Articles
8/30/2022
10 minutes

Multi-Cloud Security Best Practices to Protect Business-Critical Infrastructure

Written by
Team Copado
Table of contents

Many DevOps organizations adopt a multi-cloud strategy to take advantage of the functionality and reliability of multiple cloud services. However, combining multiple platforms and vendors creates a more complex architecture, which makes multi-cloud security more challenging. This blog will discuss four multi-cloud security best practices to help you overcome these challenges and protect your critical infrastructure.

Multi-Cloud Security Best Practices

These multi-cloud security best practices will help you prevent, detect, and mitigate breaches so you can get the most out of your cloud services.

Automated Configurations and Security

Misconfiguration of cloud services is a leading cause of security breaches. For example, a configuration error in Twitch’s AWS environment led to a breach that exposed proprietary source code, creator payout records, and other valuable information. Oftentimes, human error is responsible for misconfigurations, and they are more likely in a multi-cloud environment. This is because administrators are responsible for managing the configurations of multiple platforms, which all have different UIs, requirements, and quirks.

Automated configuration management can help reduce the risk of multi-cloud configuration mistakes. Configuration management involves defining the desired state of a system and then ensuring the system maintains that state. Automated configuration management tools (such as Chef, Ansible, or Puppet) do this work for you by monitoring system configurations and using programmatic playbooks to update or modify configurations that drift away from this pre-defined state. This method ensures consistent configurations for all instances within a cloud environment and reduces the risk that a mistake goes uncorrected in production.

In addition, human beings aren’t adept at sorting through vast quantities of monitoring data to find anomalies, which is why breaches often take so long to detect. A human administrator takes longer to make decisions and respond to threats than an automated system. Automated security monitoring and issue remediation tools can reduce the risk that a vulnerability or threat goes unnoticed, allowing breaches to be resolved before too much damage is done.

DevSecOps

According to a Forrester Research Survey from 2019, 42% of external cyberattacks were blamed on software security flaws. You need robust security vulnerability testing to find and fix these defects before an application is released. The DevSecOps methodology solves this problem by building security into every stage of the development cycle. Automated security scans run as soon as new code is integrated and before that code is delivered to QA, staging, and production. Therefore, you can thoroughly validate the security of your software without adding any bottlenecks to your pipeline and deliver code on time without sacrificing security or quality.

Cloud Native Security Solutions

Trying to force your multi-cloud environment into your on-premises security perimeter increases the risk of a compatibility error or configuration mistake, leaving you with gaps in security coverage. That’s why it’s a multi-cloud security best practice to use cloud-native security tools. These may include cloud versions of traditional tools, such as Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) platforms, but additional solutions are designed to manage the specific challenges of protecting a multi-cloud environment.

For example, Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solutions act as a gatekeeper between your on-premises network and your cloud environment, allowing you to extend your enterprise security policies and controls to the cloud. A CASB often includes data loss prevention (DLP), user behavior analytics, and traffic inspection to ensure that your multi-cloud resources are as protected as your on-premises infrastructure.

Another option is to maintain separate security environments for your on-premises and public cloud resources, ideally with individual security perimeters around each public cloud. Doing so will allow you to utilize the policies and technologies that are best suited to protect each environment. It also makes it easier to set up security checkpoints around each environment, so users must re-verify their identity and re-establish trust before moving to another network segment. Creating highly specific security policies and implementing custom-tailored solutions to enforce those policies improves multi-cloud security by ensuring total coverage and limiting a potential hacker’s lateral movement.

Centralized Security Management

One of the biggest multi-cloud management challenges involves maintaining visibility into and control over multiple disparate cloud environments. Each vendor provides built-in security settings, logging, and user access controls that administrators need to learn, configure, and manage. This complexity makes it difficult (if not impossible) to get a complete picture of your multi-cloud security posture and, once again, increases the risk of human error. 

That’s why centralized security management is a best practice for protecting multi-cloud environments. It provides engineers with one control panel from which to access monitoring dashboards, security configuration settings, access control lists, and more. A centralized security platform ensures consistent protection across on-premises and cloud infrastructure while reducing management complexity.  

However, it’s important to acknowledge that even the best multi-cloud security management tools are only as effective as the team using them. If security engineers don’t know how to use these tools correctly, they aren’t given reasonable timeframes in which to implement them or are too overworked to consistently monitor them, then the solution will ultimately fail. That’s why it’s critical to support your engineers with the training and resources they need to use multi-cloud security tools effectively.   

Implementing Multi-Cloud Security Best Practices in Your Enterprise

Human error comes up repeatedly in discussions about multi-cloud security. That’s because any highly-complex system architecture increases the chances of mistakes, mismanagement, and negligence, all of which create security risks. Implementing these multi-cloud security best practices will help you reduce human error. However, you still need to provide support to the administrators and engineers who have to learn and manage your multi-cloud solutions. For example, the DevSecOps experts at Copado Strategic Services can work with your team to ensure they have the training, technology, and resources required to manage your multi-cloud security.

 

 

Book a demo

About The Author

#1 DevOps Platform for Salesforce

We build unstoppable teams by equipping DevOps professionals with the platform, tools and training they need to make release days obsolete. Work smarter, not longer.

Making DevOps Easier and Faster with AI
Chapter 5: Automated Testing
Reimagining Salesforce Development with Copado's AI-Powered Platform
Planning User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Tips and Tricks for a Smooth and Enjoyable UAT
What is DevOps for Business Applications
Copado Integrates Powerful AI Solutions into Its Community as It Surpasses the 100,000 Member Milestone
Testing End-to-End Salesforce Flows: Web and Mobile Applications
How to get non-technical users onboard with Salesforce UAT testing
DevOps Excellence within Salesforce Ecosystem
Best Practices for AI in Salesforce Testing
6 testing metrics that’ll speed up your Salesforce release velocity (and how to track them)
Chapter 4: Manual Testing Overview
AI Driven Testing for Salesforce
AI-powered Planning for Salesforce Development
Chapter 3: Testing Fun-damentals
Salesforce Deployment: Avoid Common Pitfalls with AI-Powered Release Management
Exploring DevOps for Different Types of Salesforce Clouds
Copado Launches Suite of AI Agents to Transform Business Application Delivery
What’s Special About Testing Salesforce? - Chapter 2
Why Test Salesforce? - Chapter 1
Continuous Integration for Salesforce Development
Comparing Top AI Testing Tools for Salesforce
Avoid Deployment Conflicts with Copado’s Selective Commit Feature: A New Way to Handle Overlapping Changes
From Learner to Leader: Journey to Copado Champion of the Year
Enhancing Salesforce Security with AppOmni and Copado Integration: Insights, Uses and Best Practices
The Future of Salesforce DevOps: Leveraging AI for Efficient Conflict Management
A Guide to Using AI for Salesforce Development Issues
How to Sync Salesforce Environments with Back Promotions
Copado and Wipro Team Up to Transform Salesforce DevOps
DevOps Needs for Operations in China: Salesforce on Alibaba Cloud
What is Salesforce Deployment Automation? How to Use Salesforce Automation Tools
Maximizing Copado's Cooperation with Essential Salesforce Instruments
Future Trends in Salesforce DevOps: What Architects Need to Know
From Chaos to Clarity: Managing Salesforce Environment Merges and Consolidations
Enhancing Customer Service with CopadoGPT Technology
What is Efficient Low Code Deployment?
Copado Launches Test Copilot to Deliver AI-powered Rapid Test Creation
Cloud-Native Testing Automation: A Comprehensive Guide
A Guide to Effective Change Management in Salesforce for DevOps Teams
Building a Scalable Governance Framework for Sustainable Value
Copado Launches Copado Explorer to Simplify and Streamline Testing on Salesforce
Exploring Top Cloud Automation Testing Tools
Master Salesforce DevOps with Copado Robotic Testing
Exploratory Testing vs. Automated Testing: Finding the Right Balance
A Guide to Salesforce Source Control
A Guide to DevOps Branching Strategies
Family Time vs. Mobile App Release Days: Can Test Automation Help Us Have Both?
How to Resolve Salesforce Merge Conflicts: A Guide
Copado Expands Beta Access to CopadoGPT for All Customers, Revolutionizing SaaS DevOps with AI
Is Mobile Test Automation Unnecessarily Hard? A Guide to Simplify Mobile Test Automation
From Silos to Streamlined Development: Tarun’s Tale of DevOps Success
Simplified Scaling: 10 Ways to Grow Your Salesforce Development Practice
What is Salesforce Incident Management?
What Is Automated Salesforce Testing? Choosing the Right Automation Tool for Salesforce
Copado Appoints Seasoned Sales Executive Bob Grewal to Chief Revenue Officer
Business Benefits of DevOps: A Guide
Copado Brings Generative AI to Its DevOps Platform to Improve Software Development for Enterprise SaaS
Celebrating 10 Years of Copado: A Decade of DevOps Evolution and Growth
Copado Celebrates 10 Years of DevOps for Enterprise SaaS Solutions
5 Reasons Why Copado = Less Divorces for Developers
What is DevOps? Build a Successful DevOps Ecosystem with Copado’s Best Practices
Scaling App Development While Meeting Security Standards
5 Data Deploy Features You Don’t Want to Miss
Top 5 Reasons I Choose Copado for Salesforce Development
How to Elevate Customer Experiences with Automated Testing
Getting Started With Value Stream Maps
Copado and nCino Partner to Provide Proven DevOps Tools for Financial Institutions
Unlocking Success with Copado: Mission-Critical Tools for Developers
How Automated Testing Enables DevOps Efficiency
How to Keep Salesforce Sandboxes in Sync
How to Switch from Manual to Automated Testing with Robotic Testing
Best Practices to Prevent Merge Conflicts with Copado 1 Platform
Software Bugs: The Three Causes of Programming Errors
How Does Copado Solve Release Readiness Roadblocks?
Why I Choose Copado Robotic Testing for my Test Automation
How to schedule a Function and Job Template in DevOps: A Step-by-Step Guide
Delivering Quality nCino Experiences with Automated Deployments and Testing
Best Practices Matter for Accelerated Salesforce Release Management
Maximize Your Code Quality, Security and performance with Copado Salesforce Code Analyzer
Upgrade Your Test Automation Game: The Benefits of Switching from Selenium to a More Advanced Platform
Three Takeaways From Copa Community Day
Cloud Native Applications: 5 Characteristics to Look for in the Right Tools
Using Salesforce nCino Architecture for Best Testing Results
How To Develop A Salesforce Testing Strategy For Your Enterprise
What Is Multi Cloud: Key Use Cases and Benefits for Enterprise Settings
5 Steps to Building a Salesforce Center of Excellence for Government Agencies
Salesforce UI testing: Benefits to Staying on Top of Updates
Benefits of UI Test Automation and Why You Should Care
Types of Salesforce Testing and When To Use Them
Copado + DataColada: Enabling CI/CD for Developers Across APAC
What is Salesforce API Testing and It Why Should Be Automated
Machine Learning Models: Adapting Data Patterns With Copado For AI Test Automation
Automated Testing Benefits: The Case For As Little Manual Testing As Possible
Beyond Selenium: Low Code Testing To Maximize Speed and Quality
UI Testing Best Practices: From Implementation to Automation
How Agile Test Automation Helps You Develop Better and Faster
Salesforce Test Cases: Knowing When to Test
DevOps Quality Assurance: Major Pitfalls and Challenges
11 Characteristics of Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) That Set Them Apart
7 Key Compliance Regulations Relating to Data Storage
Go back to resources
There is no previous posts
Go back to resources
There is no next posts

Explore more about

No items found.
Articles
December 6, 2024
Making DevOps Easier and Faster with AI
Articles
November 19, 2024
Chapter 5: Automated Testing
Articles
November 18, 2024
Reimagining Salesforce Development with Copado's AI-Powered Platform
Articles
November 8, 2024
Planning User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Tips and Tricks for a Smooth and Enjoyable UAT

Activate AI — Accelerate DevOps

Release Faster, Eliminate Risk, and Enjoy Your Work.
Try Copado Devops.

Resources

Level up your Salesforce DevOps skills with our resource library.

Upcoming Events & Webinars

Learn More

E-Books and Whitepapers

Learn More

Support and Documentation

Learn More

Demo Library

Learn More