Cloud Security Posture Management with Microsoft Defender for Cloud

The cloud is one of the most important technologies for organisations to consider. It is both an established part of the field for business IT and a newly emerging technology. With lots of new cloud-based innovations taking the stage regularly, lots of businesses are taking the cloud seriously as the future of their organisation.

However, with all the benefits of the cloud, security concerns need to be considered to ensure that your organisation stays protected. As with anything else within your organisation, your cloud implementation needs to be sound. It should not leave any gaps within your wider security posture. The process of making sure that your cloud implementation is secure is known as Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM). This is a vital consideration for any business.

In this article, we’re going to go over CSPM and why your organisation needs to have a strong security posture. We will also explain how you can use Microsoft Defender to ensure that your cloud security posture is as tight as possible.

Understanding Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) is both a practice and a technology designed to detect and prevent any weakening of your organisation’s security posture. Essentially, it exists to make sure that any gaps in your cloud security are patched up. This is done through monitoring and threat detection, as well as configuration.

Essentially, this will ensure that you don’t have to worry about your cloud security posture at all. A CSPM solution handles everything that you probably don’t even know about. This solves the biggest problem with modern cloud security — according to Microsoft, the highest percentage of cloud errors come from misconfigurations and human error.

With this, you protect your organisation immensely and ensure that there’s no way that you can leave any gaps where data breaches, compliance breaches, or even attacks can happen. This makes sure that your company doesn’t get hit by any nasty surprises.

There is a host of things that a CSPM solution handles, with the most important being: 

• Misconfiguration: Oftentimes, organisations will set up their implementation incorrectly. A CSPM solution will ensure everything is configured correctly.
• Legal and regulatory compliance issues: A lack of attention to detail in cloud security could cause compliance issues. A CSPM solution will ensure that this isn’t the case.
• Unauthorised access: Misconfigured access management tools — or even simply just a security oversight — can lead to unauthorised access to your organisation’s network and systems.

These are just some of the ways that a CSPM solution can help ensure your organisation’s cloud security posture is tight and managed correctly.

The Importance of a Strong Security Posture

So far, we’ve spoken about your cloud security posture. But why is your organisation’s security posture important? And how can it affect your organisation if you fail to pay attention to your organisation’s security posture and needs? 

There are a few key causes for concern here —

• Cyber Threats: Cyber attackers are unfortunately looming around every corner. Ensuring that you have the upper hand against them is the only real way of protecting your organisation.
• Compliance: As previously stated, having a weak security posture could lead to issues regarding compliance. This could lead to heavy fines or even litigation.
• Reputation: Your business’ reputation is one of the most important things it has. A lack of attention to detail to security could lead to it becoming less reputable — which will mean less business.
• Business Continuity: A weak security posture could mean that your organisation faces immense amounts of disruption and downtime. This means that everyone who works within your business suffers in the long run.

Essentially, a strong security posture will ensure that your organisation is healthy and prosperous for the future.

How Microsoft Defender for Cloud Can Help

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is Microsoft’s premier cloud security solution, and the best tool available for CSPM. It helps you protect your organisation and is incredibly potent, while also being flexible to meet your needs.

Defender for Cloud achieves this in a few ways: 

• Visibility: Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides detailed visibility into your organisation’s security state and workloads across all of your cloud implementations — from Azure to AWS and anything in between. Then, it provides you with recommendations to ensure that your organisation stays at a high security standard.
• Hardening guidance: Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers hardening guidance to ensure that you can take actionable steps to improve your security posture easily and effectively.
• Secure Score: Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides your ‘secure score’ — a score based on your security level, with recommendations to improve your score. A higher score means that you’re more secure, with a lower risk level.
• Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark: Defender for Cloud works with Azure specifically to provide the MSCB compliance standard. This gives you further tools to enhance your security.

There are two different plans for Microsoft Defender for Cloud, both of which provide different feature sets. The Foundational CSPM tool comes with Microsoft Defender for Cloud for free. In contrast, the Defender CSPM tool comes at an additional cost with more advanced CSPM tools such as attack path analysis and insights into network exposure.

Ultimately, Microsoft Defender will help you ensure that your organisation’s security is at the highest level.

How We Can Help

Your organisation’s cloud security is vital. Without paying attention to it, you could bring in a host of different problems for your business, that could cause disruption or damage in the long term. By utilising a CSPM solution, you can ensure that you have every aspect of your cloud security covered — without needing to stress about the specifics.

If you’re looking to get started with cloud security but need extra support, reach out to us today. Our experts are here to help and will ensure that you have everything you need to protect your business’ cloud infrastructure, all with expert support along the way.

Get in touch with us now and see how we can help.