Top 10 Cloud Security Tools to Adopt in 2024

Introduction

Cloud security is the practice of protecting data, applications, and infrastructure in cloud environments. Cloud security tools are solutions designed to mitigate risks and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of cloud resources. These tools offer features like risk prevention, visibility, and runtime protection to safeguard against cyber threats.

Join us as we delve into various cloud security tools designed to mitigate risks, offer visibility, and ensure robust protection. Explore how these tools empower businesses to secure their data, applications, and infrastructure across different cloud platforms, defending against evolving cyber threats.

Cloud Security Tools

Cisco Cloudlock

Feature	Microsoft Defender for Cloud	Azure Security Center
Overview	Cloud-native security solution for Azure and hybrid environments	Cloud-native security posture management and threat protection for Azure
Secure Score	Offers insights and recommendations to improve security posture	Calculates and helps improve the overall security posture
Advanced Behavioral Analytics	Utilizes AI-driven analytics to detect suspicious activities	Analyzes behaviors and applies machine learning for detection
Secure Configuration Management	Helps ensure secure configurations for resources	Monitors configurations and provides best practice guidance
File Integrity Monitoring	Monitors files for unauthorized changes	Alerts on unauthorized changes to files
Network Security Group (NSG) Flow Logs	Provides visibility into NSG traffic and logs	Logs and analyzes network traffic for security insights
Just-In-Time (JIT) Access	Enables temporary access to resources for a specific time	Controls and manages temporary access to resources
Adaptive Application Controls	Whitelists known good applications for better security	Controls which applications can run on virtual machines
Insider Threat Detection	Helps identify risky user activities and potential threats	Detects and alerts on suspicious user behavior
Integration with SIEM and SOAR tools	Connects with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) solutions	Integrates with external tools for extended security capabilities
Advanced Threat Hunting	Proactively hunts for advanced threats within the environment	Offers tools and techniques for threat hunting activities
Multi-Cloud Support	Extends security capabilities to multiple cloud environments	Focuses on security within the Azure environment only

AWS Config.

Feature	Description
Configuration history of resources	Track changes to resource configurations over time.
Configuration history of software	Monitor changes to software configurations within your resources.
Resource relationships tracking	Understand the relationships between AWS resources.
Configurable and customizable rules	Create custom rules to evaluate the configuration settings of your AWS resources.
Conformance packs	Pre-packaged sets of rules to help with compliance requirements.
Multi-account, multi-Region data aggregation	Aggregate configuration and compliance data across multiple accounts and regions.
Querying configuration state	Use SQL-like queries to retrieve current and historical configurations.
Extensibility	Extend AWS Config functionality with custom solutions and integrations.
Configuration snapshots	Capture point-in-time configurations of your AWS resources.
Cloud governance dashboard	Gain insights into your compliance and governance posture with a dashboard view.
Integrations	Integrate with various AWS services for enhanced functionality

Microsoft Tools

Feature	Microsoft Defender for Cloud	Azure Security Center
Overview	Cloud-native security solution for Azure and hybrid environments	Cloud-native security posture management and threat protection for Azure
Secure Score	Offers insights and recommendations to improve security posture	Calculates and helps improve the overall security posture
Advanced Behavioral Analytics	Utilizes AI-driven analytics to detect suspicious activities	Analyzes behaviors and applies machine learning for detection
Secure Configuration Management	Helps ensure secure configurations for resources	Monitors configurations and provides best practice guidance
File Integrity Monitoring	Monitors files for unauthorized changes	Alerts on unauthorized changes to files
Network Security Group (NSG) Flow Logs	Provides visibility into NSG traffic and logs	Logs and analyzes network traffic for security insights
Just-In-Time (JIT) Access	Enables temporary access to resources for a specific time	Controls and manages temporary access to resources
Adaptive Application Controls	Whitelists known good applications for better security	Controls which applications can run on virtual machines
Insider Threat Detection	Helps identify risky user activities and potential threats	Detects and alerts on suspicious user behavior
Integration with SIEM and SOAR tools	Connects with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) solutions	Integrates with external tools for extended security capabilities
Advanced Threat Hunting	Proactively hunts for advanced threats within the environment	Offers tools and techniques for threat hunting activities
Multi-Cloud Support	Extends security capabilities to multiple cloud environments	Focuses on security within the Azure environment only

Google Cloud Security Command Center (SCC)

Feature	Description
Built-in Remediation	Auto-creates cases for high-risk cloud issues, assigns for investigation, and uses playbooks for remediation. Integrates with ITSM.
Threat Detection	Uses Mandiant intel to detect and stop cyber threats, including IOCs and malicious files.
Continuous Risk Engine	Understands cloud envs, simulates attacks, and provides insights with a risk dashboard.
Cloud Posture Management	Identifies misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and compliance issues in multi-cloud environments.
Shift Left Security	Developers access validated software, DevOps define security controls, and IaC scanning ensures policy compliance.
Cloud Identity & Entitlement Mgmt	Manages cloud identities, identifies excessive access, and recommends permission removal.
Mandiant Hunt	Proactively hunts threats in cloud data using Mandiant experts, TTP knowledge, and MITRE ATT&CK mapping.

IBM Cloud PAK for Security

Feature	Description
Understand your cyber risk with IBM X-Force threat intelligence	Unified dashboard, AI, integrate with existing infrastructure, open security.
Modernize your security architecture	Deploy on premises, private/public cloud, or as SaaS.
Deploy cross-cutting use cases	Break silos, unify data for better risk posture.
Get prioritized, actionable threat intelligence	Prioritize threats, scan data sources, act fast.
Federate search across disparate tools	Federated investigations, connect insights, boost efficiency.
Get a unified view of business risk	Contextualize risk data, prioritize issues, investigate, track trends.
Use cases by capability	Detect/respond breaches, prevent account takeovers, detect vulnerabilities, mitigate risks.

Splunk

Feature	Description
Search, Analysis, and Visualization	Cloud-powered insights for data analytics. Search, analyze, and visualize petabyte-scale data from hybrid clouds for actionable insights.
SIEM for Threat Detection	Industry-leading SIEM for quick threat detection, investigation, and response. Automatically identifies complex threats like phishing and malware.
Automation and Orchestration	Empowers teams with automation, boosting productivity and response speed to security incidents.
Compliance	Adhere to compliance with a data-centric approach, reducing operational overhead and costs.
Incident Management	Quickly investigate and combat security threats with powerful analytics, responding within seconds of detection.
Security Monitoring	Centralizes and analyzes data from any source for end-to-end security visibility.
Threat Hunting	Proactive measures to uncover potential threats and raise awareness of unseen risks
Advanced Threat Detection	Detects network and host activities indicating advanced threats, with complex searches and user-defined thresholds.

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto

Feature	Description
IaC Security	Identify and fix misconfigurations in IaC templates.
Secrets Sec.	Secure exposed secrets in repositories and pipelines.
CI/CD Sec.	Harden CI/CD pipelines, reduce attack surface.
Visibility	Continuous visibility over misconfigurations, data, and vulnerabilities.
CSPM	Monitor, detect risks, and maintain compliance.
CIEM	Control permissions in multicloud environments.
Workload Scanning	Scan hosts, containers, Kubernetes for threats.
Data Security	Identify data and scan for malware in public cloud storage.
API Visibility	Discover and protect APIs in cloud-native apps.
Exposure Mgmt	Increase control over exposed cloud assets.
Runtime Protection	Real-time protection for workloads, apps, and APIs.
Threat Detect	Detect advanced threats and anomalies.
Host Sec.	Secure cloud VMs in public/private clouds.
Container Sec.	Secure containers and Kubernetes platforms.
Serverless Sec.	Secure serverless functions in app lifecycle.
Web App Sec.	Protect web apps and APIs in public/private clouds.

Orca Security

Feature	Description
Cloud Security Posture Management	Monitor, identify, and fix cloud misconfigurations. Includes posture management, automated remediation, IaC scanning, and reporting.
Cloud Workload Protection	Protect cloud resources, prioritize risks, manage vulnerabilities, identify malware, and integrate security.
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management	Detect identity misconfigurations, ensure least-privilege access, and monitor identity hygiene. Integrated with SSO and IDP.
Multi-Cloud Compliance	Achieve compliance with 100+ frameworks, CIS Benchmarks, and custom checks across clouds, covering your estate for compliance.
Vulnerability and Patch Management	Manage vulnerabilities across VMs, containers, and serverless functions.
Shift Left Security	Scan IaC templates and container images for vulnerabilities, secrets, misconfigurations, and malware early in development.

Cloud Flare

Feature	Description
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)	Enforce Zero Trust rules for users accessing applications, faster and safer than a VPN.
Secure Web Gateway (SWG)	Securely inspect corporate Internet traffic to prevent phishing, ransomware, and other risks.
Remote Browser Isolation (RBI)	Protect against Internet threats and data breaches by isolating browsing sessions from endpoints.
Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)	Secure SaaS tools, control user access, and protect sensitive data easily.
Cloud Email Security	Preemptively protect users from phishing, BEC, and email supply chain attacks.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP)	Inspect HTTP/S traffic for sensitive data like PII and prevent exfiltration with policies.
Magic WAN	Connect and secure branch offices, headquarters, data centers, cloud VPCs, and SD-WANs with Cloudflare’s network.
Magic Firewall	Enforce network security policies across WAN without traffic backhauling or choke points.

HashiCorp Vault

Feature	Description
Static	Centralized storage for key/value pair secrets across applications, services, and infrastructure.
Namespaces	Secure isolation for teams or tenants with least privileged access.
Auth	Assign user policies using various authentication methods.
Integrations	Connect with partners and identity providers for authentication and monitoring.
Access	Simplify access control with single policy enforcement.
Dynamic	On-demand, short-lived secrets tailored for applications and users.
HA	High availability for disaster recovery across regions.
Sync	Automate secret management and policies across cloud providers.

 

Conclusion

Cloud security tools play a vital role in safeguarding data integrity and ensuring the smooth operation of cloud environments. By offering risk prevention, visibility, and runtime protection, these tools empower businesses to confidently embrace the benefits of cloud computing while mitigating potential security threats.
As we listed in our comprehensive features, when choosing the right cloud security tools, thoroughly assess your business requirements and data volume. Services offered by providers may exceed or not align with your needs. Conduct a comprehensive assessment, considering costs, scalability, security, and integration, ensuring alignment with your business goals.

Why Sparity?

Sparity’s expertise in cloud computing and security, coupled with a suite of cutting-edge cloud security tools, can benefit your business. Our tailored solutions mitigate risks and ensure optimal cloud performance, offering industry-leading protection. Sparity can be your perfect cloud consulting partner empowers your organization to safeguard data and infrastructure effectively.