Access Management in the Cloud: Best Practices for Securing Your Data 

Access Management in the Cloud Best Practices for Securing Your Data

Securing your data is table stakes in the era of the cloud. When it comes to Identity and Access Management (IAM) in the cloud data security is paramount.   

Simply put IAM is a framework of policies and processes to manage digital identities. IAM allows a corporation to control user access to critical information. Remember that when the data is in multiple devices cloud transformation services become essential and it is here that we need to follow certain best practices.   

Sonrai Security & AWS commissioned Forrester Consulting to study security and identity management in the cloud. The survey covered 150 cloud decision-makers and the report concluded that organizations continue to face security incidents.   

The event went on to say that organizations use on average 6 tools, but close to 96 percent of them still faced a security incident in the last 12 months. Cloud decision-makers struggle with overly complex access control policies, a dispersed view of cloud platform identities, and over privileged cloud admin users. It seems cloud migration is easy, but never managed very well.   

Simply put IAM is a framework of policies and processes to manage digital identities. IAM allows a corporation to control user access to critical information. Remember that when the data is in multiple devices cloud transformation services become essential and it is here that we need to follow certain best practices.  

So, how does one secure data when access management is in the cloud? 

Centralize the IAM 

When you centralize the IAM, a corporation must create privileges in accordance with the policies and controls of a governance framework. This is difficult because your cloud has several accounts, groups & even multiple cloud platforms. However centralization gives you the controls necessary to align yourself with business needs.  

Limited privileges. 

Just remember that your organisation doesn’t have to give access to everyone to certain processes. Cloud transformation services will let you prepare for the business goals of an organisation by limiting the number of folks per application based on the business requirement and defining the protocols of access for every individual who will be added as the business grows.  

Bring down unused accounts 

Dormant accounts are a challenge for business to manage, but with cloud transformation services you will be able to bring down accounts that pose a significant security risk because they are dormant and can be triggered anytime with password leaks.  

A new method called separation of duties 

Separation of duties (SoD) allows a corporation to provide different roles in accessing applications to prevent fraud and error.   

An organisation during cloud transformation must avoid conflict of interest and then it has to find failures that include security breaches and information theft. All organisations today are putting in place SODs.  

Administrator Credentials  

A good corporation will take inventory of all its administrator identities and associated functions.   

Always remember to ensure that your administrator controls are protected because administrator Credentials cannot be in an individual’s hands.   

When you are migrating to the cloud one needs additional security tools to help this process because of the scale of the organisation.  

New roles, permissions, user access keys 

A Chief Security Officer must create new roles for different tasks as the organisation scales up. When there is a token or a new session created during a devops process a short term credential can be created for the team.  

Then there is the access key where an organisation can create programmatic access.   

 

Punters say that it is best not to share these access key credentials between identities in the cloud account or embed them in a code for any developer in the organisation to find. However these keys should be tracked and closed once the work has been completed. Therefore during cloud transformation one looks at automation to track and delete these accounts.  

Create roles and limit time, where the account will be automatically deleted 

Protect root accounts 

Everything is linked to the root account, so protect it and manage it.   

Create a management console and create an IAM user granting administrative privileges. Ensure that an access key for any root user is deleted. If the key is something that you want to keep then you should change it on a regular basis, just like passwords.  

Multi factor authentication:

Multi Factor Authentication provides security that mitigates cyberthreats and make the hacking process difficult. MFA is not just about passwords as it is about tracking the individual and their identity in the organisation across devices. Remember there are bad actors waiting to enter into your organisation and will stop at nothing to get information, so please create an MFA.  

All of the above are some basic requirements for staying ahead in identity management.  

If a corporation can remain compliant, become data led by creating good reporting and analytics, it stands a chance of beating any security risk out there. Prepare to identify potential optimization opportunities or risks before you scale the organisation; don’t do it as an afterthought. This is where cloud transformation services and cloud migration services can help a company prepare for any security risk.  

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