Attack Surface
An attack surface in permissions management refers to the sum total of all potential vulnerabilities that an unauthorized entity could exploit to gain access to a system or data. ...
What is Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)?
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) is a set of practices, tools, and solutions designed to help organizations manage and control access permissions and entitlements within their cloud computing environments. It’s a critical aspect of cloud security and governance, particularly in multi-cloud and hybrid cloud setups, where various users and services interact with complex, distributed infrastructure.
CIEM typically involves the following key components and activities:
- Access Permissions: CIEM helps organizations define and enforce access permissions to cloud resources, ensuring that users and applications have the right level of access and no more. This involves managing roles, policies, and permissions associated with cloud resources.
- Visibility: CIEM solutions provide organizations with a clear view of who has access to what resources within their cloud infrastructure. This visibility is crucial for identifying potential security risks, such as overprivileged users or unused permissions.
- Policy Enforcement: CIEM tools enable the enforcement of security policies and best practices to ensure that permissions are configured correctly and in line with an organization’s security and compliance standards.
- Entitlement Analysis: CIEM involves analyzing and understanding the entitlements and permissions within the cloud environment. This may include identifying risky configurations, detecting misconfigured permissions, and assessing the overall security posture.
- Risk Mitigation: CIEM helps organizations reduce security risks associated with overprivileged accounts, unauthorized access, and misconfigurations by suggesting corrective actions and, in some cases, automating remediation.
- Compliance and Auditing: CIEM tools can assist in meeting compliance requirements by monitoring access to sensitive data, generating audit reports, and ensuring that policies and regulations are adhered to.
- Continuous Monitoring: CIEM is an ongoing process that involves continuous monitoring and assessment of entitlements. This is crucial for adapting to changes in the cloud environment and responding to evolving security threats.
- User Behavior Analytics: Some CIEM solutions incorporate user behavior analytics to detect abnormal or suspicious activities, helping organizations proactively identify potential security incidents.
CIEM is a critical part of a broader cloud security and governance strategy. It’s especially important as organizations migrate their workloads to the cloud and as the complexity of cloud environments continues to grow. By effectively managing entitlements and access permissions, organizations can reduce the attack surface, improve security, and maintain compliance in their cloud infrastructure.
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