Tag: supply chain

The Ins and Outs of Cloud Security Frameworks: Safeguarding Your Data in the Cloud Era

Posted on by Nicole Tidwell

In today’s digital landscape, the cloud has become an indispensable tool for businesses of all sizes. However, this shift towards cloud storage and computing also introduces new security challenges. Data-centric cloud security frameworks offer a structured approach to mitigating these risks and ensuring the safety of your valuable data. 

Demystifying Cloud Security Frameworks

A cloud security framework is essentially a roadmap for securing your data in the cloud. It outlines best practices, establishes security controls, and provides guidance for managing risks associated with cloud adoption. 

These frameworks typically consist of several key components:

  • Security controls: Specific actions or procedures designed to safeguard data, such as encryption, access management, and incident response protocols.
  • Risk assessment methodologies: Processes for identifying and evaluating potential security threats in your cloud environment.
  • Compliance guidelines: Frameworks often align with relevant data privacy regulations, helping organizations achieve compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws.

Why Cloud Security Frameworks Matter

Cloud security frameworks offer a multitude of benefits for organizations leveraging the cloud.

Mitigating Shared Responsibility Risks

Cloud computing operates on a “shared responsibility model.” While the cloud service provider (CSP) secures the underlying infrastructure, the responsibility for data security ultimately rests with the customer. Cloud security frameworks help organizations fulfill their part of the bargain by providing a clear roadmap for securing data at rest and in transit.

Compliance Made Easier

Navigating the ever-evolving landscape of data privacy regulations can be daunting. Cloud security frameworks often align with these regulations, streamlining the compliance process and ensuring your organization stays on the right side of the law.

Best Practices for Secure Cloud Adoption

Cloud security frameworks aren’t just about compliance; they also establish best practices for securing your data in the cloud. These frameworks can guide your organization’s cloud adoption strategy, promoting secure cloud usage from the get-go. 

There are several popular cloud security frameworks available, each with its own strengths and focus areas. Some of the most widely adopted frameworks include: 

  • NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF): A comprehensive framework developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US. The NIST CSF offers a flexible structure that can be customized to an organization’s specific needs. 
  • Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Framework: Developed by the Cloud Security Alliance, a non-profit organization, this framework offers a broad range of cloud security considerations. It includes best practices for cloud provider selection, secure configuration, incident response, and more. 
  • ISO/IEC 27001 for Information Security Management: This internationally recognized standard provides a comprehensive approach to information security management. While not specific to the cloud, it can be adapted to address cloud security challenges. 

Frameworks and Public Cloud Repatriation

Sometimes, organizations decide to migrate data back from the cloud to on-premises infrastructure, a process known as public cloud repatriation. This can be driven by various factors, such as cost concerns, regulatory requirements, or a desire for greater control over data security.

However, public cloud repatriation can also introduce new security vulnerabilities.

  • Loss of Visibility and Control: When data resides in a cloud environment, the cloud service provider is responsible for implementing many security controls. Repatriation can lead to a loss of visibility and control over these security measures, making it more challenging to maintain a strong security posture.
  • Increased Risk of Human Error: Data transfer processes during repatriation are complex and can be prone to human error. Accidental data exposure or configuration mistakes can occur during migration, potentially compromising data security.
  • Compatibility Issues: On-premises infrastructure may not be readily compatible with data formats or security protocols used in the cloud. These compatibility issues can create vulnerabilities if not addressed properly.

The Need for Data-Centric Cloud Security Frameworks

While all of these frameworks provide a set of general guidelines for data security, they are still limited by the inherent limitations of conventional security measures. 

Traditional security approaches in the cloud often rely on a perimeter-focused defense strategy. This approach is becoming less effective as data becomes increasingly mobile, moving between cloud environments, on-premises infrastructure, and user devices. 

Beyond the limitations of traditional security and the complexities of shared responsibility, cloud security also faces challenges from evolving threats. The emergence of technologies like quantum computing poses a significant risk to traditional encryption methods. This is where self-protecting data technology steps in to strengthen your cloud security framework. This approach goes beyond the perimeter, focusing on data-centric security.

Unlike traditional methods that only secure the communication channels, Sertainty embeds security controls directly within the data itself. This means your data remains protected regardless of its location, whether in the cloud, on-premise, or in transit.

Reduced Reliance on Perimeter Security

By safeguarding the data itself, a data-centric system reduces the burden of securing complex communication channels. This not only simplifies security management but also mitigates risks associated with compromised network perimeters.

Likewise, these measures are inherently more “future-proof,” offering greater resilience against evolving threats because they do not rely on penetrable perimeters or hackable firewalls. 

Other Benefits of Data-Centric Security 

Data provenance, or the ability to track the origin and movement of data, is crucial in the cloud. Strong data provenance is essential for a number of reasons. 

Regulatory Compliance

Data privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA often require organizations to demonstrate their ability to track data lineage. Self-protecting data technology facilitates this by providing an immutable audit log embedded within each data file. This log tracks all access attempts and data modifications, ensuring a clear record of data provenance. 

Security Breach Detection

Effective data provenance allows you to identify potential security breaches or data leaks more quickly. By tracing data movement and access attempts, you can pinpoint suspicious activity and take swift action to mitigate risks. 

Data Integrity

Immutable audit logs help ensure data integrity by preventing unauthorized modifications. Any attempt to tamper with data will be reflected in the audit log, allowing you to identify and address potential data integrity issues.

Building a Secure Cloud Future 

Cloud security frameworks provide a strong foundation for securing your data in the cloud. However, a truly comprehensive approach requires going beyond the framework itself. This is where data-centric security comes into play.

By combining the structured guidance of cloud security frameworks with proactive protection, you can achieve a holistic approach to cloud security. This powerful blend empowers you on multiple fronts. 

First, you can leverage the benefits of the cloud with confidence, knowing your data is protected wherever it resides. Second, data-centric security simplifies security management by reducing dependence on complex perimeter defenses. Finally, this combined approach future-proofs your data security by proactively addressing evolving threats, ensuring your information remains secure in the face of any challenge.

The future of cloud security is one of continuous improvement and adaptation. As new threats emerge and technologies evolve, your security posture needs to adapt as well. By actively incorporating data-centric security alongside cloud security frameworks, you can ensure your organization remains prepared to face the ever-changing cloud security landscape.

Securing Data in All Stages

In a world where data is the new currency, many organizations are paying increasing attention to data in transit. Secure data governance is the unsung hero that ensures this data remains safe, compliant, and trustworthy. 

With the changing nature of cybersecurity threats and the limitations of traditional security measures, organizations must adapt to stay secure. At Sertainty, we understand the critical nature of data security in today’s digital landscape. Our commitment lies in providing innovative data protection solutions that empower businesses to combat evolving cyber threats. 

Sertainty technology bridges the gap between cutting-edge security technologies like self-protecting files and zero-trust network access with a software development kit that can be seamlessly integrated into a wide range of applications. Explore Sertainty’s solutions to protect your data assets and position your organization to thrive in today’s digital world.

Addressing Primary Open-Source Security Challenges

Posted on by Nicole Tidwell

In the modern era of computing and data storage, the most critical element of any system is the software on which it runs. While hardware is still important, devices have developed to the point where the differences between compromised and secure networks, databases, and files come down to code, not physical security measures. 

One thing that has not changed since the earliest days of computing, however, is the rapid rate at which technology develops. Likewise, the importance of keeping up is a major factor for any business that hopes to stay relevant or secure. Due to this, as well as the high cost of proprietary software tools, open-source software (OSS) has come to dominate the world of coding. 

What Is Open-Source Software?

In the world of software development, the term “open-source” refers to any software with accessible source code that anyone can modify and share freely. Protocols, algorithms, and even fully-developed programs and games can be created with open-source coding. 

In most cases, open-source code is adapted and integrated into programs where it can be useful. Because source code is the part of the software that users don’t see or interact with, common open-source code is, at times, worked on by hundreds or even thousands of independent parties that can be used seamlessly without any outwardly-recognizable signs. 

In the early days of computing, there were very few dedicated professional programmers, and so the early internet was almost entirely made up of open-source code. The efforts of enthusiasts and professionals alike were aided by the network effect as the internet grew in popularity, allowing more people to contribute and refine the very protocols that were connecting them. 

Today,  many companies employ in-house software engineers; however, much of the code that we still use relies on the efforts of open-source developers. In fact, a 2019 report by Gartner found that 96% of codebases contain at least some open-source code. 

Advantages of Open-Source Software

There are many reasons why open-source coding is still so common. When compared to private development, open-source programs have many advantages. By giving programmers direct access to a program’s source code, the software can be continuously improved and expanded. This allows developers to add new features and fix bugs as they arise, rather than having to rely on the software’s original developer to address these concerns. 

The ability to grow and adapt quickly is essential to success in today’s increasingly fast-paced work environment. Organizations attempting to stay on top (or simply keep up with the market) have needs that evolve rapidly. Because of this, many companies look for solutions with the least amount of friction between development and implementation. 

Dangers of Open-Source Software

For all of the advantages that open-source software brings, there are a number of very significant risks stemming from the very aspects that make it so adaptable. And as prevalent as open-source coding is, a staggering number of organizations lack the structure to address these risks. A 2022 report by the Linux Foundation found that less than half of businesses had an open-source security policy in place for OSS development or usage. 

This lack of preparation can open the door to a wide variety of cyberattacks. Because anyone can access the source code of these programs, any flaws or vulnerabilities could quickly become public knowledge. Malicious actors can also freely examine the code that underlies any programs utilizing a piece of open-source software. 

The exploitation of these vulnerabilities can have wide-ranging negative impacts on all sorts of businesses. Everything from proprietary business data to private medical records can be compromised by attacks utilizing loopholes in open-source code. 

On a more sophisticated level, there are numerous ways in which open-source code can be compromised by hackers, causing anyone who then uses it to fall into their hands. For instance, if a code is compromised before it is used, any flaws built into it will remain there unless specifically eliminated. This may sound simple, but the reality is far more challenging. Unless security experts know precisely what to look for and where to look for it, detecting malicious lines of code can be virtually impossible. Even attempting to do so requires knowledge of whether the code has been compromised to begin with. In most cases, however, vulnerabilities do not become known until they have already been exploited. 

Types of Open-Source Security Risks

To better understand how the aforementioned attacks can occur, let’s examine some of the most common methods that hackers use to inject malicious code into open-source programs. 

Upstream Server Attacks 

In upstream server attacks, malicious entities infect a system “upstream” as it is uploaded onto a computer system or device. To accomplish this, malicious code is added to the software at its source, often through a malicious update, infecting all users “downstream” as they download it. 

Midstream Attacks 

Midstream attacks are fundamentally similar to upstream attacks, but instead of tampering with code at its initial source, they target intermediary elements. These include software development tools and updates that pass on the malicious code from there. 

CI/CD Infrastructure Attacks 

Another variation of the upstream attack model, CI/CD infrastructure attacks introduce malware into the development automation infrastructure of an open-source code requiring “continuous integration” or “continuous delivery” steps. 

Dependency Confusion Attacks 

Unlike the previous three types of attacks, Dependency Confusion Attacks exploit private, internally-created software dependencies by registering a new dependency with the same name in a public repository with a higher version number. The malicious code is then optimally placed to be pulled into software builds in place of the latest legitimate version of the software. 

Case Study: Log4Shell

Regardless of whether hackers compromise open-source code by one of the above methods or learn of a genuine loophole from an open hacking forum, once a door has been opened, any and all data within the compromised system is immediately vulnerable. Some measures can be taken to avoid some of these, but even the biggest companies have fallen prey. 

One of the most dangerous and well-publicized instances of open-source software falling vulnerable to attack came in 2021 when a code-execution vulnerability exploit for Log4j was released. At the time, Log4j was a virtually ubiquitous open-source utility used in countless popular applications, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Twitter servers. 

Referred to as “Log4Shell,” the vulnerability was first reported in November of that year after being identified in the popular game Minecraft. The code exploit was also published in a tweet a few weeks later, leading to numerous forums warning users that hackers could execute malicious code on servers or clients running the Java version of Minecraft. 

Millions of servers were left vulnerable by the exploit. The Apache Software Foundation assigned Log4Shell the highest-possible severity rating in the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), and the director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) called the exploit a “critical” threat. Using Log4Shell, attackers were able to install blockchain crypto, steal system credentials, and access sensitive data before a patch was released. 

Truly Secure Data with Sertainty 

The simultaneously derivative and interconnected nature of the modern internet makes avoiding open-source code a practical impossibility. For this and other reasons, traditional perimeter security falls notably short when it comes to keeping malicious actors out of your system. 

Because of this omnipresent threat, Sertainty leverages proprietary processes through its UXP Technology that enable data to govern, track, and defend itself – whether in flight, in a developer’s sandbox, or in storage. These UXP Technology protocols mean that even if systems are compromised or accessed from the inside, all data stored in them remains secure. 

At Sertainty, we know that data is the most valuable asset to your organization’s continued success. Our industry-leading Data Privacy Platform has pioneered what it means for data to be intelligent and actionable, helping companies move forward with a proven and future-proof approach to cybersecurity needs. 

As the digital landscape evolves and networks become more widely accessible, Sertainty is committed to providing self-protecting data solutions that evolve and grow to defend sensitive data. Open-source security breaches may be inevitable, but with Sertainty, privacy loss doesn’t have to be. 

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