What We Do
How we do it
Resources
TRU INTELLIGENCE CENTER
Our Threat Response Unit (TRU) publishes security advisories, blogs, reports, industry publications and webinars based on its original research and the insights driven through proactive threat hunts.
View Threat Intelligence Resources →
SECURITY ADVISORIES
Jun 01, 2023
Critical Vulnerability in MOVEit Transfer
THE THREAT eSentire is aware of reports relating to the active exploitation of a currently unnamed vulnerability impacting Progress Software’s managed file transfer software MOVEit Transfer.…
Read More
View all Advisories →
Company
ABOUT ESENTIRE
About Us
eSentire is The Authority in Managed Detection and Response Services, protecting the critical data and applications of 2000+ organizations in 80+ countries from known and unknown cyber threats. Founded in 2001, the company’s mission is to hunt, investigate and stop cyber threats before they become business disrupting events.
Read about how we got here
Leadership Work at eSentire
LATEST PRESS RELEASE
Mar 20, 2023
Exertis and eSentire Partner to Deliver 24/7 Multi-Signal MDR, Digital Forensics & IR Services and Exposure Management to Organisations Across the UK, Ireland, and Europe
Basingstoke, UK– 20 March, 2023. Leading technology distributor, Exertis, announced today that it has bolstered its cybersecurity services, adding eSentire, the Authority in Managed Detection and Response (MDR), to its Enterprise portfolio of offerings. eSentire’s award-winning, 24/7 multi-signal MDR, Digital Forensics & Incident Response (IR), and Exposure Management services will be available…
Read More
Partners
PARTNER PROGRAM
e3 Ecosystem
We provide sophisticated cybersecurity solutions for Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and Value-Added Resellers (VARs). Find out why you should partner with eSentire, the Authority in Managed Detection and Response, today.
Learn more
ECOSYSTEM PARTNER RESOURCES
Apply to become an e3 ecosystem partner with eSentire, the Authority in Managed Detection and Response.
Login to the Partner Portal for resources and content for current partners.
Search
Resources
Blog — Oct 13, 2021

Misconfigurations are the Biggest Threat to Cloud Security, Period.

4 minutes read
Speak With A Security Expert Now

There is no doubt that cloud adoption is accelerating at an exponential rate. Whether it’s for business collaboration or to store critical data assets, organizations are increasingly relying on the cloud––in fact, recent reports have found that 62% of organizations utilize at least two cloud platforms.

As a result of this acceleration, we have also seen a multitude of data breaches occurring due to misconfigurations in the cloud, which occur because of improper settings being used when architecting and deploying services within the cloud platform. This leads to an expanded attack surface for cybercriminals to access any data stored within the cloud environment and increases the risk of a cyber attack.

In fact, a survey conducted by Fugue also found that 73% of the organizations reported having 10+ incidents per day due to misconfigurations, 36% reported having 100+ incidents per day, and 10% suffered from 500+ incidents per day.

Unfortunately, misconfigurations are no small threat–many of the biggest data breaches associated with cloud-based infrastructure have boiled down to some sort of a misconfiguration. For example, the 2019 CapitalOne data breach occurred as a result of a misconfigured Web Application Firewall (WAF) that’s part of Amazon Web Services (AWS), which compromised the records of 100M+ customers.

It’s no surprise that this has led the National Security Agency (NSA) to further declare that misconfigurations are easily the biggest (and most prevalent) cloud vulnerability that organizations are currently facing.

So, why do these misconfigurations happen in the first place? Ultimately, there are three primary drivers:

Simplifying Cloud Security with Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

To reduce the risk associated with misconfigurations, organizations need to combine preventative measures with ongoing cyber threat monitoring. This means leveraging a cloud security provider that can support multi-cloud environments with cloud security posture management.

Cloud security posture management is integral in eliminating cloud misconfigurations since it actively monitors the cloud infrastructure and assesses the configurations in real-time against best practice frameworks such as the CIS benchmarks.

Of course, each cloud provider has their own CIS benchmark, which is a list of policies and protocols that dictate how assets and services should be configured in the cloud. It should be noted that there may be business reasons to deviate from specific line items on the CIS benchmark. Therefore, a strong cloud security posture management solution will accomplish two things:

If you’re currently in the process of assessing various multi-cloud security providers, ask yourself:

  1. How is the security provider detecting misconfigurations within your cloud infrastructure?
    Many cybersecurity providers analyze logs ingested from cloud infrastructure providers, in order to identify misconfigurations. Depending on how often logs are being ingested, this could introduce a delay in identifying critical misconfigurations and therefore increase potential exposure time. On the other hand, if their tool connects directly into your cloud infrastructure and makes API calls to identify cloud resources, the detections can happen in real-time.

  2. Does the security provider have a strong breadth of detection capabilities?
    As we know, cloud providers are enhancing and expanding available services every day. Ensure that your cybersecurity provider is committed to authoring new detections to keep pace with your expanding cloud footprint.

  3. Can the security provider automatically remediate critical misconfigurations?
    Another limitation of using log monitoring is that logs don’t provide any response capabilities. So, relying on a provider that can monitor additional signal sources such as endpoints allows their security operations analysts to automatically remediate found misconfigurations.

At the end of the day, every organization will move to a cloud platform, even if it’s in a hybrid environment. As this migration occurs, the onus of protecting the data and assets will rest with each business leader.

It’s safe to say that it’s far more cost-effective to invest in a cloud security solution that strengthens your overall cybersecurity posture and decreases cyber risk than to suffer the consequences of a crippling cyber attack, especially one that could have been prevented.

To learn more about how eSentire can protect your multi-cloud environment with Cloud Security Posture Management and 24/7 Threat Detection and Investigation, connect with a security specialist today.

View Most Recent Blogs
eSentire
eSentire

eSentire, Inc., the Authority in Managed Detection and Response (MDR), protects the critical data and applications of 2000+ organizations in 80+ countries, across 35 industries from known and unknown cyber threats by providing Exposure Management, Managed Detection and Response and Incident Response services designed to build an organization’s cyber resilience & prevent business disruption. Founded in 2001, eSentire protects the world’s most targeted organizations with 65% of its global base recognized as critical infrastructure, vital to economic health and stability. By combining open XDR platform technology, 24/7 threat hunting, and proven security operations leadership, eSentire's award-winning MDR services and team of experts help organizations anticipate, withstand and recover from cyberattacks. For more information, visit: www.esentire.com and follow @eSentire.