Unleash the Power of Cortex Xpanse with XDR

Unleash the Power of Cortex Xpanse with XDR

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Trends in Cloud Security
3. Trends in Attack Surface Management
4. Challenges in Cloud Security
5. Strategies for Cloud Security Excellence 5.1 Deep Cloud Visibility 5.2 Security Guard Rails 5.3 Adopting Standards 5.4 Hiring and Training Security Engineers 5.5 Embedded Security in DevOps
6. Expanse: Gaining Visibility
7. Expanse Integration with Prisma Cloud
8. Use Cases of Expanse Integration 8.1 Consolidating Managed and Unmanaged Cloud Assets 8.2 Bringing Shadow IT under Control
9. Strategies for Bringing Shadow IT under Control
10. Conclusion

Introduction

Cloud computing has become the norm for deploying applications in today's business environment. With the majority of enterprises adopting hybrid and multi-cloud environments, cloud migration is accelerating. This shift to the cloud brings several security challenges, including misconfigurations and the complexity of securing new and unique cloud architectures.

Trends in Cloud Security

Cloud security is influenced by the increasing adoption of cloud technology. Organizations are migrating workloads to public cloud service providers such as AWS, GCP, and Azure. The automation and orchestration of deploying applications in the cloud have become the norm, along with the adoption of infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform. However, the complexity of security increases with the use of different cloud providers and the availability of new and unfamiliar technologies.

Trends in Attack Surface Management

Attackers have become more opportunistic in targeting cloud environments. They scan the internet daily, looking for exposed services and vulnerabilities. Cloud attack surfaces are constantly evolving, and organizations struggle to keep up with the discovery of new assets. The shift from on-premises to the cloud has also resulted in a higher concentration of critical exposures in cloud environments.

Challenges in Cloud Security

The challenges in cloud security include maintaining deep cloud visibility, setting security guardrails, adopting industry standards, hiring and training security engineers, and embedding security in the development process. Without deep cloud visibility, organizations may have fragmented security solutions, leaving some areas unprotected. Security guardrails and standards help ensure secure configurations and practices, while hiring and training security engineers enable organizations to develop and deploy applications securely. Embedding security in the development lifecycle ensures continuous monitoring and remediation of security issues.

Strategies for Cloud Security Excellence

To achieve cloud security excellence, organizations must focus on deep cloud visibility, security guardrails, standards adoption, hiring and training security engineers, and embedded security in the development process. Deep cloud visibility enables organizations to Create a single source of truth for their cloud assets and services. Security guardrails and standards ensure secure configurations and practices are in place. Hiring and training security engineers who code allows for continuous improvement of security practices. Embedding security in the development process ensures proactive monitoring and remediation of security issues.

Expanse: Gaining Visibility

Expanse is a cloud platform that provides deep visibility into an organization's cloud assets. It continuously discovers and monitors the global internet, identifying risky services and assets. With active discovery, active learning, and active response capabilities, Expanse helps organizations gain a comprehensive understanding of their attack surface and take proactive measures to secure it.

Expanse Integration with Prisma Cloud

Expanse integrates with Prisma Cloud, a cloud security posture management (CSPM) solution. This integration enables organizations to consolidate their managed and unmanaged cloud assets in one source of truth. Expanse ingests data from Prisma Cloud, providing visibility into over 45 different cloud resource types across major cloud providers. It also identifies unattributable assets and services running on other cloud providers, helping organizations understand their entire cloud ecosystem.

Use Cases of Expanse Integration

The integration of Expanse with Prisma Cloud offers two key use cases. The first use case is to consolidate managed and unmanaged cloud assets. Organizations can identify key risks running on their managed cloud assets and take proactive measures to protect them. The Second use case is to bring shadow IT under control. Expanse helps organizations identify unmanaged cloud assets with high criticality risks and enables them to onboard these assets into Prisma Cloud for better management and protection.

Strategies for Bringing Shadow IT under Control

Bringing shadow IT under control requires a proactive approach. Organizations can use pattern matching techniques to identify unmanaged cloud assets and their associated risks. By analyzing trends and Patterns, organizations can pinpoint common sources of unmanaged assets and take action to bring them under management. Another strategy is to prioritize the highest risk assets first and investigate their ownership. By identifying the owners of unmanaged cloud assets, organizations can onboard them into Prisma Cloud and ensure proper security controls are in place.

Conclusion

Cloud security is a complex challenge that requires a comprehensive approach. Deep cloud visibility, security guardrails, standards adoption, hiring and training security engineers, and embedded security in the development process are all key components of cloud security excellence. By integrating Expanse with Prisma Cloud, organizations can gain visibility into their entire cloud ecosystem and take proactive measures to secure their cloud assets. With the right strategies, organizations can bring shadow IT under control and mitigate the risks associated with unmanaged cloud assets.