorporates Cloud Workload Protection, rendering this an all-inclusive security solution.
Where CIEM Fits into Comprehensive Cloud Security CIEM is a critical piece in a portfolio and part of a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP). The platform natively integrates CIEM with CSPM and CWPP. Whereas CSPM corrects misconfigurations and compliance issues, CWPP ensures protection from virtual machine and container threats. CheckRed consolidated these into a unified security approach; it covers how access to cloud resources is tightly controlled and continuously monitored.
CIEM:
Enhance capabilities of the other security functions by integrating identity governance and role management, automated entitlement auditing, and strict access controls thereby reducing the risks of unauthorized access. Hence it is in compliance with policies and regulations of CheckRed’s. CheckRed’s Comprehensive CNAPP –CIEM Pillar CheckRed’s CNAPP is comprehensive. It has strong CIEM capabilities. This renders it an all-around and integrated cloud security strategy. Benefits of the CheckRed’s CIEM Enhancements
Our security is better with advanced entitlement auditing, strong access controls, and other detailed identity governance used throughout the system. CIEM helps in meeting regulatory compliance through maintaining detailed audit trails and proper access control. It reduces the heavy lifting from the IT team’s work by automating the management of entitlements and their auditing. This allows them to be strategically used for efficiency.
CIEM plays a significant role in managing cloud identities and permissions while addressing the security hazards linked to them. Real-time visibility and protection, enhanced by strong security tools, help in not only surfacing the threats and vulnerabilities to the cloud environment, but also in the ability of that cloud estate to enhance its look by enforcing the required rules bringing in more compliance and smoothing efficiency. The most resilient security of the cloud given by CheckRed to companies is seamlessly implemented into their more holistic CNAPP.
Source: Cosmo Politian
