What is CSPM?

How does CSPM work?

Automation is the main driver of CSPM solutions. CSPM tackles the problem of misconfiguration by reducing human intervention in favor of automated IT processes that automate security checks and enforce policies consistently. In addition to reducing misconfiguration issues, automation accelerates the speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of detecting, neutralizing, and patching vulnerabilities. CSPM tools offer transparency and control over cloud resources, allowing businesses to be proactive and continuously monitor systems for security vulnerabilities and compliance issues.

What does CSPM deliver?

With its built-in automation, CSPM provides relief for organizations struggling to fortify their cloud security posture. CPSM delivers the following:

• Single source of truth across multicloud environments
• Guided remediation and streamlined incident response strengthen security posture
• Continuous monitoring across the application lifecycle to proactively identify unauthorized access, unauthorized activity, and vulnerable code
• Consistent and automated compliance reporting with industry standards and regulations
• Cost reduction and optimization of cloud spending

Why is CSPM important for cloud security?

To keep up with changing cloud technology, security needs to be delivered and monitored frequently. The cloud has challenged an organization's view of its network and made it even harder to secure an infinite attack surface. Lack of centralization, limited visibility, and human error make the need for CSPM tools critical for effective cloud security posture management.

Real-time visibility: Identify and mitigate potential risks promptly continuously to detect misconfigurations, unauthorized access, and other security gaps.

Compliance management: Assist in aligning cloud security controls with requirements to help ensure compliance with industry regulations and security frameworks.

Cost optimization: Identify unused or underutilized resources to reduce costs and optimize cloud spending.

Integrated incident response: Automate alerts and notifications into existing workflows streamline response and minimize the impact of a security incident.

What are the benefits of CSPM?

With a CSPM, organizations minimize blind spots and gain unified visibility across cloud environments—from microservices to containers, Kubernetes to cloud applications. By automating security processes, CSPM solutions enable development and security teams to collaborate to minimize security risks and reduce operational overhead through the application lifecycle. The benefits of CPSM include:

• Unified visibility across cloud platforms: Spot compliance and/or configuration problems across hybrid and multicloud environments.
• Continuous security protection: Agentless, cloud-native protection safeguards digital assets and alerts teams to misconfiguration and compliance issues that pose risk to an organization's security posture.
• Guided remediation through automation: Embedded automation can reduce risks associated with human intervention and provide actionable remediation guidance to fix issues faster.
• Compliance management: CSPM delivers continuous monitoring and oversight to aid with compliance for industry standards and government regulations like Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and more.

How does a CSPM compare to other cloud security solutions?

CSPMs provide scalability, flexibility, and reduce the need to invest in hardware, software, and maintenance. Unlike other cloud security solutions, CSPMs take a comprehensive approach to security that goes well beyond just monitoring. A CSPM analyzes cloud infrastructure and provides actionable insights to address potential vulnerabilities proactively. When compared to traditional on-prem solutions, CSPMs deliver an automated approach that streamlines operations, reduces manual tasks, and saves time and money.

• Reduce risks: Visibility across application lifecycle reduces risk of vulnerabilities, unauthorized access, and data breaches.
• Minimize attack surface: Proactively secure cloud configurations across infrastructure, applications, and data.
• Improve efficiency: Automate detection and remediation of misconfigurations to eliminate manual intervention, streamline security operations, and reduce operational overhead through the use of artificial intelligence.

How does a CSPM protect my data?

CSPM are designed to offer the highest levels of data privacy and protection. Real-time visibility, comprehensive security monitoring, and automation of security checks and controls help an organization identify potential misconfigurations to help ensure data integrity and data confidentiality. While specific features vary by vendor, organizations can control access privileges, define data retention policies, and help ensure compliance with relevant regulations. By centralizing policies, a CSPM can help organizations meet regulatory and industry standards to maintain a strong security posture.

How does a CSPM tool help DevSecOps?

CSPM reduces overhead and eliminates friction and complexity across multicloud providers and accounts. Cloud-native, agentless posture management provides centralized visibility and control over all cloud resources. CSPM tools can bring security operations and DevOps teams together by providing a centralized, single source of truth to help mitigate risks from compromising the application lifecycle. By integrating CSPM tools with existing DevOps tools, organizations can speed remediation through collaboration. A single dashboard can help teams understand risk across the application lifecycle and improve communication across security operations, DevOps, and infrastructure teams.

What are the most typical use cases for CSPM?

Cloud configuration management, identity access and management (IAM), and data protection are the three most common CSPM use cases.

• Cloud configuration: Help ensure cloud resources have been properly configured throughout the cloud environment. CSPM uses various tools and methods to make certain a strong security posture with regulatory compliance is consistently maintained.
• IAM configuration: Help ensure cloud entities do not have excessive permissions that pose a risk and endanger the organization. CSPM tools facilitate robust identity access and management (IAM) to safeguard user access and resource policies are strictly enforced.
• Data protection: Identify sensitive data and help ensure it has been protected. CSPM utilized data loss prevention methods and data-in-transit encryption to prevent data breaches.

What is next for CSPM tools?

CSPM solutions are constantly updated to address emerging threats, new cloud platforms, and evolving compliance requirements. Implementing a CSPM tool will enhance security posture for organizations by reducing human errors through automation for security controls and compliance checks. As digital expansion explodes, organizations will need help enforce consistent security policies across multiple cloud environments. The need to provide centralized visibility and control over cloud security will be critical for organizations to protect, secure, and manage complex cloud infrastructures.