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Explore 13 essential cloud security tools, features, and integrations, including what criteria to look for when purchasing a cloud security tool.
Cloud environments are not as secure as you might think. Research showed that 45% of breaches are cloud-based.
This means that an extra permission set or unrevoked user in an AWS cloud environment can potentially trigger that breach. Organizations rely on cloud services to store and process large volumes of sensitive data and to protect critical assets.
In this blog, we’ll discuss the top cloud security tools and the “core four” of cloud security solutions; CIEM, CNAPP, CWPP, and CSPM. But first, let’s discuss what to look for when choosing a cloud security tool.
We’ve featured the top cloud security tools and what to look for when making any purchasing decisions.
Top 13 cloud security tools full breakdown:
Look for a cloud security tool that seamlessly integrates with your existing set of tools and platforms. This aspect can not only save you additional costs but it can help compliment and strengthen your overall cloud security posture.
Threat intelligence feeds provide contextual details regarding indicators of compromise (IOCs) and other advanced TTPs used by threat actors. SOC analysts are then able to make more informed decisions based on contextual prioritization of the threats and mitigate the most critical vulnerabilities that directly impact the business.
The cloud security tool should make it simple to define and customize detection rules and policies, especially when dealing with third parties.
IAM is an integral component of any cloud security tool. It supports advanced authentication mechanisms such as SSO and MFA when logging into public cloud accounts hosted by third-party providers.
With an IAM, permissions are assigned by admins on a granular level to prevent any unauthorized user access or privilege escalation that could result in a massive breach.
Cyber security compliance is an ongoing process. The cloud security tool you choose should support basic compliance efforts such as configuration checks, flexible policy customization and enforcement, and auditing.
Even on a simple level, it can be a real asset to have the most basic regulatory requirements up-to-date, particularly when transferring large volumes of sensitive customer data across geographical regions.
One of the most important aspects of any cloud security tool is whether it can integrate with existing solutions. Third-party integrations play such a crucial role in the decision-making process for security leaders.
Rather than investing in standalone tools for every feature, organizations can maximize the value of their existing security investments by integrating them with an all-in-one platform like Vulcan Cyber. Vulcan Cyber has over 100 connectors that seamlessly integrate with some of the most popular cloud security and vulnerability management tools out there.
Read more >> Mastering multi-cloud security in 2024 – best practices
According to Gartner, cloud security spending in 2024 is predicted to reach $7 billion. Security leaders are in the market for cloud security solutions that can effectively manage vulnerability while integrating with existing tools.
As organizations increasingly migrate more workloads and sensitive data to the cloud, they will need to ramp up security measures to minimize the threat surface from the code level.
There are many cloud security tools out there but we’re going to focus on “the core four” (CIEM, CSPM, CWPP, and CNAPP). Each solution has its own distinctive set of advantages and capabilities. Here is a detailed breakdown of each cloud security tool and what size organization they suit best.
| CIEM (cloud infrastructure entitlement management) | CSPM (cloud security posture management) |
| CIEM focuses on managing and securing access permissions within cloud environments. Removing excessive permissions is a critical aspect of preventing credential theft and account compromises. Best suited for: Mid-sized organizations | CSPM is a set of tools designed for continuous monitoring and management of cloud security. It identifies misconfigurations, compliance issues, and security risks across cloud infrastructure. Best suited for: Enterprises with complex cloud infrastructures and extensive compliance requirements, such as financial services, healthcare, and government organizations. |
| CWPP (cloud workload protection platform) | CNAPP (cloud native application protection platform |
| CWPP describes a category of security solutions designed to protect workloads and applications running in cloud environments. Best suited for: Medium to large-scale enterprises | CNAPP refers to an integrated platform that provides strict security controls and monitoring capabilities specifically built for microservices architectures. Best suited for: Mid-sized to enterprises (DevOps focused) |
Amazon Inspector helps improve the security and compliance of AWS environments through rule packages and vulnerability assessments.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) enables users to launch and manage virtual servers, known as instances to run applications and workloads in the cloud. Instance types include specific combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity to meet dynamic workload requirements.
Amazon Elastic Container Registry (Amazon ECR) enables users to securely store, manage, and deploy Docker container images at scale. ECR repositories are private by default and accessible only to authorized users with AWS accounts.
Similar to ECR, Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) provides a platform for orchestrating Docker containers and automates the deployment, scheduling, and scaling of containerized applications.
ECS clusters provide logical grouping and management of container instances, allowing users to organize resources and isolate workloads.
Aqua CWPP provides runtime protection for containerized applications. It offers complete visibility over virtual machines (VMs), serverless functions, Kubernetes, and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) environments to protect against zero-day attacks and other known threats.
Wiz CSPM uses advanced scanning and analysis tools to provide visibility into the security posture of an organization’s cloud resources. It highlights vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, excessive permissions, and non-compliant assets.
The platform offers actionable insights and recommendations to improve the overall security posture, helping organizations prevent breaches, maintain compliance with regulations, and manage their cloud security more effectively.
Orca CSPM scans cloud workloads and identities to provide full insights into the risks across your entire tech stack. Orca also consolidates configurations and container security to accelerate remediation times.
Lacework CSPM enables users to automatically find, monitor, and inventory all assets across cloud environments. Lacework CSPM provides quick alerts when a misconfiguration or compliance violation is surfaced.
GCP offers IAM services for managing user identities, permissions, and access control policies. GCP also provides users with container security features such as Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) security policies, binary authorization, and container image vulnerability scanning.
Read: 5 GCP security tools you should know about >>
Microsoft Azure integrates with GitHub Actions and other CI/CD tools. Admins can scan applications and infrastructure as code for critical vulnerabilities during the development and deployment process.
Defender for Cloud is a CNAPP that secures multi-cloud and hybrid environments. It presents SOC teams with a clear cyberattack-path analysis, which pulls contextual threat data from cloud security graph queries. Defender for Cloud also provides agent-based and agentless vulnerability scanning.
Read: 5 Azure security tools you should know about >>
Prisma Cloud CSPM offers complete cloud asset inventory, data discovery, and configuration assessment, with over 1,500 built-in policies to deploy. Another impressive feat is that its ML capabilities ingest 5 billion audit logs weekly.
Qualys Web Application Scanning (WAS) identifies runtime vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, PII exposures, and OWASP Top 10 with automated, continuous monitoring across cloud-native to on-prem architectures.
Staying ahead of the cloud threat surface is extremely challenging for any organization.
Having a CSPM can help prevent cloud misconfigurations through automated policy enforcement and vulnerability prioritization.
But before exploring any CSPM solutions, it’s important to get a deeper understanding of how they work. We’ve put a comprehensive guide together to help you mitigate cloud risk. Discover how CSPM has evolved with greater cloud migration in today’s dynamic work environment. Get your guide here.
