Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) is a new approach to protecting cloud data, as recognized by Gartner, which emphasizes the importance of data as the most valuable asset within an organization. With the increasing amount of data in modern multi-cloud environments, there is a higher risk of data loss or compromise. This has made cloud data security the top concern for security professionals.
What is Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)?
DSPM provides a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing the security of your data, including its location, who has access to it, and their security posture. A modern DSPM platform automates the process of assessing and addressing security vulnerabilities in an organization’s cloud environment. It works by ingesting data from existing security tools and cloud service providers, using AI/ML to analyze and identify weaknesses. By following guidelines and using the right tools, organizations can efficiently and effectively safeguard their critical data
How Does DSPM Work?
Data Security Posture Management is a process that aims to secure cloud data by discovering and analyzing data, detecting at-risk data, and remediating vulnerabilities. The discovery phase involves locating and understanding data which can be challenging in agile environments. The detection phase involves identifying at-risk data by looking at access paths, misconfigurations, and vulnerabilities. The remediation phase focuses on addressing vulnerabilities and securing data through collaboration between different teams. DSPM is an ongoing process due to the evolving nature of cloud environments and data usage.
What are the Key Features of Data Security Posture Management Platforms?
A Data Security Posture Management platform automates various aspects of cloud data security, including assessing security posture, detecting risks, and ensuring compliance. Below are the key features of DSPM:
- Agentless and compatible with major cloud providers
- Provides API access for integration with existing tools
- Uses role-based access control for secure data management
- Uses data discovery tools to identify sensitive data and continuously monitor new data stores
- Provides automated data classification at the point of creation/modification
- Governs access to data stores and facilitates in the detection of redundant databases and excessive privileges
- Focuses on the detection of vulnerabilities affecting sensitive data and privileged accounts
- Supports custom rules, queries, and workflows for risk detection and remediation
- Ensures compliance with industry standards and regulations such as GDPR and HIPAA
- Generates reports to demonstrate compliance to the relevant authorities.
How is DSPM Being Used?
Data Security Posture Management is mainly used by organizations that prioritize cloud-based infrastructure or are transitioning from a hybrid cloud/on-premises setup. It has four main use cases:
1. Automating data discovery and classification across all repositories: Data Security Posture Management helps security teams by automatically identifying, classifying, and validating data across all cloud accounts, including shadow data stores and abandoned data stores.
2. Preventing cloud data exposure and reducing the attack surface: DSPM allows security teams to minimize the exposure of cloud data and reduce the potential attack surface by continuously checking data stores and resources for misconfigurations and vulnerable applications.
3. Tracking data access permissions and enforcing least privilege: DSPM enables security teams to easily view and manage access privileges for all cloud data stores. It identifies excessive privileges and dormant users, allowing administrators to correct permissions and remove potential risks.
4. Proactively monitoring compliance posture: The DSPM platform assists stakeholders in meeting compliance requirements by continuously checking against benchmarks and policies. It helps to identify sensitive data that needs to be encrypted and provides evidence for compliance audits.
Why Do I Need to Adopt Data Security Posture Management?
The traditional moat/castle cybersecurity model is no longer reliable in today’s evolving threat landscape. This is because attackers are no longer targeting the castle itself but rather the valuable data within. Here are six reasons why organizations should prioritize data in their security strategies:
1. Risk of Bugs and Data Leakage in CI/CD Practices: Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices result in frequent code changes and deployments, increasing the risk of bugs and data leakage, especially in cloud environments.
2. Potential Exploits in Data Movement: Machine learning (ML) workloads require large amounts of data, leading to the creation of new data stores for testing and training. This movement of production data into non-production environments can expose it to potential exploits.
3. Complexity of Data Security in Modern App Development: Modern app development relies on microservices, each with their own data stores. Securing data becomes more complex as new features and microservices are introduced, requiring automation to monitor and protect the expanding number of data stores and access paths.
4. Challenges in Consistently Applying Security Controls to Data Copies: Copies of data exist in various cloud storage locations, making it challenging to apply security controls consistently. Prioritizing data in security policies allows for automatic tracking and protection of data wherever it is stored.
5. Unauthorized Access Risks caused by Misconfigurations: Misconfigurations in cloud infrastructure can lead to unauthorized access to data. A data-first approach ensures that access configurations are properly implemented and consistently applied across all cloud data.
6. Precise Control and Monitoring for Compliance with Privacy Regulations: Compliance with privacy regulations, such as GDPR, PCI DSS, and HIPAA, requires precise control and tracking of sensitive data. A data-first security policy enables automatic discovery, classification and monitoring of protected data in the cloud.
How to Get Started with Data Security Posture Management
As a starting point, you will need to identify the existing cloud provider(s) being used, such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and so on. Collecting details regarding the cloud accounts, such as Account ID and nickname, is also necessary. Additionally, authorized users who will operate the DSPM software should be listed, including their name, title, email address, and other relevant information. It is recommended that the security team obtains a known inventory of data stores in the organization’s cloud infrastructure before starting the trial. This inventory will act as a benchmark to compare what is known about the organization’s data with what Data Security Posture Management discovers.
If you’d like to see how the Lepide Data Security Platform can help to keep your cloud data secure, schedule a demo with one of our engineers or start your free trial today.
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