Cloud Security Audit Tools: A Glance, Why It's Important, Top Tools and Techniques

Cloud security audit tools are important for assessing and managing the security of your cloud infrastructure. In this article, we will take a look at what cloud security audit is, why it is important, and some of the top tools and techniques used in the industry. We will also discuss the benefits of using cloud security audit tools and how they can help you protect your data. 

Cloud Security Audit Tools at a glance

Cloud security audit tools are used to assess the security posture of an organization's cloud infrastructure. These tools can be used to identify and remediate vulnerabilities, monitor for compliance with security policies, and track changes to the cloud environment. Here are the top five examples of cloud security tools that are taking the industry by a storm: Astra's Pentest, Prowler, Dow Jone's Hammer, ScoutSuite, and CloudSploit Scans.

What Is Cloud Security Audit?

A cloud security audit is a process through which you can assess the security posture of a cloud environment. This assessment can be performed manually or through automated tools. The goal of a cloud security audit is to identify vulnerabilities and risks associated with the use of cloud services.

Why Is Cloud Security Audit Important?

A cloud security audit is important because it helps organizations identify and mitigate risks associated with the use of cloud services. Cloud services are often used to store sensitive data; that’s why it is important to ensure that these services are secure. 

Benefits of Cloud Security Audit

There are several different benefits of conducting a cloud security audit. Listed below are some of these benefits that your business can come across if you conduct a thorough cloud security audit —

• Identifying and mitigating risks associated with the use of cloud services
• Regulating authorities must be satisfied
• Enhancing the security posture of an organization
• Reducing the expense of cloud services ownership

Examples of Top 5 Cloud Security Audit Tools With Their Features

There are several different cloud security audit tools available on the market. Here are the top five tools you can confide in when planning to conduct a cloud security audit:

1. Astra's Pentest

With the amount of servitude with more than 1250 tests and adherence to international security standards, Astra’s Pentest is a cloud security audit tool that has an intuitive dashboard with dynamic visualization of vulnerabilities. It can also detect the severity of potential vulnerabilities and provide security audits with simultaneous remediation assistance and multiple re-scans.

2. Prowler 

It is one of the finest cloud security auditing tools that is used to determine audit, best practices assessments, hardening, and forensic readiness. Prowler also follows the CIS Amazon Web Services Foundations Benchmark guidelines and several additional checks such as HIPAA and GDPR.

3. Dow Jone's Hammer

It's a cloud security solution for Amazon AWS that supports multi-accounts. Geared with real-time reporting capabilities such as Slack and JIRA, Hammer identifies misconfigurations as well as insecure data exposures within the most popular AWS resources across all accounts and regions. The real-time reporting capability equips it with the power to provide quick feedback to the engineers and to perform auto-remediation of some of the misconfigurations. Hammer can also create secure guardrails that help protect products deployed on the cloud platforms. 

4. ScoutSuite

It is an open-source multi-cloud tool used in security auditing that enables security posture assessments of cloud environments. ScoutSuite uses APIs exposed by cloud providers to gather configuration data for manual inspection as well as to highlight the risk areas. It supports Azure, AWS, GCP, Oracle, And Alibaba clouds.

5. CloudSploit Scans 

It is an open-source project that helps detect potential security threats in cloud infrastructure accounts. These particular scripts are devices in a manner that allows them to return a series of potential misconfigurations as well as security risks. CloudSploit Scans is an extraordinary tool that supports Azure, AWS, GCP, and Oracle Cloud Assessments.

Cloud Security Audit Techniques and Procedures

In cloud security audits, there are numerous techniques and procedures involved. By following these techniques and procedures, you can make sure that your business is having a smooth, uninterrupted run. Take a look at some of the most common cloud security techniques and procedures —

• Identifying vulnerabilities in cloud environments
• Analyzing configuration settings
• Checking for compliance with security policies
• Reviewing access control lists
• Monitoring activity logs

Cloud Security Audit Checklist

• Examine the Security Postures of Your Cloud Providers

Customers don't want to join up with a cloud vendor that isn't providing adequate protection. You'll need a method to assess risk based on data-driven insights, ranging from onboarding through the duration of the relationship, in addition to their security policies and procedures.

• Use Your Cloud Security Audit to Assess Your Attack Surface

By monitoring your cloud environment on a regular basis, you may quickly identify any flaws in your security precautions and have control over risk across your cloud assets. With this knowledge, you may focus your remediation efforts and better prioritize assets that are at particularly high risk or most essential to your company.

• Create Strong Access Controls

One of the most prevalent cloud security concerns is improper access management. While competent account managers at your cloud provider would typically give administrator-level access, if those credentials end up in the wrong hands, your data may be exposed. It's a major issue.

• Establish External Sharing Standards

One of the most significant advantages of cloud computing is that it is easier to use. It has made getting access to and sharing information throughout an organization a snap. However, ease comes with risk. Employees could install malware on their home networks that gain unauthorized access to corporate data or share it with someone outside the company.

• Maintain Regular Patch

Patch management is a crucial component of keeping your cloud environment secure. However, IT and security professionals may find patch management to be an uphill battle.

Limitations of Cloud Security Audit

There are some limitations to cloud security audits. These limitations are listed below:

• Cloud security audits can often face difficulties in identifying all the risks associated with the use of cloud service
• It requires specialized knowledge and skills. Without these qualities, the  security audit can often take a wrong turn
• It is often faced with a problem where there is a lack of visibility into the internal workings of the cloud environments
• The potential for false positives and negatives

Conclusion

Cloud security audit tools are important for assessing and managing the security of your cloud infrastructure. In this article, we have taken a look at what cloud security audit is, why it is important, and some of the top tools and techniques used in the industry. We have also discussed the benefits of using cloud security audit tools and how they can help you protect your data.