Configuration audit and cloud security assessment

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Checking that your infrastructure uses modern security best practices

The security and confidentiality of an organisation’s information systems are safeguarded by technological and operational security measures, which are assessed through a cloud security audit.

What is a Cloud Security Audit?

A cloud audit scrutinises a cloud infrastructure and is usually carried out by an impartial third party. The auditor collects evidence during an audit by questioning, observation, testing, analytics, and a combination of these methods.

Cloud security audits primarily focus on a business’s security controls, which are the operational, administrative, and technological safeguards an organisation employs to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its information systems. An auditor can assess security measures in the cloud, whether they are deployed appropriately, if they are operating as intended, and how well they minimise risks.

The Importance and Benefits

Using the cloud poses certain security hazards. Regularly evaluating the security of your cloud infrastructure and the data kept there is essential for several reasons.

Evaluating cloud security helps to:

Ensure that rules and standards are followed;
Analyse the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of data;
Analyse the efficiency of security precautions;
Detect intrusions, abuses, and other security incidents;
Reduce security risks by eliminating vulnerabilities.

A security audit can verify that access control is designed correctly and user rights and privileges are managed appropriately.

Additionally, the audit can help confirm that staff members and other users use cloud services safely. Most cloud systems employ a wide range of third-party technologies and APIs. Every API and third-party tool carries the risk of compromising security. Audits can identify security flaws in tools and APIs and assist the company in fixing them.

Cloud Security Audit Challenges

Several obstacles might render cloud security audits particularly challenging.

Transparency

Most of the investigative and operational data in a cloud system is under the control of cloud providers. For auditing purposes, these data are crucial. Audits must have direct access to relevant analytical information, access to security policies, and a thorough assessment of cloud resources

Colocation

Multiple environments frequently share the same physical domains in a cloud infrastructure. As a result, security risks arise, and it becomes more challenging to evaluate the physical setting. If running services on physically distinct machines is not viable, the cloud hosting must demonstrate that it can prohibit any user from obtaining administrator capabilities on the unit.

Scale, Scope, and Complexity

A conventional data center had a limited number of servers, allowing auditors to examine and report on them. The number of audited entities in cloud infrastructure, however, can expand rapidly. Auditing all of these entities can be exceedingly challenging, especially when new entities are constantly being added and withdrawn. Standardising workloads is the essential component of making a cloud service auditable.

Techniques and Procedures

Our cloud security audit techniques and procedures involve a systematic evaluation of your cloud infrastructure, including the network, applications, and data storage. Our experienced auditors use a combination of manual and automated tools to identify potential security vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your cloud environment.

General Plan for Cloud Security Audit:

Planning: We work with you to understand your cloud infrastructure, your security requirements, and your compliance obligations. We develop a customised audit plan based on your specific needs.
Scoping: We identify the scope of the audit, including the cloud services, applications, and data storage that will be evaluated.
Information Gathering: We collect information about your cloud infrastructure, including configuration settings, access controls, and network architecture.
Vulnerability Scanning: We use automated tools to scan your cloud environment for known vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
Penetration Testing: We conduct manual testing to simulate an attack on your cloud infrastructure and identify potential security risks.
Data Analysis: We analyse the data collected during the audit to identify potential security vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
Reporting: We provide a detailed report of our findings, including recommendations for remediation and mitigation of identified security risks

At our cybersecurity service company, we have designed cloud security audit procedures that aim to offer you a holistic overview of your cloud infrastructure’s security posture. This will help you take proactive measures in addressing security risks and preserving the integrity of your cloud-based systems. Contact us to know more about our cloud security audit services and how we can assist you in meeting your security objectives.

We support Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and other cloud infrastructures.

Let’s take AWS and Google Cloud audits as popular examples. During the audit, we analyse AWS accounts, network configurations, data encryption, security incident response, and more. We use top-ranked sources such as CIS AWS Foundations, security policies based on HIPAA, the FedRAMP, etc.

AWS Audit Plan

Identifying assets in AWS.
AWS account analysis.
Governance audit. Understand what AWS services and resources are in use and ensure that the Customer’s security or risk management program has taken into account the use of the public cloud environment.
Network configuration management audit. Verifying missing or inappropriately configured security controls related to external access and network security, which could result in a security exposure.
Asset configuration and management audit. The management of the Customer’s operating systems and security applications is verified to protect the security, stability, and integrity of the assets.
Logical access control audit. Focuses on identifying how users and permissions are set up for the services in AWS, ensuring that the Customer securely manages the credentials associated with all AWS accounts.
Data encryption audit. Understand where the data resides, and validate the methods that are used for protecting the data at rest and in transit (also referred to as “data in flight”).
Security logging and monitoring audit. Validating if audit logging is performed on the guest OS and critical applications installed on Amazon EC2 instances and that the implementation is in alignment with your policies and procedures. Special attention is paid to the log storage, security, and analysis.
Disaster recovery audit. Disaster recovery controls are checked for operational effectiveness.
Security incident response audit. Incident management controls are checked for operational effectiveness.

Google Cloud Platform Audit Plan

GCP audit process. To identify assets in GCP.
Analysis of GCP accounts. To verify that the correct security and access settings are in place for users and service accounts in the GCP.
Audit of corporate governance. To understand which GCP services and resources are being used and to ensure that the customer’s security or risk management programme considers the use of public clouds.
Asset identification and classification. To identify and classify assets in the GCP environment, including data, applications and infrastructure.
Network configuration management audit. To check for missing or improperly configured security controls related to external access and network security that could lead to a security breach.
Configuration and asset management audit. To review the vulnerability management of the customer’s operating system and applications to protect the security, stability and integrity of assets.
Logical access control audit. The focus is on determining how users and permissions are configured for services in the GCP to ensure that the customer securely manages the credentials associated with all GCP accounts.
Data encryption audit. To understand where the data resides and test the methods used to secure data at rest and in transit.
Security log and monitoring audit. To verify that audit logging is maintained in the guest OS and critical applications installed on GCP instances and that the implementation complies with your policies and procedures, particularly with regard to log storage, protection and analysis.
Security incident response audit. To assess the availability and operational effectiveness of incident management tools for systems in a GCP environment.
Disaster recovery audit. To assess the availability and operational effectiveness of disaster recovery tools for systems in a GCP environment.

Check out our additional services and business cases. Send the form below to request a cloud configuration audit. Get a free consultation.

Service summary

⏳ Duration of project	In average, 2 or 3 weeks, sometimes more. Depends on the size and complexity of the infrastructure and your specific requirements.
🎁 Can it be free or have a testing period?	Free consultation and initial analysis of business requirements.
💼 What type of business needs it?	Financial services, healthcare organizations, retail and e-commerce businesses, government agencies, technology companies, etc.
💡 When is this service needed?	When you have compliance requirements, security concerns, migrations or other major changes to the infrastructure, etc.
📈 Your profit	Prevented security breaches and fines, better risk management, improved efficiency, customer confidence, loyalty, and reputation.
⚙️ Our methods and tools	Manual review, automated tools, penetration testing, threat modeling, and compliance framework assessment.
📑 Deliverables	An executive summary, detailed report, recommendations, risk assessment, and compliance certificate.

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FAQ

1️⃣ What is security configuration audit?

A security configuration audit is an evaluation process that helps to identify and assess potential security vulnerabilities within an organization's IT infrastructure. The goal of a security configuration audit is to ensure that all systems and devices are properly configured to meet the organization's security policies and standards.

During a security configuration audit, an auditor typically reviews system configurations and settings for various components, including servers, network devices, databases, and applications. The auditor will compare the configurations against the organization's security policies and standards to identify any deviations, weaknesses, or potential vulnerabilities.

Once the audit is completed, the auditor provides a report outlining the findings, including recommendations for remediation. The organization can then use this information to improve its security posture and reduce the risk of security breaches and data loss.

2️⃣ How to audit configuration?

Auditing configurations typically involves the following steps:

Define the scope. Determine the scope of the audit, including which systems and devices will be audited.
Identify applicable security policies and standards. Identify the security policies and standards that apply to the systems and devices being audited.
Gather information. Collect information about the systems and devices being audited, including configuration settings and logs.
Analyze the information. Analyze the information collected to identify any deviations from the security policies and standards.
Verify findings. Verify the findings by testing the configurations and settings to confirm the identified vulnerabilities.
Report findings and recommendations. Prepare a report of the findings and recommendations for remediation, including prioritization of issues based on severity.
Implement remediation. Work with stakeholders to implement the recommended remediation actions.
Re-audit. After the remediation actions have been implemented, re-audit the systems and devices to verify that the vulnerabilities have been addressed.

It's important to note that the specific steps involved in auditing configurations may vary depending on the systems and devices being audited and the scope of the audit. It's also important to ensure that the audit is conducted by a qualified and experienced auditor.

3️⃣ What are the Best Open Source Tools for Cloud Security Audits?

There are several open-source tools available for cloud security audits. Here are some of the best ones:

OpenSCAP. OpenSCAP is a security compliance checking tool that can scan cloud infrastructure and systems for compliance with various security standards and policies.
Lynis. Lynis is an auditing tool that checks for security vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure and systems, including servers, firewalls, and databases.
Osquery. Osquery is an endpoint monitoring and threat detection tool that can be used to monitor and audit cloud infrastructure and systems.
Cloud Custodian. Cloud Custodian is an open-source tool that provides policy automation for cloud infrastructure. It can be used to audit cloud resources, identify non-compliant resources, and automatically remediate security issues.
Scout Suite. Scout Suite is a security auditing tool for cloud infrastructure that can assess the security posture of cloud accounts, identify potential security vulnerabilities, and provide recommendations for remediation.
Security Monkey. Security Monkey is an open-source security monitoring and alerting tool that can be used to monitor cloud infrastructure for security issues, including misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.
InSpec. InSpec is an open-source compliance and security testing framework that can be used to audit cloud infrastructure and systems. It provides a human-readable language for specifying compliance requirements and can automate auditing processes.

4️⃣ Who is Cloud Security Auditor?

A cloud security auditor is a professional who specializes in conducting security audits of cloud computing environments, including public, private, and hybrid clouds. A cloud security auditor is responsible for assessing the security posture of cloud-based systems, applications, and infrastructure to identify vulnerabilities, gaps in security controls, and compliance issues.

A cloud security auditor should have a strong understanding of cloud computing technologies, including the underlying infrastructure, software, and services used to deliver cloud-based applications and services. They should also have expertise in security frameworks and compliance regulations, such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR, as well as knowledge of common security risks and threats in cloud environments.

The role of a cloud security auditor includes conducting risk assessments, vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, and security audits of cloud-based systems and infrastructure. They also develop recommendations for remediation and work with cloud providers, developers, and IT teams to implement security best practices and improve the overall security posture of cloud environments.

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