Some services depend on the integration between software, applications, or systems to be run by the end-user and this communication is possible due to the existence of APIs in people’s daily lives.

However, with the constant evolution of technology, these tools have been vectors for attacks by malicious agents, as explained below. Here, we also show you how important it is to invest in API security and what are the main challenges to achieving this goal.

To facilitate your reading and make our content more understandable, we divided this article into topics addressing the following subjects:

• What is an API?
• API Today
• What Is API Security and How Important Is It?
• Types of Frequent API Attacks
• Six Best Practices for API Security
• About senhasegura
• Conclusion

Enjoy your reading!

• What is an API?

The expression Application Programming Interface (API) consists of a set of programming standards that allow access to an application or platform. 

This mechanism is created when a software organization intends to develop other programs related to the service they offer. 

In this way, they provide codes to be used on other websites by their end-user. This is what happens with Google Maps, when it is adapted for use by other websites, such as hotel pages. 

This is possible with the intermediation of an API used by the developers of the hotel’s website with the Google Maps code.

This means that APIs enable communication between different applications through multiple codes, without any effort from the users. 

An API is useful for connecting several features of a website that can be used in other services, which is possible via programming. 

• API Today

An API is typically described as an interface that connects applications. However, this generic concept no longer fully explains the features of this tool, which recently gained new ones.

APIs today adhere to models accessible and easily understood by developers. They are considered products, used by specific consumers, and present versions, which guarantees their lifecycle.

They are extremely standardized software, focused on governance and security, and one can also monitor the APIs and manage their performance. 

Their lifecycle includes the design, testing, construction, management, and version control phases. Modern APIs are still documented for consumption.

These APIs spread through plug-ins. In practice, the developers of a given application create an API and make it available to other developers, who create other plug-ins, enhancing the operation of this program. 

• What Is API Security and How Important Is It?

With the evolution of technology, cybercriminals are going beyond their conventional targets and expanding their operations to IoT, external applications, and mobile applications. 

As a result, the large number of existing APIs has become a challenge for information security professionals. 

To complete, developers often do not have all the skills to develop a flawless API that complies with web and cloud security standards, which creates vulnerabilities to programs. Thus, many risks arise, such as:

• Authorization Failures;
• Data Exposure;
• Denial of Service;
• Failures in Security Settings;
• Endpoints.

Vulnerable APIs open space for hackers, who can access sensitive information, medical and financial data of organizations, generating incalculable losses.

When we talk about API security, we typically refer to the protection of an application’s back-end services, including its database, user management system, or other components that interact with data storage.

Thus, it is essential to ensure the security of APIs, which covers the use of resources and the adoption of protection procedures. The security of a company’s APIs involves the services that use them and should prevent malicious agents from accessing sensitive data and performing unauthorized actions. 

It is important to mention that applications from other companies impact API security. Therefore, the risks must be evaluated by the IT team so that an efficient protection plan is created. 

Types of Frequent API Attacks

Here are the most common API attacks:

• Injection Attack

When an API developer does not limit entries to certain applications, malicious agents can perform an API injection attack by sending a script to the server with a request that allows them to access the program. 

• Stolen Authentication Attack

APIs configured with wrong authentication standards generate vulnerabilities for organizations, which need to prevent hackers from accessing the controls of this API and stealing data from their customers. Inadequate authentication processes can also result in brute force attacks. 

• Man-in-the-middle Attack (MITM)

Transmission of unsigned or unencrypted messages, problems with secure session configuration, or even the use of SSL/TLS encryption with incorrect configuration can compromise API security and make an organization vulnerable to Man-in-the-middle attacks, compromising all messages with the customer.

Thus, malicious agents gain access to sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information. 

• DDoS Attack

API endpoints have become the target of DDoS attacks. Malicious agents point a bot to the API and make multiple requests on an endpoint until it exceeds the tolerance of those requests and affects its responsiveness, making the service unavailable to users. 

To protect an API from DDoS attacks, we recommend edge protection and the Web Application Firewall with WAAP. 

Six Best Practices for API Security

Some practices are recommended to ensure API security. Below you will find what should be done for this purpose.

• Analyze API Vulnerabilities

To ensure API security, automatic verification must be enabled in order to detect vulnerabilities and eliminate them at different stages of the software lifecycle. 

Automated verification features allow you to identify security flaws by comparing the application configuration to a known vulnerability database.

In practice, Crashtest Security Suite allows you to scan vulnerabilities, helping to establish a continuous testing process and prevent intrusions generated by a lack of API security. 

The suite also performs benchmarks referring to OWASP’s top 10 and provides a security analysis for APIs, applications, and JavaScripts. 

• Restrict HTTP Methods

REST APIs enable programs capable of performing multiple HTTP operations. HTTP information is not encrypted, so these methods can facilitate attacks. 

For added security, it is important to prohibit unsafe HTTP methods, but if this is not possible, we recommend restricting your whitelist by rejecting all requests that are not on the list. 

Another important measure is the use of RESTful API authentication practices, which ensure the user can use the HTTP method.

• Avoid Untrusted Entries by Implementing Input Validation Mechanisms

When the API client makes data available, do not fully trust it, since the authentication server can run an unauthorized application service or a malicious script. 

In this sense, it is recommended information security professionals implement mechanisms to validate the entry into the server and the client in order to avoid untrusted entries. 

Concerning the client, this validation has the job of indicating errors and warning about entries that must be accepted. On the server-side, it works to verify incoming data and prevent threats such as SQL Injection and XSS attacks. 

• Set a Maximum Request Limit 

Limiting requests is an API security measure that requires setting up a temporary status for the API to analyze requests. It is usually used to prevent abuse, spam, or denial of service attacks. It also contributes to managing REST API security and preventing brute force and DDoS attacks. 

Some APIs may have flexible limits, enabling users to exceed request limits for a short time. Therefore, setting the time limit is a best practice to ensure API security. 

Also, request queue libraries make it possible to create APIs that accept a predefined number of requests, placing the others in a queue. 

• HTTPS/TLS Must Be Used For REST APIs

HTTPS and Transport Layer Security (TLS) provide security for the transfer of encrypted information between web servers and browsers. In addition, HTTPS contributes to the protection of authentication credentials being transferred. 

Every API should implement HTTPS to ensure confidentiality, authenticity, and integrity. What’s more, security professionals are advised to use mutually authenticated client-side certificates to provide more security for sensitive information and operations. 

When creating a REST API, it is necessary to avoid redirecting HTTP to HTTPS, endangering user security. It is also important to take action to divert Cross-Source Resource Sharing (CORS) and JSONP requests for cross-domain calls.

• Use An API Management Platform

An API gateway is intended to separate the client interface from the back-end API collection and to ensure the availability and scalability of API services. 

In addition to managing the most diverse API services, the API management platform makes it possible to manage standard functions, such as rate limitation, telemetry, and user authentication.

The API gateway is characterized by accepting API calls, coordinating resources needed to service it, performing authentication, and ensuring appropriate results. 

• About senhasegura

For us, from senhasegura, the protection, access, and confidentiality of privileged information is a right of all individuals and legal entities. Therefore, we strive to operate as the best-privileged access management solution in the market.

Our commitment is to assist organizations to build sovereignty and security over access and privileged information.

• Conclusion

By reading this article, you saw that:

• APIs are a set of programming standards that allow integration between software, applications, and systems run by the end-user.
• They contribute to the governance and security of organizations, can be monitored, and have their performances managed;
• Nevertheless, with the evolution of technology, these tools have become vectors of attacks by malicious agents;
• Thus, the large number of existing APIs has become a challenge for information security professionals;
• It is essential to ensure API security with the use of tools and the adoption of procedures aimed at protecting this solution;
• Among the types of API attacks, the following stand out: Injection Attack, Stolen Authentication Attack, Man-in-the-middle Attack (MITM), and DDoS Attack;
• To ensure the security of APIs, it is critical to analyze their vulnerabilities; restrict HTTP methods; avoid untrusted entries by implementing input validation mechanisms; set a maximum limit of requests; use HTTPS/TLS for REST APIs and API gateway.
• You also had the opportunity to learn a little about the work developed by senhasegura to promote its customers’ protection.

Did you like our article on API security? So, share it with someone else who is interested in this topic and keep following our posts. 

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Cloud computing makes it possible to access files and applications over the internet without them being on local computers. This concept became popular in 2008 but refers to the solutions envisioned in the 1960s.

Being currently widely used, especially due to remote work – which has intensified with the covid-19 pandemic, cloud environments bring several advantages to users but require specific security measures to avoid cybersecurity problems, such as unauthorized access to data and the action of malicious agents.

For this reason, we prepared an article to explore what should be done to protect cloud services from major risks. To facilitate your understanding, we divided our text into the following topics:

• What is a Cloud Environment?

• Why Have Companies Opted for Cloud Solutions?

• Main Risks Faced by Cloud Environments

• 14 Tips for Keeping Secure in Cloud Environments

• Learn the History of Cloud Environments

• About senhasegura

• Conclusion

Enjoy your reading!

• What is a Cloud Environment?

Cloud environments are the virtual space that can be shared between people who are physically distant through an infrastructure that enables the communication between devices and data centers across the globe. 

Because of its ability to store these files, the cloud environment allows one to reduce hardware costs while expanding access to memory and processing resources. Moreover, it ensures more dynamism and productivity in the daily life of organizations and can make their operations fully digital.

There are some existing deployment models, which we will explain below:

• Private clouds: In this cloud deployment model, hosting occurs privately, through a company’s own resources, and without sharing with other organizations.

In practice, companies use tools to have exclusivity in the operation of server infrastructure, which generates benefits such as flexibility and security. On the other hand, it is a service that can have a high cost.

• Public clouds: Public clouds are those that users share, such as Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Microsoft Azure, which are the services most used by companies around the world. Their main advantage is that they are services with more affordable prices or even free-to-use. However, they do not offer the same security, flexibility, and possibility of customization as is the case with private clouds. 

• Hybrid clouds: In turn, hybrid clouds consist of the combination of public and private clouds to meet the demands of a company. With this, organizations must choose which data to direct to each available cloud environment. This integration allows taking advantage of both models. 

• Multi-clouds: The multi-cloud environment depends on the performance of several cloud providers to be considered. This can be very useful for companies since it allows them to take advantage of what each service offers best and avoid downtime — since all services may fail at some point.

It also allows them to reduce latency, enabling companies to choose the clouds located near their customers to ensure a better experience.

When we talk about cloud environments, it is also important to think about service models, which are complementary. These are:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

The great purpose of IaaS is to design an on-demand, multi-tooled, and easy-to-use cloud environment. This cloud layer is often used to create operating systems, as well as machines and virtual memories, among others. 

• Platform as a Service (PaaS)

PaaS is composed of hardware that is virtualized and offered by providers as a specialized service. It allows one to perform tests and analysis of data and develop operations, and they are very useful to developers who need to integrate tests and applications, in addition to inserting frameworks.

• Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is widely used by the end-user when they access emails or applications such as CRM and ERP. Therefore, it is considered an external layer of cloud environments. 

• Why Have Companies Opted for Cloud Solutions?

Many organizations have already adopted cloud environments in their daily routine due to the numerous advantages this feature offers. Below, we explain some of its benefits.

• Cloud Environments Enable Data Loss Reduction 

Several factors can cause data loss, including natural disasters, power outages, and infrastructure problems. However, with cloud environments, it is possible to easily recover this data even remotely.

Thus, it is not necessary to interrupt your company’s activities for a long period, which could impact revenue.

• Working with Cloud Resources Promotes More Security

Cloud environments have features that provide more security to data, such as encryption, which can make it difficult for malicious agents to operate, as it prevents unauthorized users from viewing documents.

• Business Expansion Can Be Facilitated by This Solution

A company may need more space to run systems and store data as it expands. Cloud environments enable this expansion without the need to invest in many resources. 

• It Is Possible to Reduce Costs with Cloud Environments

By using cloud environments, your company can reduce the number of costs, including the remuneration of professionals who make up a robust technology support team. In addition, it is possible to eliminate expenses with licenses and software and hardware updates.

• Cloud Environments Provide More Agility to Work

With files stored in the cloud, their sharing is more dynamic, which provides agility to operations. Moreover, it ensures flexibility: your employees can access the data even if they are working remotely or traveling. 

• IT Teams Have More Time to Devote to the Company’s Core Business

Several services are provided by cloud providers, exempting internal IT teams from worrying about these activities. As a result, they have more time to devote to the technology strategies associated with the organization’s core business. 

• Technology Upgrades Become Easier and Less Costly 

Approximately every three years, it is necessary to upgrade the storage systems and migrate the data. This process is time-consuming and can be quite costly for those who do not use cloud environments. 

However, with data stored in the cloud, this upgrade becomes easier and has a more affordable cost. Simply add new nodes to the system, which reduces downtime. 

• Main Risks Faced by Cloud Environments

Cloud environments must have the necessary support to provide security to the end-user. This is because this infrastructure is not immune to risks. The following are some challenges for those who deal with cloud resources:

• With the covid-19 pandemic, many companies started using cloud services in most of their activities due to the significant number of professionals who started working remotely.

Therefore, the tendency is for support services to be overwhelmed, as traffic on the networks that connect these professionals to cloud resources increases.

Therefore, it is necessary to rely on a cloud provider capable of managing this load increase and offering uninterrupted service to the customer. 

• When supporting cloud environments, providers should consider online events instead of face-to-face meetings, which have also increased with the covid-19 pandemic. It is possible, for example, to partner with telecommunications providers, increasing cloud support for these services.

• It is also necessary that cloud providers are efficient enough to compensate for the cuts made throughout the pandemic with IT services.

• Another important challenge is to understand how cloud services are used by organizations to establish policies that ensure their protection while providing ease of use and flexibility.

• It is essential to keep in mind that cloud services and local area networks present different demands when it comes to security. In the case of cloud environments, the risks are more complex. Therefore, assessing these risks is part of the best security practices.

• Working with cloud solutions makes operations more dynamic and faster, but IT departments must have visibility into the activities performed using the cloud to protect the interactions that occur in that environment.

• One of the most common problems of companies using the cloud environment is incorrect configuration, which generates security vulnerability. These mistakes or important settings being ignored can be discovered by malicious users, causing financial losses and numerous other inconveniences. 

• These attacks include Cryptojacking, which involves unauthorized operations with cryptocurrencies; E-skimming, which allows attackers to have access to data from visitors of the company’s website, damaging their reputation; and unauthorized access, which can result in theft of data for various purposes, such as selling it to other cybercriminals.

• It is important to take the opportunity to design cloud code when addressing your requirements, protecting each relevant area in order to avoid the risks we have mentioned.

• It is also critical to inspect network traffic and ensure security through virtual patching to combat vulnerabilities.

• 14 Tips for Keeping Secure in Cloud Environments

Here are some tips to ensure cybersecurity in cloud environments:

• Adopt the Hybrid Cloud Model

One of the possibilities for those who do not want to migrate all the data from the organization to the cloud environments is to opt for the hybrid cloud model, widely used by IT managers. 

This makes it possible to strategically direct some files to internal servers and others to the contracted cloud service, benefiting from the availability of the cloud while storing sensitive data locally.

• Manage Credentials in the Environment

It is essential to have an IT professional capable of managing credentials and monitoring access to sensitive data, both in the on-premises data center and in the cloud. After all, having full control of the environment is what guarantees security in these two contexts. 

• Invest in Encryption

When hiring a cloud service provider, make sure encryption is included, with verification protocols, coding rules, and algorithm strength.

You can also leverage cloud security with an extra layer of encryption and techniques associated with multifactor authentication (MFA). 

Some cloud providers provide encryption services, as well as traditional and third-party cloud software companies. 

• Identify Sensitive Data and Understand How It Is Being Accessed

It is only possible to maintain the security of sensitive data in the cloud by identifying it and understanding how it is accessed. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to assess the protection of applications and folders in cloud environments, classifying data and understanding the context of user access to avoid risks.

So, invest in user behavior analysis (UBA) to monitor abnormalities and reduce data loss.

• Understand What the Shared Responsibility Model Is

In a private data center, all security issues are the responsibility of the company. But when it comes to a public cloud, the responsibility is shared between the customer and the provider. However, according to Gartner, 99% of data leaks occurring in cloud environments are the responsibility of the customer.

So, each party must understand its role in this context, avoiding communication failures that put security at risk. 

• Train Your Employees

The protection of cloud environments depends both on the tools used by IT professionals and on the awareness of all company employees about security practices.

After all, most of the vulnerabilities of IT solutions are associated with human actions, such as failures and misuse, and, in the case of cloud services, it is no different. 

Therefore, create a security culture and rely on IT professionals to disseminate it, with clear guidelines on who can access cloud environments, how this can be done, and what data to store. 

In addition to training the team as a whole, it is essential to invest in the constant training of the IT team. This is because new threats appear every day, and it is necessary to anticipate them.

• Invest in IDPS

Intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS) are among the security features in today’s most efficient cloud environments. Its role is to monitor, analyze, and respond to network traffic in both on-premises and public cloud environments. 

If they encounter risks associated with signatures and protocols, these solutions alert about the abnormalities and promote the blocking of these threats, providing time for administrators to solve the problem. 

These features are important for real-time alerts and 24-hour monitoring. Without them, evaluating network traffic for signals that indicate a sophisticated attack may become unfeasible. 

• Monitor The Use of Unauthorized Applications

The use of unauthorized applications to access the organization’s systems, a practice known as Shadow IT, also poses a risk to security in cloud environments. 

Moreover, remote work and the use of smartphones favor this type of interaction, which should be monitored by the IT department. 

• Ensure the Security of Your Endpoints

With the use of cloud services, it is necessary to strengthen endpoint security. Therefore, analyze your strategies and ensure the protections used deal with current threats. 

Your endpoint defense plan should include: intrusion detection, firewalls, antimalware, and access control. But keep in mind that the use of automation features such as endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools and endpoint protection (EPP) platforms can be very helpful.

These solutions bring together continuous monitoring and automated response with traditional features, meeting security criteria such as internal threat prevention, endpoint encryption,  patch management, and VPNs. 

• Count on Efficient and Reliable Providers

It is much easier to ensure the security of cloud services when you have efficient and reliable cloud providers. 

Therefore, research the reliability of these services and invest in a company that provides support to prevent crises and is able to act immediately when they occur. 

That’s because these systems are not immune to failure. However, with planning and adjustments, it is possible to have security in cloud services. 

• Be Up-to-Date with Compliance Criteria

Companies that have access to their customers’ personal information, such as health organizations, need to comply with strict privacy and data security policies, including the LGPD.

Depending on your location or where this data is stored, additional criteria may be added. 

So, organizations must review their compliance criteria and hire a service provider capable of meeting their demands in this regard. 

• Count on External Help

Nowadays, many companies offer services that have the function of enhancing security in the cloud. Therefore, if the internal security team has no expertise in this matter or if security features are not suitable for cloud environments, you should consider relying on the support of an external team. 

• Run Penetration Testing and Audits 

Do you want to know if the procedures your company has are enough to protect its data in cloud environments? So, run penetration tests, regardless of whether you rely on the support of an external cybersecurity company or an internal team. 

Another essential measure is security audits, which allow analyzing the performance and resources of cloud service providers to know if security procedures are being followed. 

• Enable Security Logs 

Enable security logs for your cloud services. This has helped system administrators track who makes changes to cloud environments, which is virtually unfeasible to do manually. 

If a malicious agent is able to access and make changes, the logs will show their actions so that they are corrected and avoided in the future. 

This record also allows the detection of users who have more access than necessary to perform their activities, favoring the adoption of the principle of least privilege. 

• Learn the History of Cloud Environments

In the 1960s, computer scientist John McCarthy, known for creating the expression “Artificial Intelligence,” stated that it would be more useful to use computing in two ways: through time-sharing and utility computing.

Time-sharing refers to the sharing of a computer, with more than one person using it, in order to reduce costs and expand tasks. Utility Computing is characterized by the payment of the internet that was used, similarly to the charges for electricity.

In 1962, Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider created the Arpanet network, which enabled global data sharing, originating cloud computing.

Currently, the cloud is part of the routine of individuals and legal entities, as it makes it possible to edit files, watch online series, store documents, send emails, among other capabilities.

But there are different types of cloud, such as public, private, and hybrid, covered in this article.

• About senhasegura

senhasegura guarantees the digital sovereignty of organizations. This is because it acts by avoiding traceability of actions and loss of information on devices, networks, servers, databases, and cloud environments.

Our services are also useful to bring our customers into compliance with audit criteria and strict standards such as PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, ISO 27001, and HIPAA.

• Conclusion

By reading this article, you saw that:

• Cloud environments are virtual spaces where files are shared between people who are physically distant through a server that enables the communication between data centers and devices.

• There are different types of clouds, such as private, public, and hybrid clouds.
• Cloud environments also refer to service models: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS).
• Cloud solutions ensure several advantages for businesses, such as reducing file losses, more security and lower costs with IT teams, as well as scalability for the business.
• Users of cloud environments need adequate support to ensure the security of data stored in the cloud, which increases more and more with remote work.
• Working with cloud solutions ensures more dynamism for operations, but it is essential that IT departments have visibility of the activities performed in this environment to ensure security.
• When a company uses a public cloud, the security responsibility is shared between the organization and the provider, so each one must understand their role to ensure data protection. 
• It is essential to train employees to access cloud environments without creating risks for organizations.
• Similarly, IT teams must undergo frequent training to anticipate new threats that constantly arise.
• It will often be necessary to rely on the external help of trusted vendors and conduct audits that enable an analysis to know if cloud service providers are performing the necessary security procedures.
• We also covered the history of the cloud, which began in the 1960s.

If our article on cloud environments was helpful to you, share it with others who might be interested in the subject. 

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Each day more news of cyber attacks come up in the media, involving from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to large business conglomerates. These attacks can have several motivations: they can only serve as alerts for organizations to increase their cybersecurity maturity; steal the data to resell it on the Deep Web; cause harm to the organization; or carry out extortion. This is in addition to the operational and image losses that organizations can suffer, which can be incalculable. It is important to emphasize that cybersecurity risks are increasingly associated with business risks, and must be considered by senior management when defining their business strategies. 

The Lapsus$ cyber gang has been doing quite a bit of damage these past few days. Okta and Microsoft are among the targets of successful attacks by DEV-0537, as the gang is called by the developer of Windows. Do you want to understand how the attacks on Microsoft and Okta occurred, and how the attacks could be prevented or minimized? Read this article until the end and we will explain.

Lapsus$ started its activities targeting organizations in the UK and South America. The cyber gang then expanded its actions to global targets, including government, technology, telecom, media, retail and healthcare. In both Microsoft and Okta cases, the malicious attackers used privileged credentials to carry out their attacks. According to the Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 61% of cyberattacks involved privileged credentials. But why are high-privilege credentials among cybercriminals’ favorite targets?

 Well, the main reason for the high rate of attacks through privileged credentials is because they allow the execution of a series of administrative activities in the environment. Transferring resources in an ERP system or changing the settings of a firewall or email server are some of the activities that can be performed using this type of credential. It’s no wonder they’re also called “keys to the kingdom”: privileged credentials give you unlimited access to your organization’s most critical devices, applications, and data.

 It is also worth remembering that Lapsus$ uses Social Engineering as a technique to gain access to privileged credentials, as well as in 35% of cyber attacks, according to the Verizon report. Techniques used by Lapsus$ include SIM Swapping, paying employees and third parties in exchange for their credentials or configured MFAs, or Social Engineering over the phone.

In the case of Okta, according to its CSO, the malicious attackers had access to a device of a Support engineer in a time window of six days, between January 16 and 21, 2022. Also according to the Okta executive, the cyber attack affected a low percentage of customers – approximately 2.5% or 400 customers.

Microsoft’s investigation of the incident found a compromised privileged account, which allowed access to their environment. However, the malicious attackers were not able to access personal data, such as customers, but they had access to the company’s source code, although Microsoft does not consider this fact serious.

To help organizations manage and protect their privileged credentials, there is Privileged Access Management, or PAM. According to Gartner, PAM solutions help organizations provide privileged access to critical assets and achieve compliance by managing and monitoring privileged accounts and access.

Also according to Gartner, it is impossible to manage privileged access risks without specific Privileged Access Management tools. But how can the senhasegura PAM security platform help prevent, detect and remediate cyberattacks such as those that occurred with Okta and Microsoft?

senhasegura offers an approach based on the privileged access lifecycle: from the actions performed before, during and after access.

Initially, senhasegura offers Credential Management features, which allow the user to view the password of a credential to access a device or application. senhasegura also allows you to configure criteria for password change, such as number of uses, specific date and time, or elapsed time.

 senhasegura also offers Remote Session Management functionality, which further increases security in relation to pure credential management. In this case, senhasegura records and stores all remote sessions carried out through the solution.

senhasegura’s Threat and Behavior Analysis allows the identification and response to any change in behavior patterns and user access profiles. In case of detection of suspicious access, the LiveStream functionality allows the Information Security team to monitor all actions performed by the user, being possible to block or interrupt the session in case of suspicious behavior.

 All actions performed by users through remote sessions on senhasegura are logged. In this case, the Security team is able to search for specific commands performed by the user, allowing them to easily find potentially malicious ones.

 Finally, senhasegura offers senhasegura Domum, which provides secure remote access for employees and third parties, providing Zero Trust-based access without the need for additional configuration, such as VPN, or access to the PAM solution. All of this with all the security features already offered by the PAM platform.

 We have seen that when it comes to cybersecurity, the question is not “if” the attack will occur, but when. Many of these cyberattacks involve privileged credentials, also called “keys to the kingdom”. According to Gartner, it is impossible to manage the risks associated with privileged access without specific tools. senhasegura offers a complete PAM platform, which covers the entire privileged access lifecycle. In this way, it is possible to quickly detect potentially malicious actions, thus allowing the reduction of operational costs in addition to compliance with regulatory requirements and security policies.

Given the current context, post-covid-19, talking about cloud security with CIEM has become essential. This is because the pandemic motivated the adoption of remote work by most organizations, which resulted in a significant increase in the adoption of cloud-based infrastructure.

As you can imagine, this feature presents particularities when it comes to cybersecurity. To get a sense, Gartner predicts that companies will suffer at least 2,300 violations of privilege policies annually by 2024.

Also according to Gartner, multi-cloud environments introduce a large cyberattack surface that can be exploited by malicious agents. Thus, incorrectly configuring security and identity tools in cloud environments may have violations as a consequence. Therefore, it is not recommended that the settings and maintenance in the access policy be performed manually.

Added to this is the fact that conventional solutions, such as IGA and PAM, may not be efficient to manage this demand. In addition, with infrastructure as a service (IaaS), access management is the responsibility of the client company. According to Gartner, 99% of data breaches occurring in a cloud environment are the responsibility of the customer, not the Cloud Service Provider (CSP).

In this article, we share everything you need to know about cloud security with CIEM. To make our text more understandable, we divided the content by topics. These are:

• History of Cloud Computing

• What Are The Main Challenges of The Companies that Adopt this Service?

• What Is CIEM?

• Why Are CIEM Solutions Important?

• Benefits of a CIEM Solution

• How Can CIEM Be Used?

• How Can CIEM Contribute to DevOps?

• senhasegura CIEM

• Conclusion

Follow our text to the end!

• History of Cloud Computing

In the 1950s, computers were very expensive and companies had access to few machines. For this reason, in the following decade, cloud computing began to be discussed by experts.

The first person to suggest shared use of computers was American computer scientist John McCarthy, who named this concept Utility Computing.

In the following years, Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider studied different ways to use the computer and the Network of Advanced Research Project Agencies (Arpanet), which he helped develop, enabling two or more computers to share data, even in different locations, according to the principles of accessibility and availability. 

But the term “cloud computing” was only used for the first time in the second half of the 1990s, in an academic lecture given by the professor of information systems, Ramnath Chellappa. This expression is based on the symbol of the internet: the cloud. 

Today, we also have the concept of multi-cloud, which consists of the use of various cloud services. These services can be provided by third-party providers or include a private cloud, whose technology is in the organizations’ own data center.

This type of solution enables IT teams to perform individual operations efficiently, while companies reduce costs. 

There is also the hybrid cloud concept, which unites public cloud services with a private cloud, simplifying remote cloud operations and providing more flexibility for businesses. 

However, unlike cloud environment management, which must be managed in isolation, hybrid cloud management needs to be based on a unique strategy. 

• What Are The Main Challenges of The Companies that Adopt this Service?

With the evolution of technology, cloud computing has become accessible, and remote work, adopted by many organizations after the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, has made this resource widely used.

The big issue is that the larger the company, the more people will have access to cloud-based environments. Moreover, many permissions are granted to applications and machines that connect to other applications and databases to exchange information.

Thus, it is necessary to have a strategy that limits unnecessary access and prevents inadequate sharing of information, which can be achieved through CIEM.

 

• What Is CIEM?

Cloud Infrastructure Entitlements Management (CIEM) has the function of managing access in cloud and multi-cloud environments. 

This is possible through the access principle of least privilege, which contributes to companies that need to avoid risks such as attacks by malicious users and information leaks, problems generated by excessive permissions on this type of infrastructure.

Thus, a CIEM solution allows you to remove these excessive permissions and centralize the visibility and control of permissions of a cloud environment. 

Through the use of artificial intelligence, a CIEM solution is also able to analyze exposure levels of a company’s cloud environments, enabling the identification and reduction of cybersecurity risks.

. Why Are CIEM Solutions Important?

Using cloud resources is very beneficial for businesses, as it allows them to simplify their operations and save time. 

However, traditional identity and access management (IAM) tools are aimed at protecting static applications and structures rather than cloud infrastructure, which is extremely dynamic.

So, cloud providers have launched their own resources to ensure cybersecurity in this type of environment. Despite this, the dynamism and diversity of cloud environments continue to pose challenges to ensure data protection and compliance with security policies.

After all, it is necessary to keep in mind that when a company uses the cloud to become more efficient, it can increase its attack surfaces with the excess of permissions in that environment. To make things worse, in such cases, it may not have the visibility and control necessary to apply the principle of least privilege. 

In this sense, CIEM solutions are essential to improve visibility, identify and correct incorrect access-related settings with minimal privileges in cloud and multi-cloud infrastructures, and thus ensure the organization’s cybersecurity.

• Benefits of a CIEM Solution

A CIEM solution can generate several benefits for an organization. Check out the main ones below: 

• It allows one to create and maintain an inventory with all permissions in the cloud environment;
• It identifies normal operations in the cloud environment, also detecting abnormal operations;
• This feature allows the identification of external or internal risks, which may be associated with human action, such as errors and disregard for the company’s security policies;
• It points out incorrectly configured permissions, unused privileges, or rights that conflict with corporate policy;
• By making it possible to differentiate the necessary permissions from the excessive ones, it helps to automate the process of excluding improper privileges;
• It detects high priority problems and presents correction plans;
• It reduces the attack surface through the implementation of the principle of least privilege; 
• It enables the implementation of uniform protections across multi-cloud environments; and
• It allows the DevOps team to review all permissions granted to users and machines. 

In the following topic, we approach these benefits from another perspective: by showing how CIEM can be used to ensure more cybersecurity for companies. 

• How Can CIEM Be Used?

Good IT security requires discovering and classifying identities and recognizing permissions granted to people and machines in order to prevent data leaks and breaches. In this sense, CIEM can be used to:

• Ensure that permissions are used appropriately, with separation of roles, which means the person controlling the keys to encrypt data should not have the role of decrypting such data. 

CIEM enables continuous monitoring of identities and permissions, including changes in rights;

• Monitor whether someone has received more permissions than necessary to perform their activities, correcting this problem, which puts organizations at risk;
• Ensure visibility of identities and rights, enabling more efficient management of these permissions. 

• How Can CIEM Contribute to DevOps?

For DevOps teams, managing cloud computing while maintaining information security can be challenging, after all, their priorities are speed and innovation rather than security. 

This is because the services must be launched or provisioned with agility, which ends up causing an excessive granting of permissions. However, the manual blocking of these rights is complex and compromises the fundamental speed for this type of operation. 

With CIEM, one can eliminate excessive permissions automatically, without interrupting developers, who can deploy code quickly and securely. 

• senhasegura CIEM

Check out the advantages of contracting the senhasegura CIEM service below:

• This feature promotes access governance, since it grants visibility to unnecessary privileges, without interrupting or delaying the work of developers;
• It allows organizations to comply with strict privacy policies, such as GDPR, LGPD, and CCPA;
• It contributes to permissions risk management and helps prevent data breaches and theft in cloud environments;
• The management of access keys generated in CSPs, carried out by senhasegura, makes it possible to minimize the attack surface for malicious users and open-source software from third parties;
• This tool also allows adopting the principles of privileged access management (PAM) in cloud environments in order to reduce old and unnecessary permissions;
• Senhasegura CIEM also enables automation in compliance with regulations such as GDPR, SOX, and PCI Data Security Standard.

 

. Conclusion

By reading this article, you saw that:

• Cloud computing is a technology that began to be required in the 1950s, due to the high cost for companies to have access to computers;
• CIEM is a resource that allows you to manage access in cloud and multi-cloud environments;
• Traditional identity and access management (IAM) means are not suitable for cloud infrastructure, which has great dynamism, so CIEM is necessary in this case;
• A CIEM solution has several advantages, such as reducing the attack surface through the principle of least privilege, thus avoiding data breaches;
• Another great benefit is to enable more visibility and control of identities and rights, detecting excessive permissions and allowing them to be corrected.
• It can also contribute to DevOps, providing security without compromising the speed of releases or provisioning;
• To conclude, you learned about the senhasegura CIEM service, which can make all the difference in the cybersecurity of your company.

Did you like our article on CIEM solutions? Share it with someone who can benefit from this knowledge. 

 

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DevsecOps is the abbreviation for development, security, and operations and has gained a lot of attention among the best methodologies for software development. According to Gartner, by the end of 2021, DevSecOps practices will be implemented in 60% of agile Development teams, compared to 20% in 2019. DevSecOps practices prioritize cooperation, collaboration, and responsibility-sharing among information security teams.

Privileged access management (Pam), on the other hand, obeys the principle of least privilege, avoiding cyberattacks carried out through privileged credentials, such as breaches and data leaks, and can help achieve DevSecOps throughout software development.

In this article, we cover these concepts and their implications more deeply. To make your understanding easier, our text is divided by topics:

1. About DevSecOps
2. Advantages of the DevSecOps Method
3. About PAM
4. The Importance of PAM to Organizations
5. How PAM can Contribute to DevSecOps
6. Conclusion

Follow our text to the end!

• About DevSecOps

DevSecOps is a way to integrate security practices into the DevOps process, which provides launch engineers and security teams working collaboratively through agile software development methodologies.

DevSecOps aims to develop new solutions for complex software development processes in an agile and secure way.

It is a solution to the old security methodologies in the continuous delivery pipeline nowadays, which aims to promote the fast and secure delivery of codes. In this case, silo thinking is replaced by a process that favors communication, cooperation, and sharing of security tasks during the stages of the delivery process.

In DevSecOps, it is possible to bring together two seemingly opposite purposes, secure code and speed of delivery, through a facilitated process.

Aligned with the mechanisms of Agile, security tests, in this case, are performed in iterations, avoiding delaying delivery. In this way, security problems can be solved as soon as they are identified, even before compromising the results.

• Advantages of the DevSecOps Method

In DevSecOps, it is possible to bring together two seemingly opposite purposes, secure code and speed of delivery, through a facilitated process. Thus, one can take advantage of the resources of agile methods and create secure codes.

According to an EMA report released in 2017, the two biggest advantages of security operations are improved operational efficiency in IT, including security, and improved ROI in security infrastructure.

The same study found another important benefit: the possibility of using 100% of cloud services. Other known advantages of DevOps that are inherited by DevSecOps:

• Better communication and collaboration between teams;
• More agile security teams;
• Possibility of responding to demands and changes quickly; and
• More opportunities to perform automated builds and quality testing.

• About PAM

Privileged access management (Pam) has the function of protecting organizations against threats such as theft of credentials and misuse of privileges. 

It consists of an information security strategy that involves users, as well as processes and technology to monitor, protect, control, and audit the privileged activities in the IT structure of a company.

Also known as privileged access security (PAS) and privileged identity management (PIM), PAM considers the principle of least privilege, respected when users receive only the credentials necessary to perform their corporate tasks. 

This cybersecurity practice is of paramount importance for protecting privileged access to valuable data. With it, you can reduce the attack surface and minimize the risk of data breaches.

• The Importance of PAM to Organizations

One of the biggest vulnerabilities for IT structures is human action, including privileged users who go beyond their access level and invaders who appropriate these privileges to operate. 

In this sense, the importance of PAM for organizations is to enable the identification of malicious actions by security teams and ensure employees have only the required access to perform their work, as mentioned in the previous topic. 

Thus, companies that adopt PAM as a cybersecurity mechanism achieve several advantages, such as minimizing security risks, reducing their surface area of cyberattacks, reducing operating costs, and achieving compliance with strict data protection policies, such as the LGPD.

• How PAM Can Contribute to DevSecOps

By reading the previous topics, you can see the importance of PAM for cybersecurity. Here’s how this approach can contribute to DevSecOps throughout the software development cycle:

• PAM makes it possible to scan the secrets spread throughout the DevOps development pipeline, which is essential for companies to understand where information and credentials are being stored, and who is performing each action at which time. This visibility allows one to assess the security of the IT environment.
• It also makes it possible to manage shared secrets and passwords embedded in codes, allowing one to trace actions in the IT environment. This is critical to software integrity and compliance with security policies. 
• The adoption of its concepts involves providing individual users or specific service accounts with the number of privileges needed to perform their tasks. In this way, it is possible to ensure the environment as a whole is not compromised if an account or process is compromised.

• Conclusion

In our article, you learned that:

• DevSecOps integrates security practices into the DevOps process in a collaborative way, which favors communication and responsibility-sharing;
• This approach makes it possible to gather secure codes and delivery speed, through a facilitated process;
• In DevSecOps, security mechanisms are incorporated into the development process;
• PAM aims to protect organizations against threats;
• One of the greatest vulnerabilities for IT structures is human action, which justifies the application of PAM;
• This tool allows the organization to comply with strict data protection policies; and
• PAM contributes to DevSecOps in the software development cycle, allowing one to understand where information and credentials are stored, and who executes (and when). 

Was this content useful for you? Share it with someone else who may also be interested in the topic.

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