A cloud security scanner is an automated scanning tool designed to help organizations identify vulnerabilities in their cloud deployments. This early detection of issues allows the organization to remediate these security holes before they can be exploited by an attacker.
Under the cloud shared responsibility model, a cloud customer is partially responsible for the security of their cloud deployment. The exact breakdown of security responsibilities between the cloud provider and the cloud customer depends on the cloud service model used.
Cloud security misconfigurations are one of the leading causes of data breaches and other security incidents in the cloud. As companies adopt complex, multi-cloud infrastructures, the complexity of securing these environments continues to grow.
Cloud security scanners provide organizations with the ability to quickly and scalably identify security misconfigurations and similar issues in their cloud environments. Cloud security scanners — which may be deployed as part of a cloud workload protection platform (CWPP) — can help to find and fix these issues and protect the data and applications hosted in cloud environments.
Cloud security scanners are designed to identify vulnerabilities and other issues that could open up cloud environments to attack or create regulatory compliance or legal issues for a company.
Some of the key functions of a cloud security scanner include the following:
The adoption of DevOps practices and the scalability of cloud environments mean that cloud deployments are rapidly expanding. As a result, security teams often struggle to keep up with the vulnerabilities, security misconfigurations, and other issues that place their cloud infrastructure at risk.
Cloud security scanners automate much of the process of identifying issues, enabling analysts to rapidly respond to potential problems.
Some of the main benefits that cloud security scanners provide include the following:
The three main cloud platforms offer integrated cloud security scanning functionality. These include the following systems:
A cloud security scanner enables security teams to scale their operations and rapidly respond to potential security issues within their cloud environments. Cloud security scanners can identify vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance violations that put an organization at risk.
CloudGuard Cloud Security Posture Management is part of Check Point’s cloud-native cloud security platform. CloudGuard CSPM automates security posture management across multi-cloud environments, enabling an organization to centrally manage its security across its entire multi-cloud deployment. To learn more about how CloudGuard can help to enhance your organization’s cloud security, sign up for a free demo today.