Cybersecurity Strategies for Cloud Services

Big Three (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) consolidating control over security, data, and AI, I’d build a multi-layered security plan that assumes: 1. Cloud providers are not trustworthy. 2. AI-driven security enforcement will be used to restrict access to data. 3. Companies must take back control of their infrastructure or risk losing everything. Ultimate Security Plan to Prevent a Cloud Takeover 1. Infrastructure Control – Get Off Their Grid Hybrid or On-Prem Strategy: Companies must move critical IP and customer data off the Big Three’s cloud. Decentralized Compute & Storage: Leverage self-hosted AI models instead of API-based LLMs. Use alternative cloud providers (e.g., Linode, DigitalOcean, Vultr) for redundancy. Implement private storage solutions (e.g., MinIO, Ceph) to avoid S3 dependency. Data Fragmentation: Encrypt and distribute sensitive data across multiple storage locations, so no single provider has the full picture. 2. Security at the Data Layer – Assume They’ll Try to Take It End-to-End Encryption (E2EE): Encrypt data before it touches cloud storage—providers should only see ciphertext. Use self-hosted key management systems (KMS) instead of AWS/Azure KMS. Zero Trust Data Architecture: No cloud provider gets full access—data is split, sharded, and stored separately. Confidential computing (e.g., Intel SGX, AMD SEV) they can’t decrypt anything. Automated Data Poisoning Defense: Implement honeypots and monitor to detect if AI is being trained on data w/out permission. 3. AI Security – Prevent LLM Takeover Self-Hosted LLMs: Train- run proprietary AI models in-house avoid dependency on OpenAI, Google, AWS models. Poison Their Models: Deploy decoy data that triggers hallucinations in unauthorized AI training attempts. Identify patterns in data scraping attempts and dynamically alter responses. Red Team Their AI If AI security policies are being enforced against you, develop adversarial attacks to force model errors and expose flaws in their enforcement. 4. Operational Security (OpSec) – No Easy Entry Points Network Segmentation & Isolation: Treat cloud infrastructure as a hostile environment and limit cloud-to-internal connections. Air-Gapped Backups: Maintain offline, physically secured copies of critical data in case of cloud lockout. Multi-Cloud Obfuscation: Deploy services across multiple cloud providers with rotating endpoints to prevent surveillance and shutdowns. 5. Legal & Strategic Countermeasures Regulatory Pressure: Push for laws that force cloud providers to separate AI enforcement from cloud security. Public Exposure: Document and expose cloud misconfigurations and breaches to prove they are unfit to control security. Economic Leverage: Encourage mass exodus from centralized cloud providers—they’ll only stop if their revenue is threatened. Don’t Play Defense—Go on the Offensive The strategy isn’t just about protecting data—it’s about breaking Big Tech’s monopoly before they enforce total control.

🚨NSA Releases Guidance on Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments🚨 The National Security Agency (NSA) recently published an important Cybersecurity Information Sheet (CSI): "Account for Complexities Introduced by Hybrid Cloud and Multi-Cloud Environments." As organizations increasingly adopt hybrid and multi-cloud strategies to enhance flexibility and scalability, understanding the complexities of these environments is crucial for securing digital assets. This CSI provides a comprehensive overview of the unique challenges presented by hybrid and multi-cloud setups. Key Insights Include: 🛠️ Operational Complexities: Addressing the knowledge and skill gaps that arise from managing diverse cloud environments and the potential for security gaps due to operational siloes. 🔗 Network Protections: Implementing Zero Trust principles to minimize data flows and secure communications across cloud environments. 🔑 Identity and Access Management (IAM): Ensuring robust identity management and access control across cloud platforms, adhering to the principle of least privilege. 📊 Logging and Monitoring: Centralizing log management for improved visibility and threat detection across hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures. 🚑 Disaster Recovery: Utilizing multi-cloud strategies to ensure redundancy and resilience, facilitating rapid recovery from outages or cyber incidents. 📜 Compliance: Applying policy as code to ensure uniform security and compliance practices across all cloud environments. The guide also emphasizes the strategic use of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to streamline cloud deployments and the importance of continuous education to keep pace with evolving cloud technologies. As organizations navigate the complexities of hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, this CSI provides valuable insights into securing cloud infrastructures against the backdrop of increasing cyber threats. Embracing these practices not only fortifies defenses but also ensures a scalable, compliant, and efficient cloud ecosystem. Read NSA's full guidance here: https://lnkd.in/eFfCSq5R #cybersecurity #innovation #ZeroTrust #cloudcomputing #programming #future #bigdata #softwareengineering

Thanks to Google Cloud Security for their latest alert on Scattered Spider, who have pivoted their advanced social engineering and MFA-bypass attacks from retail to U.S. insurance firms—now specifically targeting IT support and help desk teams. This wave of intrusions highlights how attackers exploit not just credentials, but also gaps in identity governance and privileged access. For security teams, the key takeaways are: 🚩 Rigorous access controls: Limit how much access IT support and call center personnel have, especially to sensitive systems. 🚩 Effective privilege management: Quickly identify and reduce unnecessary, lingering, or excessive permissions that enable lateral movement post-compromise. 🚩 Monitor privilege escalation paths: Visibility into who can reset credentials or escalate access is critical for breaking the attack chain. 🚩 Support security awareness: Continuously educate support teams on verification and social engineering resistance. We must modernize our identity security approach to continuously validate effective permissions and monitor privilege boundaries—not just roles—to help contain the impact if attackers get in. This is crucial as social engineering and identity attacks become more sophisticated and sector-focused. https://lnkd.in/enYu5AFj #Cybersecurity #InfoSec #IdentitySecurity #ThreatIntel #LeastPrivilege

Are you addressing the root causes of your cloud security threats or just treating the symptoms? The Cloud Security Alliance's Top Threats to Cloud Computing 2024 report illuminates critical security challenges, but many of these threats result from overlooking foundational practices in favor of more complex solutions. My takeaways: 1️⃣ Misconfiguration and change control - Misconfigurations often signal that organizations advance to complex cloud setups without mastering the basics. For example, the Toyota data breach, where a decade-long exposure was due to human error and inadequate cloud configuration management, highlights the need for robust configuration management and continuous monitoring. 2️⃣ Identity & Access Management (IAM) - IAM issues frequently stem from inconsistent governance. The JumpCloud breach, where attackers exploited over-permissioned accounts and poor separation of duties, underscores the importance of regular policy reviews and strict governance practices. 3️⃣ Insecure interfaces and APIs - Securing APIs is crucial, but the rush to innovate can sometimes overshadow security. The Spoutible (an X alternative) API vulnerability, which exposed user data due to poor security practices, serves as a reminder to embed security into the API development process from the start. What can you do? 1) Focus on fundamentals: To address misconfigurations, prioritize strong configuration management and continuous monitoring. Look at tools like Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks. 2) Regular governance reviews: Prevent IAM issues by regularly reviewing and adapting policies. Ensure all your applications are part of your IAM strategy, not just those supporting standards like SAML, OIDC, and SCIM. (Cerby can help you with these apps.) 3) Balanced innovation: Integrate security into development processes to avoid compromising security in a rush to innovate (see Secure by Design from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency). Focusing on the basics and doing them well can mitigate most of the risks in this report. Props to the authors Jon-Michael C. Randall, Alexander S. Getsin, Vic Hargrave, Laura Kenner, Michael Morgenstern, Stephen Pieraldi, and Michael Roza. #Cybersecurity #cloudsecurity #api Cloud Security Alliance

NSA Releases Top Ten Cloud Security Mitigation Strategies “Unfortunately, the aggregation of critical data makes cloud services an attractive target for adversaries.  This series provides foundational advice every cloud customer should follow to ensure they don’t become a victim.” ~ Rob Joyce, NSA’s Director of Cybersecurity The ten strategies are covered in the following reports 1. Uphold the cloud shared responsibility model 2. Use secure cloud identity and access management practices 3. Use secure cloud key management practices 4. Implement network segmentation and encryption in cloud environments 5. Secure data in the cloud 6. Defending continuous integration/continuous delivery environments 7. Enforce secure automated deployment practices through infrastructure as code 8. Account for complexities introduced by hybrid cloud and multi-cloud environments 9. Mitigate risks from managed service providers in cloud environments 10. Manage cloud logs for effective threat hunting Full article with each strategy report in the comment 👇🏾 #cybersecurity #cloudsecurity #cloudsec

Here are 12 essential security practices you need to know for cloud roles (crucial concepts for interviews) 1. Shared Responsibility Model: Know what your cloud provider secures vs. what you must secure. → provider vs. customer responsibilities. 2. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Add an extra layer beyond passwords for access. → time-based tokens, authenticator apps, biometrics. 3. Identity & Access Management (IAM): Control who can access what and enforce strict permissions. → roles, policies, least privilege. 4. Secure Cloud Storage Permissions: Avoid public buckets and overly broad access. → ACLs, IAM policies, bucket-level security. 5. Encrypt Data at Rest and in Transit: Use encryption to protect stored and moving data. → TLS, AES-256, envelope encryption. 6. Network Segmentation: Limit breach impact by isolating workloads. → VPCs, subnets, firewalls. 7. Update and Patch Systems: Fix known vulnerabilities in all components. → OS, applications, containers. 8. Enable DDoS Protection: Prevent service disruption from traffic floods. → AWS Shield, Cloud Armor, rate limiting. 9. Backup Data Regularly: Protect against data loss with frequent, tested backups. → snapshot automation, recovery drills. 10. Monitor and Log Activities: Track events across your cloud infrastructure. → audit logs, CloudTrail, SIEM tools. 11. Set Resource Usage Alerts: Catch anomalies early through alerts. → billing thresholds, abnormal activity triggers. 12. Use Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM): Continuously detect and fix cloud misconfigurations. → real-time scanning, policy enforcement. As cloud environments get more complex, organizations really need people who get cloud security — because it’s not just about tech, it’s about protecting what matters most. If you want to stand out, focus on learning these core security concepts and how to apply them in real cloud environments — that’s what companies really value. How many of these cloud security practices do you actually follow? • • • If you found this useful.. 🔔 Follow me (Vishakha) for more Cloud & DevOps insights ♻️ Share so others can learn as well!

6 Steps to Reducing Your Cloud Cybersecurity Debt 1) Integrate security into the SDLC as early as possible. 2) Monitor your CSP security posture as well as the posture of your deployed assets. Recommend using a CSPM tool here like Wiz, Orca Security, or Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks 3) Restrict access as you move from left to right towards products. Access tends to necessarily be permissive on the left end of development but should become more restrictive as you got to test/qa and then most restrictive as you get to production. 4) Reduce your attack surface. Mitigate commonly exploited misconfigurations and exploitation techniques while monitoring cloud infrastructure for vulns and anomalies. 5) Perform a cyber-threat profile assessment. Understand threats specific to your cloud architecture and the top security risks you face. 6) Pentesting (or better yet, continuous testing) This can help identify complex "toxic combinations" before attackers exploit them, and provide quantitative data to help measure the risk associated with your cloud assets. #cloud #cyber #security (h/t Dark Reading "Reducing Security Debt in the Cloud")