Cloud Migration Security: Key Steps and Insights
Cybersecurity is a central topic in conversations with our customers across all organizational levels. While operational teams prioritize practical aspects, C-level executives seek measurable outcomes and a comprehensive understanding of cloud security and its evolution over time.
While the dramatic cat-and-mouse game with cybercriminals seen in movies may be an exaggeration, focusing on foundational practices and securing the entire cloud journey keeps organizations on solid ground. Companies are rarely seeking earned media in the form of headlines about security breaches, so let’s explore how to effectively execute a secure cloud migration.
Setting the Foundation for a Successful Cloud Transition
When transitioning to the cloud, whether through a migration or starting natively from scratch, one factor remains crucial: governance. It forms the foundation for secure and effective cloud usage in both use cases.
At the core of governance lies the concept of a Landing Zone—a structured set of policies and technical solutions designed to ensure that data and applications are housed in an environment with robust user management and secure practices. It’s about creating a “home” in the cloud where every action is safeguarded by design.
However, effective cloud governance often reveals gaps. Many organizations lack well-documented policies or the necessary technical guardrails to enforce them. For example, while a governance policy might specify that operations are restricted to the EU, the absence of technical restrictions could allow data to be transferred outside the region with just a few clicks. Ensuring that such actions are technically blocked—not just discouraged—can prevent mistakes before they happen. Turning policies and documentation into enforceable realities is key.
The foundation of cloud security begins with the business itself. Organizations must identify their core operations and the data critical to those functions. By understanding the flow and classification of this data—whether governed by GDPR or other regulatory standards—they can prioritize its protection and build their cloud infrastructure accordingly.
While every organization and environment is unique, the activities carried out in the cloud often follow established patterns. This is where best practices come into play. Frameworks such as AWS Well-Architected provide detailed, step-by-step guidance on what to consider, the risks involved, and how to mitigate them. These frameworks enable businesses to leverage proven processes and tools tailored to their specific needs, avoiding the need to reinvent the wheel.
Balancing Responsibilities in Cloud Security
Effective cloud adoption requires a clear division of responsibilities between IT and product teams. Product teams should possess enough architectural knowledge to ensure their solutions are securely built for the cloud. This includes fundamental skills in, for example, network design, service deployment, and integrating security into these processes.
If there is lack of clarity or gaps in the division of responsibilities between IT and business-driven product teams during the early stages of cloud adoption, certain domains or areas may be overlooked. This often becomes evident during assessments, where significant differences between IT-driven and product-driven organizations can be seen. For example, the approach to cost management can vary greatly.
Avoiding Common Security Pitfalls in Cloud Environments
Building and maintaining secure cloud environments can be a complex endeavor, and organizations often make avoidable mistakes during planning and implementation.
One fundamental best practice is to adopt Infrastructure as Code (IaC). This paradigm minimizes direct user interaction with cloud environments by codifying system infrastructure and deploying it through automated pipelines. By doing so, organizations can:
Track changes to identify who made them and what their impact was.
Prevent undocumented or unsanctioned actions in the environment.
Significantly reduce human error, a common cause of incidents.
For example, public access to object storage buckets has often been accidentally enabled, leading to data leaks. An IaC approach ensures changes undergo peer reviews and are well-documented, enhancing overall security.
In addition, real-time monitoring and robust measurement are critical. If errors occur, they need to be detected quickly to prevent escalation. Implementing mechanisms that monitor the environment allows organizations to catch potential breaches before they lead to actual data exposure.
Critical Things to Consider: Zero Trust, IAM, and Data Encryption
Adopting a zero trust approach
Modern security architectures embrace Zero Trust principles, which assume no network or virtual environment is inherently trustworthy. Instead:
Every user, application, or machine is continuously verified.
Secure access is granted on a need-to-know basis, greatly enhancing network security.
Strengthening Identity and Access Management (IAM)
IAM is a cornerstone of cloud security, and significant resources should be allocated to its proper implementation:
Ensure human users can only access the resources essential to their roles.
Centralize user management and enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Keep users as far removed from direct access to critical data and infrastructure as possible.
Data encryption and classification
Data encryption is non-negotiable, whether it is in transit or at rest. Security guidelines for platforms like Azure and AWS recommend that all data should be encrypted at least at one level. Data should also be classified based on sensitivity.
Addressing Security Challenges in Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Environments
When it comes to securing multi-cloud or hybrid environments, the primary challenge often arises from the clash of two different eras and worlds that need to coexist. In the cloud, it’s relatively easy to implement various network solutions, and connecting them to data centers is quite straightforward. However, traditional data centers often come with legacy systems, which can complicate matters. For instance, securing network traffic is critical, and managing domain name system (DNS) traffic safely becomes a key security concern.
Connecting multiple cloud services together is easier both at the network level and with identity management. Thanks to centralized identity management, it’s now simpler to extend across several cloud environments.
Looking at the old world of virtual machines, modern cloud providers offer robust security features for running virtual machines, including image scanning and addressing other security challenges. These features, which are essential for securing the cloud, are not typically available in traditional data centers.
Final Considerations for Ensuring Ongoing Cybersecurity Success
Cloud migration offers groundbreaking opportunities, but security must remain a top priority throughout the process. Effective governance, clear division of responsibilities, and adherence to best practices such as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) lay the groundwork for robust cloud security. Critical considerations include adopting Zero Trust principles, implementing comprehensive Identity and Access Management (IAM), and ensuring data encryption at all levels.
Organizations must also address the unique challenges posed by multi-cloud and hybrid environments, ensuring seamless integration and robust security measures across all systems. With proper planning, clear accountability, and the right frameworks, businesses can build secure, scalable cloud environments that support their operational and strategic goals.