Relax with Secure Cloud-Native Solutions – Source: securityboulevard.com

What Does Securing Your Cloud-Native Solutions Mean?

Cloud-native solutions are becoming more popular by the day. They are seen as the future of application development and deployment in today’s digital age. But with great innovation comes great responsibility – the responsibility of securing these cloud-native solutions. Wondering what ‘securing the cloud’ means in practical terms? Well, we are talking about the comprehensive management of Non-Human Identities (NHIs) and their secrets.

Why Should You Be Concerned About Non-Human Identities (NHIs)?

NHIs are machine identities used in cybersecurity. They are a combination of a “Secret” (an encrypted password, token, or key that functions as a unique identifier) and permissions granted by a destination server. When we talk about NHIs and secrets management, we’re talking about securing the identities and their access credentials, much like securing a tourist and their passport.

The management of NHIs is gaining importance in industries across the board such as financial services, healthcare, travel, and DevOps. It’s particularly relevant for organizations working in the cloud, as NHIs help to address the security gaps that may arise from disconnects between security and R&D teams – helping create a stronger, more secure cloud environment.

The Crucial Role of NHI Management

With their role in maintaining cybersecurity, NHI management goes beyond just protection. It is about a holistic approach to securing machine identities and secrets. This involves every step from discovery and classification to threat detection and remediation. This strategic approach outshines point solutions such as secret scanners that provide limited protection.

NHI management platforms delve deeper. They provide insights on elements like ownership, permissions, usage patterns, and potential vulnerabilities. This context-aware security is what sets NHI management apart – it’s about having a more comprehensive view of your cloud security.

More discussions on the topic of NHIs can be found here.

The Benefits of NHI Management

A well-implemented NHI management strategy comes with several benefits:

1. Reduced Risk: By identifying and mitigating security risks proactively, the likelihood of breaches and data leaks are reduced.
2. Improved Compliance: Meets regulatory requirements through policy enforcement and creation of audit trails.
3. Increased Efficiency: Automating the management of NHIs and secrets frees up security teams to focus on strategic initiatives.
4. Enhanced Visibility and Control: Provides a centralized view for access management and governance.
5. Cost Savings: Automates secrets rotation and the decommissioning of NHIs, saving on operational costs.

NHI remediation in cloud environments explained here.

Whether you are a CISO or a cybersecurity professional, the importance and strategic value of NHI management in creating secure cloud-native solutions is undeniable.

Making Cloud-Native Solutions Securer

As we venture further into the world of cloud-native solutions, securing our digital assets is of paramount importance. Like a passport, the identity and permission granted to a machine can open up numerous possibilities. By effectively managing NHIs, we can help ensure each ‘tourist’ on our digital landscape is legitimate, secure, and operates under appropriate permissions – allowing all of us to relax in the confidence that our cloud-native solutions are secure.

For more insights and preparations for future cybersecurity challenges, click here.

Managing NHIs is not merely about threat quarantine or damage control. It’s about taking a strategic, context-aware approach to cloud security. Through effective NHI management, we can move forward confidently in our digital journeys. And with secure cloud-native solutions, we can all take a collective sigh of relief.

What Makes Effective NHI Management Possible?

Over the years, as our reliance on technology increased, so did the sophistication of cyber threats. This evolution necessitates the adoption of NHI management as a modern concept for securing cloud-based solutions. But what backs its effectiveness?

In essence, the vitality of NHI management relies heavily upon certain key components. These include the use of computational algorithms for the identification and classification of NHIs, machine learning to analyze their behavior, and automation for the management of NHIs and their secrets. Merely restricting the scope of security to human identities is no longer sufficient in a world that is increasingly turning digital.

Compliance and Importance of Adequate NHI Management

Managing NHIs isn’t just a smart security measure; it’s a compliance necessity. Regulatory standards such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001 place a strong emphasis on the management of both human and non-human identities.

Discover more about the role of NHI management in SOC 2 compliance here.

Moreover, the rising number of cyberattacks targeting cloud systems highlights the urgency for better NHI management.

Adapting to an Evolving Cyber Landscape

The cloud offers a plethora of opportunities while also introducing new potential vulnerabilities. The growing complexity of digital networks, coupled with the rapid adoption of cloud-native solutions, amplifies the necessity for NHI management.

Adapting to these risks doesn’t mean fearfully retreating from cloud technology. Instead, it implies taking wise, informed steps towards secure utilization of such technologies. By managing NHIs correctly, we can foster a more secure ecosystem for our digital assets, reducing the chances of cybersecurity incidents and ensuring the longevity of our solutions.

Adding Value to Cloud Security Control

For far-reaching control over cloud security, organizations need to incorporate NHI and Secrets management into their cybersecurity strategy. With proper management, businesses can significantly decrease the risk of security breaches and data leaks, activating a continuous process of evaluating and improving their security standards.

Learn more about securing NHIs and ISO 27001 compliance here.

NHIs and Digital Transformation

NHIs have a pivotal role in digital transformation. As companies embrace new technologies, NHIs are vital in launching a multitude of processes that otherwise would require human intervention. Therefore, robust NHI management is crucial to fostering a secure environment that encourages digital growth.

The Future of NHIs

As we move towards an era defined by digital advancements, NHIs will continue to play an essential role. The rise of technologies like IoT, AI, and machine learning is expected to lead to an exponential increase in the number of NHIs present in our digital systems.

Explore the new era of Non-Human Identities here.

The proper management of your NHIs becomes even more critical in such a scenario. As security professionals, understanding, embracing, and effectively implementing NHI management can make all the difference, helping us continue on a secure path in this fast-paced digital world. Let’s not wait for another high-profile data breach to serve as a wake-up call to the importance of securing our Non-Human Identities. Let’s take action now.

The post Relax with Secure Cloud-Native Solutions appeared first on Entro.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Entro authored by Amy Cohn. Read the original post at: https://entro.security/relax-with-secure-cloud-native-solutions/