Cybersecurity infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a robust cloud security model that can help secure your organization’s digital cloud environment. Regardless of your size or industry, adopting an IaaS cybersecurity approach will help improve security across your cloud infrastructure. Read on to learn how it works.
Your Guide to Cybersecurity Infrastructure as a Service
Rethinking your cloud infrastructure security approach may require developing a holistic set of controls that secure your entire collection of cloud-based assets, not just the individual ones.
This blog will cover:
- An overview of Infrastructure as a Service in cloud environments
- Types of IaaS cybersecurity applications
- Benefits of implementing a cybersecurity IaaS approach
Implementing a cybersecurity Infrastructure as a Service approach will help you optimize your cyberdefenses across your entire digital ecosystem operating on the cloud. With the expertise of a managed security services provider (MSSP), you will streamline this process and safeguard sensitive cloud environments.
What is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?
Fundamentally, cybersecurity IaaS takes the principles of Infrastructure as a Service and applies them to a security approach. Before exploring the components of cybersecurity IaaS and how it can guide your cyberdefenses, let’s define IaaS in a cloud environment context.
So, what is Infrastructure as a Service?
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is one of many cloud-based services that enable customers to utilize the infrastructure resources provided by a cloud service provider. IaaS services are typically offered a la carte, allowing customers to choose which offerings best fit their cloud computing needs.
With IaaS, you can rent or lease assets such as:
- Cloud-hosting and data storage servers
- Software platforms
- Virtual machines
- Operating systems
- Web and email applications
IaaS provides on-demand access to cloud computing at much lower costs. It also simplifies cloud computing because you can automatically scale up or down depending on your current or anticipated needs.
Although flexible pricing models and robust computing capabilities make IaaS cloud assets attractive, they are prone to cybersecurity threats. Cybercriminals frequently target cloud infrastructure because of the large amounts of data organizations store or transmit on the cloud.
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Breaking Down Cybersecurity IaaS
You can think of cybersecurity Infrastructure as a Service as the on-demand, a la carte solution organizations leverage to secure their cloud infrastructure.
Most traditional cybersecurity tools tend to focus on singular approaches to security. For instance, the software designed to secure email applications might not be sufficient to safeguard the data stored on hardware devices. Likewise, the firewalls designed to secure network servers might differ from those that secure Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
With the help of cybersecurity IaaS tools, your organization can implement customized security solutions that secure your entire cloud environment. For instance, if you have large numbers of endpoints prone to cybersecurity threats and fewer vulnerabilities at your cloud data servers, security IaaS can be optimized to safeguard whichever asset is at greater risk.
In other words, cybersecurity IaaS enables organizations to implement a tailored and specific security approach, which reduces the need to rely on multiple security vendors for different tools. Instead, organizations can resource their entire cyberdefenses for the cloud or on-premises through an MSSP.
Applications of Cybersecurity IaaS
So, how does cybersecurity Infrastructure as a Service work in a typical cloud environment?
The specific applications will likely depend on the specific cloud environment and factors like the number of users, potential security risks, attack surface, etc.
In general, a security IaaS offering will provide holistic safeguards across the assets in your infrastructure you think need protection. However, these tools are designed to be proactive and adaptive, meaning they can help hunt down threats and vulnerabilities you may not have been aware of.
Examples of IaaS cybersecurity applications include:
Endpoint Detection and Response
With tens to hundreds to even thousands of endpoints operating on the cloud, organizations must identify endpoints at risk for cybersecurity threats before they are compromised.
The types of threats that impact endpoints vary from one cloud environment to another, with some being more sophisticated than others. For instance, certain endpoints (e.g., virtual environments) may operate primarily on the cloud whereas others (e.g., printers) may be used both on the cloud and on-premises.
Optimizing threat and vulnerability management at each category of endpoints is essential to customizing endpoint detection and response and ensuring these assets are fully protected against cybersecurity threats.
Endpoint security within an IaaS cybersecurity approach may require:
- Assessing potential threats to all endpoints operating on the cloud
- Developing threat intelligence based on known threat signatures
- Implementing firewalls to augment endpoint security
Ideally, your preferred cybersecurity IaaS tool should effectively differentiate between different kinds of endpoint threats impacting your organization’s security posture.
A single undetected or unaddressed vulnerability at several endpoints can spread throughout your networks and compromise your cloud infrastructure.
Identity and Access Management
Every sensitive data environment operating on the cloud or on-premises requires identity and access management (IAM) to oversee the implementation of access controls. Typically, IAM tools operating on the cloud restrict unauthorized access to sensitive cloud environments.
In the context of cybersecurity Infrastructure as a Service, you can choose which assets require customized levels of access controls.
For instance, security information and event management (SIEM) tools collect data from all user login attempts, including the successful ones and those that failed. On the other hand, authentication processes like multi-factor authentication (MFA) verify users’ identities at the time these users log into sensitive data environments.
A combination of both types of security would be crucial for any cloud environment. However, certain components of your infrastructure may require stronger authentication controls because of significantly higher user traffic whereas others may be secure with baseline controls.
Ultimately, the goal of cybersecurity IaaS is to provide greater visibility into cloud infrastructure security such that you can detect threats and vulnerabilities early in their lifecycle.
Benefits of Cybersecurity IaaS
Deploying cybersecurity Infrastructure as a Service will help you secure your entire cloud infrastructure. In today’s high-risk digital environment, any vulnerability that goes undetected could easily become the source of a data breach.
Mitigating these risks starts with implementing holistic security solutions that provide visibility into your entire cloud environment.
Furthermore, the ability to develop customized cybersecurity solutions means organizations can easily scale up or down as needed. For instance, if your organization was primarily hosting email applications using an on-premises server and you decide to move all these applications to the cloud, securing these assets becomes somewhat simpler with an existing cybersecurity IaaS solution.
Best of all, working with a managed security partner who understands the ins and outs of cybersecurity IaaS helps you find the right tools and deployments that will meet your organization’s needs.
Optimizing your ROI with cybersecurity Infrastructure as a Service may require longer-term thinking: gaining more visibility of threats to and within your cloud environment will protect your sensitive data year-round.
Trusting an MSSP with your cybersecurity IaaS needs means you will receive on-demand support and faster security onboarding, and you will save more in the short and long term. Compliance with regulatory frameworks requiring certain cybersecurity standards is also much easier to implement with these tools.
Optimized Defenses with Cybersecurity IaaS
Whether your organization is looking to implement cybersecurity Infrastructure as a Service for the first time or optimize similar cloud defenses, partnering with a trusted MSSP like RSI Security will help streamline this process. Our team of experts will walk you through the essential steps to get started on your journey.
Contact RSI Security today to learn more and get started!