A Complete Guide to Network Performance Management (NPM)
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February 22, 2022
Whether you understand cloud computing or not, if you are savvy enough to use a smartphone or a laptop, chances are you already use cloud computing services. For example, if you have used Amazon.com, any Google Application, Microsoft 365 Suite, or even streamed movies and songs online, you have used cloud computing services.
Microsoft defines cloud computing as the “delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. You typically pay only for cloud services you use, helping you lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, and scale as your business needs change.” Basically, companies can use the services mentioned above through the internet in place of their on-premise server.
Due to lower operating costs and other efficiency factors, most companies, no matter their size, are quickly migrating to the cloud. This has led to many criticalities arising in the management of cloud architecture. Specifically, the security aspect needs utmost attention, mainly in application domains where integrity, privacy, and confidentiality of information must be guaranteed. SECaaS in cloud computing helps you achieve that.
Wikipedia describes Security as a Service (SECaas) as a “business model in which a service provider integrates their security services into a corporate infrastructure on a subscription basis.” This security as a service is generally more cost-effective than most corporations provide on their own when the total cost of ownership is considered. To understand, consider SECaaS as a SaaS (Software as a Service) model where the service provider offers cybersecurity-focused services to aid with customer’s networks and IT systems.
According to IDC’s Cloud computing study, 92% of organizations have at least some part of their IT environment as cloud-based. Additionally, more than 55% of the organizations currently use multiple public clouds. The survey also found that Technology decision-makers believed privacy and security challenges to be the major hurdles preventing them from taking full advantage of their public clouds.
‘The State of Cloud Security 2020,’ a survey by Sophos, found that almost two-thirds of organizations (70%) hosting data/workloads in the public cloud experienced a security incident. Moreover, multi-cloud organizations reported more security incidents than those using only one platform.
A lot of work has been done regarding the security of the cloud and the data within it. However, there was still a dearth of best practices guidelines to follow during developing and implementing an elastic cloud model. The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) solved this problem by breaking the SECaaS into various categories:
IAM provides controls for access intelligence, identity verification, and access management. It includes processes, such as provisioning/de-provisioning of accounts, directory services, authentication, token management, etc.
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This preventive measure mainly ensures that data (structured and unstructured) remains under control.
It deals with data security, monitoring, protection, and verification in the cloud and on-premises. Its functionalities include- data labeling & classification, identification of sensitive data, Structured data matching, SQL regular expression detection etc.
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This is a reactive and real-time protection mechanism against online applications offered via the cloud by redirecting web traffic to the cloud provider. It provides services like web filtering, spyware & bot network analyzer, phishing site blocker, email security etc.
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Email security pertains to keeping the organization secure from malicious emails. It gives you complete control over the company emails, allowing you to set policies, encrypt communication, and block spam emails, among others.
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These are audits of cloud services or assessments of on-premises systems via cloud-provided solutions generally done by third parties. Some of the features are Risk management, compliance, technical compliance audits, application security assessments, etc.
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This process uses pattern recognition to detect and react to statistically unusual events to stop/prevent an intrusion in real-time. Generally, it provides identification of intrusions & policy violations, automatic/manual remedy actions, and updates to address new vulnerabilities & exploits.
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This is a detection process in which the systems accept log/event information. This information is then analyzed and used to report and alert on events that may require intervention. It provides real-time log & event correlation, forensic support, log normalization, compliance reporting, etc
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This process makes the data indecipherable by managing encryptions, hashing, digital signatures, and key exchanges. Its functionalities include- data protection, data validation, message authentication, data time-stamping, code signing, forgery detection, etc.
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Network Security refers to various services that help in distributing, managing, and monitoring security controls in a network. The functionalities are traffic/NetFlow monitoring, security monitoring, data threats, access control threats, security gateways, DoS protection/mitigation etc
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Many organizations lack domain knowledge or simply struggle to train in-house security professionals for various reasons. SECaaS providers are highly skilled, domain expert technicians who help enterprises enhance their security capabilities.
Generally, SECaaS providers will be servicing multiple clients simultaneously. So, when any issue arrives with one client, the remedy for that kind of threat can be used as a preemptive defense strategy for other clients as well.
As SECaaS is itself a cloud-native model, it is probably the best suited to handle evolving workplaces and cloud migrations. It can manage flexible deployment models without thecomplexity of multi-site hardware installations.
SECaaS acts as a preventive service to intercept various attacks before they hit the enterprises. For example, it adds an extra layer of Firewall or spam filters between the organization and attackers.
Flexible cost of the SECaaS services allow enterprises to pay only for the services they use. This helps them concentrate on their core competencies while leaving the security concerns to the experts.
Since many companies are adopting cloud technologies but are still ill-informed about the security aspect, they need their service providers to look after their Cloud Security needs. There are various cloud security issues such as data breaches, distributed denial of services attacks, phishing scams, etc. that SECaaS providers can efficiently address.
Also, developing in-house cloud security experts is costly and requires regular upskilling and training of the employees. Partnering with a trusted SECaaS service provider can help organizations focus on their core business area while the partner will help keep their digital assets secure.
