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What is a Cloud Security Audit?

Predictions state that by 2025, the total amount of data stored in the cloud will be close to 100 zettabytes. That is 100 trillion (100 trillion-plus 12 zeros) GBs. To give you an idea of how enormous that number is, the iPhone 12 has a maximum data storage capacity of 256 GB.

Businesses use the cloud for most of their data needs right now, but they need reliable and efficient infrastructure to keep up with growing needs with the least amount of extra work. Cloud audit services can help with that.

There are plenty of cloud service providers available in 2022 for companies wishing to move their operations to the cloud. Every sort of business may use the cloud services that Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Alibaba provide, which vary in price and functionality. These services need to be looked at to make sure they offer safe, on-demand network access to data and business continuity so that organizations have a safe place to work. Businesses are using the cloud audit method more and more because they want to be sure of the results.

Depending on the nature or extent of the audit, there are several different types of cloud audits. An impartial team of auditors normally conducts audits and looks at the possibilities of any cloud services offered. Internal audits are a less common choice since there may be prejudice in the analysis.

A cloud audit's objective is to confirm key cloud capabilities that define the dependability of the cloud's security needs, performance effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness.

After reading this article, you'll have detailed information about:

  • What is meant by a "cloud security audit"?

  • What are the benefits of a Cloud Security Audit?

  • What are the Challenges of Cloud Security Audits?

  • How is a Cloud Security Audit performed?

  • What is the best practice checklist for Cloud Security Audits?

  • Which standards cover cloud security audits?

  • What are the best open-source tools for cloud security audits?

  • Who is a Cloud Security Auditor?

What is Meant by a Cloud Security Audit?​

A cloud security audit is an assessment of the security measures implemented to safeguard data and other resources within the cloud infrastructure. A cloud security audit is performed by an independent auditor who employs a variety of test cases and protocols to determine whether or not the target's security posture is adequate. The audit procedure encompasses the examination of controls, the analysis of policies, and the collection of evidence based on the observations.

A cloud computing audit is comparable to other audits carried out within a company. The major objective of a cloud audit is to assess and enhance data accessibility while taking into account the general performance and security requirements that the cloud service provider should meet.

The procedure typically entails a technical investigation, followed by the presentation of the findings in the form of a report on the performance and control frameworks for the current cloud infrastructure as per the client's requirements. Various audits can be carried out depending on the desired scope and company requirements.

A cloud computing audit provides information on the present health of your cloud infrastructure, as well as areas for possible optimization, cloud compliance, risks, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities.

Cloud computing audit is a tool that helps companies determine if their suppliers and systems are compliant with industry standards, susceptible to external cyber attacks or internal failures, and what adjustments they make to potentially save costs. This information, as well as other details like anticipated expenses for service installation, is discovered through cloud audits. The audit's main objective is to match spending with the real need for data processing, data storage, and network and data accessibility.

What are the Benefits of a Cloud Security Audit?​

Security audits can enhance the security of your cloud infrastructure in the following ways:

  • Monitoring Access Control: Individuals change positions and departments, and employees come and go from the company. An access control audit makes sure that access is handled responsibly, making sure, for instance, that access is removed when employees depart and that new hires are given the fewest rights possible.

  • Accessing Cloud Services Securely: Accessing cloud services securely is possible with the use of a cloud security audit, which may confirm that staff members and other users do so, for instance, by connecting to a VPN (Virtual Private Network) over an encrypted route.

  • Discovering Security Flaws: The majority of cloud settings employ a wide range of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and third-party technologies, thus the security of these resources is crucial. Every API and third-party tool has the danger of compromising security. Audits can find security flaws in tools and APIs and assist the company in fixing them.

  • Verifying Backup Techniques: Performing backups is made simple by the cloud. However, this only works if a company's cloud platform is set up to perform the backups on a regular basis. An audit can confirm that the company backs up all important systems and has implemented security controls to protect those backups.

What are the Challenges of Cloud Security Audit?​

Here are a few major obstacles that make cloud security audits more challenging, along with solutions.

  • Transparency: Most operational and forensic data in a cloud environment is under the control of cloud providers. This data is important for auditing purposes. Audits must have direct access to pertinent forensic data, access to security policies, and a thorough inventory of cloud resources and data. Coordination between cloud service providers and the company's IT operations department is necessary for this.

  • Encryption: Encrypting data in the cloud may be done in two ways:

    • Data may be encrypted locally before being sent to the cloud, increasing the possibility of malicious insiders exploiting their access.
    • You can trust the cloud provider to handle encryption, but you run the risk of security breaches occurring within the cloud provider's network.

    It is nearly always preferable from an auditing standpoint to encrypt data on-premise and control encryption keys internally. If encryption keys are handled by the cloud provider, auditing may be very challenging, if not impossible, in some circumstances. Organizations are encouraged by the PCI DSS Cloud Special Interest Group to keep and manage encryption keys separately from the cloud provider.

  • Colocation: It is rather typical for many settings in a cloud environment to use the same physical systems. As a result, security risks arise, and it becomes more challenging to audit the physical environment. If running services on physically distinct machines is not viable, the cloud provider must demonstrate that it can prevent any user from obtaining administrative rights on the unit.

  • Complexity, Scope, and Scale: There was a limited number of servers in a conventional data center that auditors could examine and report on. The number of audited entities in a cloud environment, which may include physical hosts, virtual machines (VMs), managed databases, containers, and serverless functions, may expand exponentially. Auditing all of these entities may be exceedingly challenging, especially when new entities are constantly being added and withdrawn.

    Standardizing workloads is the key to making a cloud environment auditable. For instance, auditors can concentrate their testing on those authorized container pictures if containers are only constructed using a small, restricted collection of images. In a similar manner, only a small number of machine images may be used to generate virtual machines

How is a Cloud Security Audit Performed?​

An IT audit and an audit of a cloud environment are comparable. Each of them looks at different operational, administrative, security, and performance controls. Similar to IT audit controls, cloud audit controls likewise focus on the specifics of cloud infrastructures.

Software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) are only two of the on-demand, as-a-service services that cloud companies provide. Audits assist in ensuring that these services are provided while paying attention to the right controls, particularly those regarding security procedures and risk management. A cloud vendor's use of best practices, adherence to relevant standards, and achievement of specific benchmarks are all examined during audits of cloud computing services.

A neutral third party usually carries out a cloud audit. The auditor collects evidence during an audit by physical inspection, questioning, observation, re-performance, or analytics.

The typical cloud security audit is finished in 12 weeks. The engagement starts with scoping processes, continues with an on-site visit, a review of the available evidence, the creation of a report, and ends with its delivery. When a gap analysis is required or when remediation takes longer than anticipated, the schedule is prolonged.

A cloud audit should be scheduled to be carried out annually or whenever substantial changes are made that would have an impact on the cloud environment. Changes to crucial controls, the addition of cloud services, the uploading of big data files, or the addition of new team members are all examples.

The cost of a cloud security audit might vary significantly depending on the audit's breadth, the size of the business, and the kinds of cloud operations you use. $5000 is a rough estimate.

The following fundamental actions are taken while conducting a cloud audit:

  • Assemble Evidence: Gather pertinent paperwork and other proof, such as screenshots.

  • Interview: Ask the staff of the cloud vendor how the company runs and provides its services. For both internal and external auditors, Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) includes checklists and questions for cloud audits. In order to specify what constitutes pertinent cloud audit expertise and to provide tools for cloud audit professionals seeking certification, CSA has teamed with ISACA.

  • Analyze: Assess how closely the vendor's procedures adhere to CSA and ISACA rules.

  • Compile Data: Create work papers that incorporate analysis with the data from interviews and documents in order to generate a final report and suggestions.

  • Assemble the Final Report: Provide it to the management of the company, often at a formal audit briefing.

  • Make a Move: The management assigns a team to respond to the audit report and establishes deadlines for answers to the suggested actions.

What is the Best Practice Checklist for Cloud Security Audit?​

Here are some common best practices that you should include in any cloud security audit, even though you should tailor any evaluation to your sector or the size of your firm:

  • Examine the security posture of the cloud provider: A cloud security audit starts with assessing the cloud provider's security posture and building a rapport with personnel to get the necessary data. Assess security practices and policies as part of your audit, and use trustworthy data from cloud systems to assess the risk that comes with using cloud services.

  • Determine the Attack Surface: Cloud ecosystems are intricate and obscure. To determine the attack surface, prioritize assets at higher risk, and concentrate remediation efforts, use contemporary cloud monitoring and observability technologies.

    Recognize the apps that are being used in cloud instances and containers and if the enterprise has given their approval or whether they are examples of shadow IT. To achieve compliance, all workloads must be standardized and equipped with the necessary security safeguards.

    By giving you continual access to the security profile of the cloud assets you control, this form of monitoring can help with the challenges of the shared responsibility model.

  • Implement Tight Access Controls: Breach of access management is one of the most common cloud security issues. Credentials to crucial cloud resources can get into the wrong hands in a variety of different ways. The following actions should be taken to reduce risk on your end:

    • Establish robust password guidelines and criteria
    • Put a requirement on multi-factor authentication (MFA)
    • Restriction of administrative rights
    • Assume the principle of least privilege (POLP) for using all cloud assets.

  • Create Outside Sharing Standards: Standards for data sharing via shared drives, calendars, files, and folders must be put in place. The ideal strategy is to start with the highest standards and then relax security limits as necessary. Except in exceptional situations, folders and files containing the most sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information (PII), financial information, and protected health information (PHI), should not be made available for external access.

  • Automate Patching: To maintain the security of your cloud environment, you should patch often. For security and IT teams, however, understanding patch management is difficult. According to several studies, it takes businesses more than a month on average to fix security flaws. Prioritizing the most crucial fixes and making sure that essential assets are automatically patched on a regular basis are the keys to efficient patching. Regular manual reviews should be added to automation to make sure patching methods are operating effectively.

  • Standardize cloud logs with SIEM: Organizations can use security information and event management (SIEM) systems to comply with a variety of industry standards and laws. An accepted method for auditing activities on an IT network is log management, a SIEM feature. SIEM systems are able to gather cloud logs in a uniform format, provide editors access to log data, and automatically produce the reports required for different compliance requirements.

Figure 1. Best Practices Checklist for Cloud Security Audit

Which Standards Cover the Cloud Security Audit?​

In order to help enterprises maintain their security posture and safeguard their data and systems, industry groups have created lists of best practices and procedures known as security standards. Below you can find some of the standards related to cloud security audits.

  • CSA STAR: The most potent security assurance program for the cloud is called CSA Security Trust, Assurance and Risk (CSA STAR). Transparency, exacting auditing, and standard harmonization are the three main tenets of STAR. The STAR program offers a number of advantages, including recommendations for best practices and confirmation of the security posture of cloud solutions.

    This approach is built on three fundamental techniques that instantly boost trust in the security community. The first is CSA's Cloud Control Matrix (CCM), which lists all cloud-specific security policies and is regarded as the de facto standard for cloud security and compliance. A list of 295 questions is provided in the second document, the Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ), for cloud clients to ask their providers in order to assess CCM compliance. The third is CSA's Code of Conduct for GDPR Compliance, a detailed manual designed to help firms comply with GDPR.

  • ISO/IEC 27017:2015: Organizations can use the ISO/IEC 27017:2015 code of conduct as a guide for choosing information security controls for cloud services when putting into place a cloud computing information security management system based on ISO/IEC 27002:2013. It may also be used by cloud service providers as a manual for putting into practice generally recognized security measures.

    This international standard refers to clauses 5-18 in ISO/IEC 27002: 2013 for controls, implementation guidance, and other information and provides additional cloud-specific implementation guidance based on ISO/IEC 27002 as well as additional controls to address cloud-specific information security threats and risks. In particular, this standard contains seven additional controls that are distinct from the 37 controls in ISO/IEC 27002 and offers guidance on all 37 controls in ISO/IEC 27002. The following crucial areas are addressed by these new controls:

    • Shared duties and responsibilities in the context of cloud computing
    • Removal and return of client assets from cloud services following contract expiration
    • Safeguarding and separating a customer's virtual environment from other customers' surroundings
    • Criteria for hardening virtual machines to fulfill business needs
    • Procedures for running a cloud computing environment's administrative operations
    • Allowing users to keep track of pertinent activity in a cloud computing environment
    • Security management for physical and virtual networks should be coordinated

  • ISO/IEC 27018:2019: The first international code of practice for cloud privacy, ISO/IEC 27018:2019, offers recommendations based on best practices for information security management and ISO/IEC 27002:2013 principles. It provides special recommendations to cloud service providers serving as processors of personally identifiable information (PII) on risk assessment and the implementation of cutting-edge procedures for PII protection, all based on EU data protection legislation. According to the privacy tenets in ISO/IEC 29100:2011, ISO/IEC 27018:2019 specifies control goals and recommendations for PII that are particular to the cloud.

  • MTCS SS 584: The first cloud security standard in the world to address many tiers of cloud security is the Multi-Tiered Cloud Security (MTCS) Singapore Standard (SS 584:2015). It intends to promote the use of sensible security and risk management procedures for cloud computing. To improve the governance, dependability, and resilience of cloud security controls in their settings, MTCS prescribes cloud computing security policies and controls that are applied to cloud users and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs).

    The three types of cloud computing services currently covered by MTCS certification are as follows: the platform that sits on top of the infrastructure (Platform-as-a-Service), the enterprise-facing application(Software-as-a-Service), and the various service models. The base type is data center infrastructure (Infrastructure-as-a-Services).

    The MTCS certification would assist CSPs in structuring disclosure terms including data retention, ownership, portability, legal duties, availability, business continuity, disaster recovery, and incident reporting in service level agreements with end-user contracts.

  • CIS Foundations Benchmarks: The CIS Foundations Benchmarks are a member of the Center for Internet Security's set of cybersecurity benchmarks (CIS). CIS Benchmarks are secure configuration recommendations for the most widely used systems and technologies that are consensus-based and vendor-neutral.

    A total of 25+ vendor product families, including operating systems, servers, cloud service providers, mobile devices, desktop software, and network devices, are covered by more than 100 free CIS Benchmarks PDFs. The CIS Foundations Benchmarks offer direction for account-level public cloud systems. The CIS Foundations Benchmarks address:

    • Amazon Web Services
    • Windows Azure
    • Google Cloud Computing Platform
    • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
    • Alibaba Cloud
    • IBM Cloud

    Governments, businesses, industries, and academics have all contributed to the development and acceptance of CIS Benchmarks, which are consensus-based, best-practice security configuration manuals. System and application administrators, security experts, auditors, help desk, platform deployment, and/or DevOps people who aim to build, install, analyze, or protect systems in the cloud are the target audience for the CIS Foundations Benchmarks. They are freely downloadable in PDF format.

What are the Best Open Source Tools for Cloud Security Audits?​

Here are nine open-source cloud security assessment tools that will help you improve your position in terms of cloud security without spending a fortune.

  • CloudCustodian: Cloud Custodian is a rules engine for managing public cloud accounts and resources. Users set up policies to provide a well-managed cloud architecture that is cost-effective and safe. It combines many of the ad hoc scripts that businesses use into a simple, adaptable solution with standardized metrics and reporting.

    By monitoring real-time compliance with security standards (including encryption and access restrictions), tag policies, and cost management through trash collection of underutilized resources and off-hours resource management, Custodian is used to manage AWS, Azure, and GCP environments.

    Custodian rules are built from a vocabulary of filters and actions and are expressed in straightforward YAML configuration files that let users declare policies on a resource type (EC2, ASG, Redshift, CosmosDB, PubSub Topic). It connects with each provider's cloud native serverless capabilities to offer real-time policy enforcement with integrated provisioning. For use against sizable existing fleets, it is executed on a server as a straightforward cron job. The CNCF Sandbox project Cloud Custodian is run by a community of hundreds of people.

  • ScoutSuite (formerly Scout2): The CS Suite is a one-stop shop for doing system audits as well as security posture assessments of the AWS infrastructure. The CS Suite makes use of the capabilities of the present open source tools and incorporates other missing checks (such as Scout2, Prowler, AWS Config, and Trusted Advisor) into a single tool that rules them all. It supports GCP and Azure, but its strength is in AWS.

  • CloudSploit Scans: An open-source project called CloudSploit by Aqua aims to make it possible to identify security problems in cloud infrastructure accounts from companies like GitHub, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). These scripts are made to return a number of possible security concerns and configuration errors.

  • Cloud Security Suite: The CS Suite is a one-stop shop for doing system audits as well as security posture assessments of the AWS infrastructure. The CS Suite makes use of the capabilities of current open source tools and incorporates additional needed checks into a single tool that rules them all. The salient characteristics are:

    • with the help of the Python virtual environment and Docker containers, installation is straightforward.
    • Start all tools and audit checks at once.
    • Infra Audit by AWS:
    • Make the "open source setup" process easier.
    • a centralized collection of all audit checks
    • portable reports that are central
    • individual system audits
    • Instance auditing using IP addresses in AWS
    • Region-specific Audit (Public IP)
    • for the default area, supports both public and private IPs
    • Automatic Report Creation and Portable HTML Report Fetching

  • Prowler: Prowler is an open-source security tool for doing audits, incident response, continuous monitoring, hardening, and forensics preparedness related to AWS security best practices. More than 240 controls, including those for ENS, PCI-DSS, GDPR, HIPAA, FFIEC, SOC2, ISO27001, AWS FTR, and bespoke security frameworks, are included.

    Using the command line tool Prowler, you can analyze, audit, harden, and respond to incidents related to AWS security. It adheres to the standards of the CIS Amazon Web Services Foundations Benchmark (49 checks).

  • Dow Jones Hammer: A cloud security product called Dow Jones Hammer is intended to protect your Amazon Web Services environment. When you deploy Dow Jones Hammer, it starts regularly identifying common AWS services vulnerabilities and writes information about such vulnerabilities to DynamoDB tables. In addition, you may:

    • allow CSV reporting of vulnerabilities discovered to the selected S3 bucket
    • execute ad-hoc scans in controlled environments using the Dow Jones Hammer API
    • combine Slack and/or JIRA with Dow Jones Hammer. When an issue is found, Dow Jones Hammer has the option to open a JIRA ticket for a specific user and/or send a Slack message to a specified Slack channel or to an individual Slack user.
    • configure Dow Jones Hammer to be able to address some faults automatically if they continue for a predetermined amount of time.

  • CloudMapper: You may evaluate your Amazon Web Services (AWS) setup with the aid of CloudMapper. Network diagram generation and browser display were the original goals (functionality is no longer maintained). It now offers a lot more capabilities, such as security audits.

    • Demo of network mapping
    • Report demo
    • First post
    • Post to demonstrate identifying network settings errors
    • Post about doing ongoing audits

  • Security Monkey: Your AWS and GCP accounts are monitored by Security Monkey for policy changes and warnings on unsafe setups. OpenStack public and private clouds are supported. Your GitHub groups, teams, and repositories may all be watched and monitored by Security Monkey.

    It offers a single-user interface (UI) where you can browse and search all of your accounts, regions, and cloud services. The monkey can pinpoint exactly what changed and when by recalling earlier situations. Custom account types, watchers, auditors, and alerters may all be added to Security Monkey. It operates with Python 2.7. It is known to function on OS X and Ubuntu Linux.

  • Steampipe: A wonderful Turbot tool is Steampipe. You may ask inquiries about your cloud and SaaS infrastructure with ease using Steampipe. Whether it's Slack, GCP, AWS, etc. These solutions allow you to query individuals, assets, identities, access logs, and even deployed assets. You can fully comprehend every component of your cloud architecture thanks to Steampipe.

    Granular access to your system is provided by Steampipe using an abstraction of SQL (Structured Query Language) allowing you to effectively query your SaaS apps and cloud service providers similarly to how you would a database.

    In the same manner, you may access the most recent EC2 instances that were started in your AWS environment. The actual strength of Steampipe, though, lies in its capacity to link tables of abstracted data. Within the syntax of SQLite, you may filter it and change it into whatever you want. It is really potent.

Who is Cloud Security Auditor?​

A third party who audits cloud service providers' internal controls is known as a cloud auditor. An audit is carried out by a cloud auditor to ensure standards compliance, and he then reports his findings. The following procedures are taken by a cloud auditor in order to establish a judgment about the efficacy of controls in cloud computing: Communication, security incidents, network security, change management, risk management, data management, susceptibility and remediation management, leadership commitment to ethical behavior, and transparency.

Following experience and education can be expected from a senior cloud auditor:

  • Experience in Information Technology Audit, Security, Compliance, Information Risk, or Cybersecurity is relevant.

  • Knowledge of security guidelines and compliance frameworks including ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS, and NIST

  • Practical understanding of popular cloud service providers like AWS, Azure, and/or GCP

  • Strong communication abilities with the capacity to interact with top management as well as technical specialists.

  • Certifications such as CCSP, CISSP, CISA, AWS/Azure Security, or equivalent are desirable.

Last updated on by Zenarmor