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Securing cloud endpoints: What you should know
- 2021/08/24
- 再生時間： 10 分
- ポッドキャスト
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サマリー
あらすじ・解説
What is endpoint security in the cloud? Endpoint security solutions, such as endpoint protection platforms (EPP) and endpoint detection and response (EDR), were once considered a separate discipline from cloud security. These technologies have since merged to create solutions for endpoint protection in the cloud. Traditional endpoint security was only sufficient when employees all worked on-premises, accessing workloads through company computers. However, changes to the market, including greater competition, the need for 24/7 accessibility, and rising IT costs, have led more organizations to embrace cloud computing to enable a more open and accessible IT environment. The cloud is accessible from any device, which is good for work flexibility but can complicate security. Challenges for cloud security include: Cloud systems introduce new types of endpoints, including SaaS applications, cloud storage buckets, managed databases and computer instances (such as EC2 instances or Azure VMs). Each of these is, for all intents and purposes, an endpoint that attackers can gain access to and compromise. The number and types of endpoints accessing the cloud are constantly growing, with devices ranging from laptops to smartphones and tablets. As the Internet of Things (IoT) grows, so does the list of devices and the associated vulnerabilities. External bring-your-own-device (BYOD) endpoints do not provide sufficient visibility into their state or contents. You cannot know what potential security threat may be hidden in a connected device. It is difficult to manage and monitor endpoint behavior and access. Even if your security policy stipulates a list of approved devices and installed apps, you need the right tools to monitor and enforce endpoint security. To ensure you are protected, you need to find a way to extend security to include monitoring remote endpoint access and behavior. Let’s take a closer look at security challenges affecting endpoints in public and private clouds. Public cloud endpoint security Public cloud resources are more vulnerable to attackers because they are outside the control of IT departments and typically have access to public networks. All public cloud providers use a shared responsibility model, in which the cloud provider secures cloud infrastructure, while cloud users must secure their workloads and data and are responsible for secure configuration. Many organizations use multiple computing models, including public Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) such as Amazon EC2, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) such as Amazon Lambda and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) such as SalesForce and Microsoft Office 365. It can be challenging to identify endpoints, understand access controls and establish secure configurations, as these can work differently for each cloud provider. You cannot centrally view and control all your public cloud branches without specialized tools, and you have to find them one by one across multiple cloud environments. Another dimension of cloud security, which is unique to the public cloud, is that attacks can not only compromise sensitive resources but also increase cloud costs as attackers leverage cloud infrastructure to create their own, malicious resources. Private cloud endpoint security The private cloud may seem more secure because it is fully controlled by the organization and runs in a local data center. However, private clouds are also vulnerable to attack. Security issues that can impact private clouds include: Insider attacks — a malicious employee or attacker who holds or compromises a legitimate account within the private cloud, can use it to wage an attack. Endpoints are usually connected to other resources and networks, which can lead to lateral movements by malicious insiders. Phishing — social engineering is a common way to compromise endpoints. For example, in a spearphishing attack, hackers investigate victim behavior in your organization, send a crafted and trusted email and trick...