Cloud computing is now a core part of modern business, but cloud-based attacks have grown alongside it. As a result, securing cloud assets has become a top priority for security teams.
Unlike traditional environments, cloud security goes far beyond protecting a defined network perimeter. There’s no clear boundary, connectivity is constant, and visibility across complex, distributed architectures can be limited. In short, the rules have changed and security strategies have had to evolve with them.
Here’s what organizations need to understand about securing cloud resources today, and how Fortra solutions can help address these challenges.
What Exactly Is Cloud Security?
Since the cloud is a place where you can manipulate data on external hardware, cloud security is the plans, processes, and technologies that allow you to do so safely.
A solid enterprise cloud protection strategy has the following components:
- Precise levels of access. Encompassing IAM, the principle of least privilege, passwords at large, and the broad scope of user privileges, it is essential to control how much access a user has to assets in the cloud — especially because cloud architecture can make data, user identities, and digital footprints hard to track.
- Robust encryption. When you store something in the cloud, it needs to be encrypted for safekeeping. That means plaintext becomes undecipherable and no chances are taken.
- Security for data in transit. As data moves between cloud platforms, it needs to be just as protected by the workload, not the location. It’s not enough to secure just your network’s access points; the data itself must be protected, as the cloud can easily allow it to be moved anywhere.
- Automation and experts. There are fundamental differences between securing the cloud and securing on-premises resources. These differences beget a learning curve, and it helps to have cloud security experts, especially at the early stages of the game, to help you automate key security policies and not make any fundamental errors.
The Cloud Maturity Model
Prior to advancing to your full-fledged cloud security strategy, it is important for organizations to consider where they fall within the cloud maturity model (CMM). This framework not only assesses your readiness to use cloud services but outlines the gaps preventing you from complete cloud security. Organizations considering AWS may prefer to use the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF). Both the CMM and AWS CAF advise on timely investments in several key categories and provide a blueprint for wisely advancing towards full cloud security maturity.
Essential Tools for Securing the Cloud
Some market-ready solutions to tackle cloud security include unified cloud data protection platforms that combine CASB, DLP, ZTNA, and secure web gateway capabilities to provide full visibility and control across cloud apps.
- Access controls: Centralized cloud-based access management that allows for granular, custom-built control. Create flexible policies based on mandatory, discretionary, or role-based access models.
- Encryption: By encrypting your data in transit, only those with the decryption key can see it. That drastically reduces the likelihood of man-in-the-middle attacks, as the data is jumbled and useless. Encrypt to protect data as it moves between cloud-based applications, or when it’s stored on the cloud’s network.
- Backups: It’s best not to risk all your eggs in one basket. Avail yourself of your cloud provider’s backup solution and lean on at least one or two third-party extras to be safe.
- Detection and response: This is one of the most key security capabilities in cloud protection today. The ability to automatically and autonomously respond to threats in the cloud is critical for keeping up with the sheer volume of cloud-based attacks SOCs now face daily.
- Web application firewalls (WAFs): WAFs allow you to set custom boundaries for what you perceive to be a threat, taking in all traffic from application servers and guarding against cross-site scripting attacks, SQL injections, and more.
Cloud Security Risks
Why a multi-layered defense strategy? Because organizations operating in the cloud face a wide and constantly evolving range of threats.
First, encryption can be a double-edged sword. Each of the cloud service models — Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) — handles encryption differently, making it challenging to ensure consistent data protection across environments.
Next, compliance requirements continue to tighten. What is compliant today may not meet tomorrow’s standards, and static policies can quickly become outdated. Maintaining compliance in the cloud requires continuous awareness, agility, and the ability to implement broad policy changes efficiently.
Security hygiene is another ongoing challenge. Essential controls like password management, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and cryptographic key rotation can be overlooked in dynamic cloud environments. Automation helps reduce this risk by ensuring these practices are consistently enforced.
And beyond these challenges are well-known threats — phishing, ransomware, supply chain attacks, DNS exploits, SQL injection, and credential theft — all of which become harder to detect and contain in the cloud’s highly interconnected architecture.
How to Stay Secure During Cloud Migration
Start early. Define your strategy and security scope from the outset. Flexible, comprehensive controls should be built into your cloud architecture from day one, retrofitting security later often leads to complexity, gaps, and incomplete coverage.
Move in phases. A gradual approach allows for better cost control and scalability. Incremental investments over time can improve visibility, make security more manageable, and ensure controls evolve alongside your cloud environment.
Eliminate legacy security practices. Before migrating, audit your existing security posture and address outdated or ineffective controls. Establishing strong foundations early ensures your cloud environment is built on modern, scalable security principles.
Cloud Security by Fortra
Fortra Cloud Data Protection secures every stage of your cloud journey — migration, day-to-day operations, and scaling.
Our cloud security experts and platform combine deep expertise with powerful automation to reduce the burden on your team. Whether you’re fully outsourcing security or strengthening an in-house strategy, we help you design, monitor, and continuously improve a safer, more resilient cloud environment.
