CSPM Is Not Enough: 4 Reasons You Need More Tools to Secure Your Cloud

What Is Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)?

Cloud security posture management (CSPM) is a cybersecurity toolkit that identifies cloud-based security issues, such as noncompliance and misconfiguration. First used by Gartner, CSPM is a type of cloud security offering that enables automation and enhances regulatory compliance.

CSPM products work by continuously monitoring infrastructure in the cloud to identify security risks and areas where policies are inadequately enforced. They include tools that analyze cloud environments based on a predefined list of security risks and corresponding best practices.

For example, one CSPM tool may alert the security team of urgent threats, while another tool might use automated processes to remediate the threats without human intervention.

CSPM is useful for organizations that rely on cloud computing, especially when deploying a hybrid or multi-cloud environment. CSPM capabilities are most commonly used to implement security best practices in infrastructure-as-as-service (IaaS) offerings.

However, CSPM can also be used to minimize compliance and configuration risks in platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) setups.

How CSPM Works

CSPM tools focus on identifying and addressing security misconfigurations in the cloud. Some CSPM tools are limited to specific cloud services or environments with a rigid list of best practices. Thus, security teams should be familiar with the various tools available and the suitable context for each tool. For instance, one CSPM product might be effective for Azure, while another would be better suited to AWS.

A CSPM suite should include tools that automatically respond to misconfiguration issues, such as excessive permissions. They achieve this by monitoring the cloud environment in real-time and automatically applying the recommended changes. It is also possible to configure CSPM based on specific security standards, such as HIPAA.

Organizations often combine CSPM tools with a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB). This product helps control data flows between the cloud environment and the organization’s on-premises infrastructure.

4 Reasons Why CSPM Tools Are Not Enough

While CSPM is a useful toolkit to have, it is not enough to protect a complex cloud-based environment:

CSPM Cannot Fix All Misconfigurations

CSPM tools usually detect configuration issues effectively, but they cannot always fix a misconfiguration when they find it. Not all attack surfaces are easily patchable, meaning that automated remediation is insufficient.

In some cases, a misconfiguration issue could take months to fix. A sophisticated threat monitoring solution may be more efficient in safeguarding the cloud environment by prioritizing high-risk security vulnerabilities and accepting the lower risk of others.

CSPM Cannot Cover Other Security Risks

Continuous monitoring for misconfigurations is useful for identifying compliance issues and risks like open ports. However, misconfiguration issues only represent a minority of security risks (most breaches in the cloud result from other issues). A more advanced threat detection platform can analyze the behavioral patterns in the cloud to identify indicators of compromise.

Many cyber attacks are ongoing and involve a complex sequence of events rather than a one-off anomaly. CSPM tools don’t monitor the runtime environment, so they cannot identify suspicious behavior, such as an unexplained spike in network activity. Security teams should have visibility over the entire attack sequence.

Ensuring Compliance Does Not Ensure Security

Achieving perfect compliance does not equate to ensuring security. CSPM tools don’t identify threats that work around compliant configurations. Moreover, the organization’s configuration needs may change, as do compliance requirements, so security and development teams must consider new risks.

CSPM tools do not provide alerts for breaches that slip through existing compliance measures.

Security Requires a Combined Static-Dynamic Approach

CSPM tools are static in nature—they monitor the configuration environment in a point-in-time analysis, so they miss issues that arise at another time. They don’t look at the impact of small changes over time, which could provide a more detailed picture.

In contrast, a behavioral analysis-based tool can detect threats using artificial intelligence by establishing a normal behavior baseline for the cloud environment.

Cloud Security Tools to Add to Your Security Stack

Here are a few tools that can complement CSPM to provide a more holistic cloud security solution.

Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)

DSPM is a security approach that focuses on data in the cloud, treating data as the organization’s most valuable asset. Most organizations that operate in a multi-cloud environment handle large amounts of data, including sensitive data, creating a large attack surface.

DSPM encompasses multiple approaches to protect data and maintain the organization’s security posture. It alerts the security team to the presence of sensitive data throughout the cloud environment, providing information such as who can access this data.

Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP)

A CWPP is uniquely adapted to protect workloads in the cloud. It works by securing cloud-specific capabilities, including storage, computing, and networking. Legacy security solutions cannot adequately protect cloud workloads, given their complexity.

The main advantage of a CWPP is its scalability and limited friction when protecting cloud workloads. It can help address security issues that arise as a result of inadequate security practices. This is especially useful for fast DevOps cycles, where teams often overlook security.

Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)

A CASB is a service that enforces security policies in the cloud and on-premises. It provides a virtual checkpoint in between the cloud service user and the cloud provider, based on policies determined by the cloud service admin. CASBs ensure that an organization’s security policies are enforced whenever someone accesses a cloud-based resource.

Many organizations are adopting CASBs to mitigate risk when using cloud-based services and ensure regulatory compliance. The CASB is useful for achieving security for cloud resources that are outside the organization’s control and traditional security perimeter.

Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP)

CNAPP covers multiple aspects of cloud security, including CSPM, CSNS (cloud service network security), and CWPP (cloud workload protection platform). It provides a unified platform to secure cloud-based applications throughout their lifecycle, rather than relying on separate cloud security tools.

This approach helps to patch up the gaps that arise when using unrelated security solutions, ensuring greater visibility. This helps reduce the workload of the development and security teams while improving the overall organizational security posture.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while CSPM is an important tool in the cloud security stack, it should not be the only one. CSPM tools are static in nature and cannot detect more complex security threats that involve multiple malicious activities carried out over a long period of time.

They also strongly focus on compliance requirements, which do not always align with the most pressing security needs in a cloud environment.

To address these limitations, you should complement CSPM with other security tools. We covered several options, including DSPM, CWPP, and CASB. In addition, a new solution category called CNAPP packages together CSPM with these and other relevant security tools to provide a well-rounded cloud-native security solution.

Of course, the choice of tools will depend on your security requirements, the technical aspects of your cloud environment, your budget, and the security expertise available in-house.