Best Practices for Cloud Security
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As part of the “Best Practices” series by Uplatz
Welcome to the Uplatz Best Practices series — your trusted guide to building secure, scalable systems in the cloud.
Today’s focus: Cloud Security — protecting your infrastructure, data, and workloads in an ever-evolving threat landscape.
🧱 What is Cloud Security?
Cloud Security refers to a set of policies, controls, technologies, and procedures that work together to protect cloud-based systems — including infrastructure, applications, and data — from cyber threats and misconfigurations.
Cloud security spans:
- Identity & Access Management (IAM)
- Data encryption
- Network security
- Compliance
- Runtime monitoring and more
✅ Best Practices for Cloud Security
Cloud security is a shared responsibility — while cloud providers secure the platform, it’s up to you to secure your usage of it.
1. Apply Least Privilege Access (LPA)
🔐 Use IAM Roles and Policies, Not Root Accounts
🚫 Grant Just Enough Access, Just In Time (JIT)
🧭 Review and Rotate Access Keys Periodically
2. Encrypt Everything
🔒 Enable Encryption at Rest and In Transit
🔐 Use KMS or HSM for Key Management
📜 Define Key Rotation Policies and Monitor Usage
3. Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Everywhere
📱 Require MFA for All Admin and Console Access
🔁 Enforce MFA via Identity Providers (Okta, Azure AD, etc.)
🚫 Disallow Access Without Second-Factor Verification
4. Implement Strong Perimeter and Network Controls
🛡 Use Security Groups, NSGs, and Firewalls Strategically
🌐 Isolate VPCs/Subnets by Environment or App Tier
🔌 Limit Public Exposure — Use Bastion Hosts, NATs, and VPNs
5. Continuously Monitor and Audit
📈 Enable Cloud-Native Monitoring (e.g., AWS GuardDuty, Azure Defender)
📋 Log All Activities via CloudTrail, CloudWatch, or GCP Audit Logs
🔍 Set Alerts for Unusual Behavior and Anomalies
6. Implement Identity Federation and SSO
🧾 Centralize Identity Management Using SAML, OIDC, or LDAP
🛑 Avoid Creating Long-Lived Local Users in Cloud Platforms
🔄 Sync User Access with Enterprise Directories
7. Secure Containers and Serverless
📦 Scan Images and Functions for Vulnerabilities (e.g., Trivy, Snyk)
🚫 Don’t Run Containers as Root
📊 Monitor for Unexpected Runtime Behavior (e.g., Falco, AWS Lambda Guardrails)
8. Use Compliance Frameworks and Benchmarks
📚 Align with Standards like CIS, NIST, ISO 27001
🧰 Use Tools Like AWS Config, Azure Policy, or GCP Organization Policy
🛠 Automate Compliance Checks via Policy-as-Code
9. Backups and Recovery Are Non-Negotiable
📤 Back Up Data Regularly Using Managed Services (e.g., S3, Azure Backup)
🔁 Test Recovery Scenarios Periodically
🧪 Secure and Encrypt Backups Just Like Primary Data
10. Train Your Teams and Simulate Attacks
🎓 Conduct Regular Cloud Security Awareness Programs
🎯 Run Red Team Exercises and Attack Simulations
📘 Create Incident Response Playbooks
💡 Bonus Tip by Uplatz
Security isn’t a product. It’s a practice.
In the cloud, everything is programmable — so should your security be.
Automate, audit, and always assume breach.
🔁 Follow Uplatz to get more best practices in upcoming posts:
- Zero Trust Architecture
- Secure API Management
- DevSecOps Pipelines
- Cloud Identity Federation
- Compliance-as-Code Automation
…and 40+ more in cloud, security, DevOps, and AI infrastructure.