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SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD:

ANALYZING THE TOP 10 BENEFITS OF UNIFIED SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD

Accelerating ROI and Effective Security Practices by Deploying Cloud-based Integrated Solutions and Centralized Control

Of all the strategies and tactics

available to prevent breaches, deter

data leakage and theft, control

access and secure beyond the so-

called network perimeter, the one

that is emerging as an achievable

and affordable best practice is that

of unified security from the cloud.

But if you look across the web, you will no doubt come across various

versions of what constitutes “unified,” what is “protected,” and, what is

“security from the cloud?” Luckily this means that the concept of unified

security from the cloud is becoming more and more of a best practice. In

general, the practice of unified security is the centralization of all security

functions under one umbrella across the enterprise. This means more than

ensuring data encryption. It means more than access policies. It means

more than intrusion detection, malware blocking, data review. It’s more

than ensuring compliance to the various regulatory bodies that provide

general guidelines. It is the sum of all these things….and more.

So what is unified security? In short, it is an enterprise-powered tactical

strategy that not only centralizes various security toolsets, but creates the

seamless means to create cooperative functionality between them all. And

as a cloud-based security initiative, this creates several tangible benefits

that will allow any-sized company to upgrade their protection, but expand

their protection beyond the network-centric traditional models of

perimeter security.

To properly expand visibility, unified security is typically comprised of

several solutions including system log archiving (the collection and storage

of all online activity), identity management (administration of users,

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Suite 1111 Los Angeles, CA 90025

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SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD:

passwords and applications), access management (enforcement of identity

rules and channeled access to data) and SIEM (the intelligence that

correlates and contextualizes all activity).

True unified security is also more than the solutions it comprises; it

includes the analysis, management, and the implementation of access and

intelligence policies that transform it from passive to proactive and

immediately responsive. And by developing and managing these security

features, solutions and policies from the cloud is more than the obvious

cost savings, it allows for the exponential expansion of real time visibility

over a broader landscape and facilitates a more secure transaction

compatibility with the way modern enterprises exchange, process and

share information.

To that end, the following are 10 benefits of implementing unified security

from the cloud.

10. Right size as the situation dictates – In today’s business landscape,

change is often fast and evolutionary. Being able to keep up is a major

challenge for IT and IT security. One of the hallmarks of a cloud-based

implementation is the flexibility and agility to adjust its scope quickly and

without the oppressive costs and time of a consultant or IT service.

Considering the hoops of fire and Herculean strength needed to expand

coverage to a new department or division, on-premise security initiatives

may require the purchase of new expensive servers, resource-heavy

reconfiguration and re-prioritization of core competency projects. With

the cloud’s natural economies of scale, these costs are already absorbed

and changes are more fluid and immediate. And with unified security, it’s

more than just applying a sensor or agent on a server to collect new data.

The changes to right size affect more than a single solution, —you must

consider the constant fluctuation of change within an enterprise-the ebb

and flow of staffing, the adjustment of new, updated and retired

applications, and all the moving parts that come with incorporating

vendors, suppliers and customers into the permission and protection mix.

Unified security from the cloud creates the freedom and necessary speed

to evolve with a company’s changing situation on an as-needed basis

without an Act of Congress while still ensuring the adjustments across all

the entire security landscape.

6 REQUIREMENTS FOR

EFFECTIVE FRAUD

PREVENTION:

Layered Security

Real-time, intelligence-based

risk assessment

Rapid adaptation against

evolving threats

Transaction Anomaly

Prevention

Minimize end user impact

Minimizing deployment,

management and

operational costs

Learn how to achieve this from the

cloud: www.cloudaccess.com

Metrics should be established

that facilitate common ground

for measuring effectiveness of

security measures

CLOUDACCESS 877-550-2568 www.cloudaccess.com

SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD:

9. Make compliance easier: One of the substantial drains of time and

energy go into the process of proving to various regulatory bodies that

various slices of data are free from prying keyboards. Some companies go

so far as dedicating personnel to simply comb through logs and find and

report upon instances of breach and questionable activities. As I’ve insisted

many times before, this practice is akin to looking for the horse in a

gigantic haystack long after its left the barn (no matter how often sys-logs

are reviewed, it is done in a rear-view mirror. These are events that have

already occurred. And the damage is already done).

When evaluating what organizations like PCI and HIPAA require, the scope

is more than just continuous monitoring (see blog regarding continuous

monitoring satisfies compliance, but not security). They require proof of

compliance for everything from firewall configuration to vulnerability

scans, from data storage protocols to the development of identity

authentication, password management and access privileges. I’ve

identified about 20 common critical controls that are typically required by

all compliance agencies. Unified security consolidates all the capabilities so

that the reporting is considerably more streamline and accessible. Instead

of four or five solutions each requiring four or five reports, logins and the

physical coordination, collection and review for reporting, compliance is

achieved by an automated model (see the white paper Mapping

Compliance Requirements). It is the multiple collaborative and concurrent

layers of security that support the automations, create better accuracy and

significantly reduce the time previously dedicated to compliance reporting.

8. Easier, faster to deploy and find ROI. Forrester noted that 73% of major

software implementations don’t get past phase 1. Whether a result of

scope creep, budget issues or flagging executive buy-in, the promise of ROI

for on premise security initiatives are difficult; not to mention the drag on

IT productivity and lack of measurable results. And it’s those results we

depend on to drive ROI and solve the business need (see the article: Is your

security initiative “one inch into a mile”? ) It’s no secret that way too many

companies view security solutions as a “nice to have” luxury or a grudgingly

purchased cost center. But this is a different business environment than

even that of 5 years ago; beyond the drivers of compliance and industry

TOP TRENDS FOR IAM:

Compliance/Governance

Enterprise access control

Securely interact with

mobile, cloud apps and

social media

Insider threats/carelessness

Password management

Automate reporting, collect

usage statistics

Authentication/validation

Learn how to achieve this from the

cloud: www.cloudaccess.com

CLOUDACCESS 877-550-2568 www.cloudaccess.com

SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD:

required governance IT security must be built into the fabric of every

online facet of the business. Ignore reality at your own peril.

Assuming that security investments are not simply a luxury, the question

remains how do you find ROI in a prevention initiative? On-premise point

solutions are expensive. There’s no getting around that fact. Installing

them is expensive. Configuring them is expensive. Maintaining them is

expensive. In fact, Gartner estimates the annual cost to own and manage

traditional on-premise security software applications can be 4X the initial

purchase. Each and every move is a significant bite out of the any potential

ROI gain in productivity. It might be more than 3 years before the

investment starts paying off in any tangible way. Now the cloud, especially

the unified security configuration, removes all of the waiting time. As a

multi-tenant deployment, there is no hardware to buy, no software to

install. Your complex, planned multi-phased, multi-year rollout can be

fused a single week (sometimes “installation-to-insight” in minutes).

Therefore the cloud version is providing the immediate benefits and

immediate returns. Moreover, unified cloud security removes the

complexity in configuration, installation and deployment because it is

already built and easily customized to fit any sized organization.

We’ll deal with cost later on, but in terms of ROI, because there are no

capital expenditures and the ability to keep investment minimized and

output maximized means you can realign resources based on immediate

business needs. The ROI is the elimination of negative impact—no

compliance fines, no trust-busting breaches while waiting for the system to

be fully functional, reduced risks and liabilities may decrease various

insurance costs, no employees slipping away unnoticed with a database of

your customers, no having to put out malware fires, no excessive time

management conflicts from multi-sourced coordination, no de-centralized

shadow IT, etc..

7. Better safeguard against BYOD: It may be the buzzword of the moment,

but it is a trend that will continue to proliferate. Employees are increasingly

using their own potentially-unsanctioned devices (smart phones, tablets

and other mobile devices) to access your network, applications and data.

(Read the blog “The Genie, the bottle and BYOD”). Users love the mobility

and the immediacy of these devices, but forget these devices are just

THE ISSUES ARE

WIDESPREAD*:

91% of companies have

experienced at least one IT

security event from an

external source.

90% of all cyber crime costs

are those caused by web

attacks, malicious code and

malicious insiders.

Due to complexity, over 70%

of organizations still not

adequately securing critical

systems.

Learn how to prevent this from the

cloud: www.cloudaccess.com

*Statistics collected from various industry sources

including Gartner, Forrester, Ponemon,

Kaspersky, and Echelon

Metrics should be established

that facilitate common ground

for measuring effectiveness of

security measures

CLOUDACCESS 877-550-2568 www.cloudaccess.com

SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD:

hand-held computers prone to the same intrusions, attacks, viruses and

risks as the computers used in the office. The larger problem is many users

don’t see that, so every time they sign on to your network or download an

app, it creates a wider and wider vulnerability gap for the enterprise

network. However, by implementing unified security (that includes access

control and identity management), you can minimize what an employee (or

supplier, partner or any other group) can see and what tools they can access.

Additionally unified security policies can create an alert every time one of

these unsanctioned devices tries to access the enterprise. Based on your

protocols and administrative policies, the system can grant access or block

for these mobile devices. It is one way in which identity management, access

management; log management and SIEM work seamlessly together and

prevent unwarranted access or careless usage issues.

6. Security-as-a-service offers continuous tribal knowledge (expertise)

without adding headcount. One of the constant impediments to shrinking

the vulnerability gap is recruiting and retaining the specific type of talent

necessary to maintain an enterprise-level security initiative. But The

MSPAlliance reports that the unemployment rate for such professionals is

less than 1%–and the salary for these specialists has doubled in the past

three years. Security-as-a-service is the “secret” value-add that

accompanies a cloud-based deployment. Having an expert that

understands more than what a denial of service/brute force attack looks

like can be invaluable; one that knows how to read in between the lines;

that understands context and can trigger an alert or dismiss a possible

threat as harmless—and to do it without any additional personnel costs to

a company is a huge benefit.

PART 2

More than security from the cloud, the concept of unified security takes

the method another step forward in terms of best practices—the ability to

deploy a holistic security initiative, AND one that seamlessly collaborates

with the other components; that shares input across the enterprise so that

a clearer understanding of vulnerabilities can lead to effective preventive

policies and actions.

SEVEN CAUSES OF

SECURITY PARALYSIS:

It’s expensive

It’s time consuming

It’s resource heavy

There’s perceived

imbalance in the

risk/reward quotient

We’ve got it covered

We haven’t been

attacked/complacency

Expertise difficult to retain

All of these issues are addressed

and debunked in this whitepaper!

Learn how to cure these from the

cloud: www.cloudaccess.com

CLOUDACCESS 877-550-2568 www.cloudaccess.com

SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD:

They say the whole is greater

than the sum of its parts. And

that is the core of unified

security…take the most

important parts of a security

program (SIEM, Log Archiving

and Monitoring, Identity and

Access Management and Single

Sign On), centralize and combine their capabilities to generate real time

answers to the most important enterprise IT questions

WHO’s logging in

WHAT are they accessing

WHERE’s the device

DO they have authorization

WHEN was it changed

HOW is your IT landscape affected

5. Control applications and who gets to use them: Not all users are equal.

And therefore the privileges afforded them should not be the same. But

simply setting permissions is not enough to stop potential abuse. It might

control on-premise applications behind a firewall, but there are plenty of

cracks in the perimeter when it comes to the inclusion of web-based

applications. This is why administration must go hand-in-hand with

enforcement. Identity management handles the former; creates the policies

and the provisioning of users based on their role within the organization and

application password management. Leveraging Active Directory (or any

other database source), IDM creates the framework for a variety of different

types of users from various levels of internal employees to customers. But

just like a skyscraper, the framework of steel holds up the building, but it

requires the glass and concrete to make it habitable. This is job of access

management. It takes all the rules, roles and privileges and creates a unique

channel for each user. Incorporating a single sign on portal, it limits what a

user can access. This includes multi-factor authentication (especially for

BYOD issues!). There are several combined point solutions that can

THE DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN IDENTITY

AND ACCESS

MANAGEMENT:

Identity Management is: the

creation and management

of a user account and

credentialed rights

AUTHENTICATES

Access management is: the

enforcement of the

administered rights in terms

of funneled applications

/data that entity is allowed

to see.

AUTHORIZES

Learn how to integrate these from

the cloud:

www.cloudaccess.com

CLOUDACCESS 877-550-2568 www.cloudaccess.com

SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD:

accomplish this function, however the true best practice comes with the

additional transparent visibility promoted by a layered and holistic report.

SIEM and system log collection add the necessary context to provide the

actionable insight in terms of who is accessing what resource, when, how

often and do they have proper authentication. The bottom line is IT exerts

greater control over application management while expanding the security

protection well beyond the network firewalls.

4. Know what’s happening faster, more completely: One of the chief

advantages of the unified security cloud is the ability to see and respond to

potential issues in real time. Having all the tools in place and still relying on

periodic review of events is how most companies get in hot water. It’s a

practice that might satisfy continuous monitoring compliance, but doesn’t

provide the intelligence for immediate prevention. Because of its

portability and virtual footprint, it can be easily deployed over a greater

number of devices, servers, data caches and applications. In this wider

configuration (and based on its layered correlation), unified security

promotes an understanding of the broader (and more detailed)

implications of enterprise activity. It achieves this through situational

context and expanded visibility via coordinated capabilities across multiple

silos. In short, the consolidation of information from across the diverse

enterprise creates a more compete picture of what is happening. In that

this is a cloud-based initiative, such a configuration is much more

attainable due to fast and easy deployment/expansion, low TCO and

assisted administration.

3. Real time actionable information: In coordination with the above item,

the product of coordinated, centralized and layered levels of security is the

ability to do something about threats before they become a wider

problem. Networks and servers under your control are constantly under a

barrage of activity. Most of it, legitimate logins or website views, are

harmless; or at the very least, neutral. But amongst all the white noise you

need to systematically divine the true persistent threats and immediately

take action to prevent their spread. 24/7/365 continuous monitoring

provides the source material by collecting all the logs, automated

situational context analysis separates the good, the bad and the ugly

(based on your company’s unique definition of what constitutes a threat

CAN YOUR COMPANY

AFFORD TO LOSE $400M?

Of course not. But that’s the

dollar figure companies stand to

lose in terms of consumer trust

when security protocols are

breached according to a new

study by the research firm

Ponemon.

Gartner agrees. In an older study

(2008) found money invested (or

lack thereof) by organizations in

security has a significant impact

on customer retention. “The

study found that compared with

the average consumer, victims of

financial fraud were twice as

likely to change their shopping,

payment, and e-commerce

behavior. Among all consumers,

39% changed their behavior

because of security concerns,”

the study states. “Among fraud

victims, 71% of them changed

their behavior because of security

concerns.”

Learn how to prevent this from the

cloud: www.cloudaccess.com

CLOUDACCESS 877-550-2568 www.cloudaccess.com

SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD:

requiring immediate action, escalation, or further scrutiny) and policy and

workflow implementation provides the guidelines of what to do next. As a

collaborative process, this centralized approach provides the most

important ingredient…speed. And with speed comes the ability to make

faster decisions. And with unified security you see both the bigger picture

and the relevant smaller details so that fast decision can be the best one

against any particular threat.

This is more than SIEM and log management working together. This is a

process that also must include the information provided by identity and

access management. Without the input of authorization and validation,

incoming traffic only has half the detail it needs to determine whether the

user not only has the proper credentials, but is using them in a patterned

way. In other words, if an account is hijacked, the hacker might have the

right credentials, but because the IP address is coming from the Ukraine

and the previous access of that account was from the home office, a red

flag should be raised. It also monitors the all-important privileged user

which typically has the proverbial keys to the kingdom. So traffic patterns

combined with adaptive behavior is simply another way unified security

adds more value and a more accurate portrait of potential network

vulnerability.

To put a more specific dollar figure on actionable intelligence, the

Ponemon Institute just released a study that discovered the lack of live

cyber threat intelligence costs enterprises an average of $10 million over

12 months. Furthermore, If respondents had actionable intelligence about

cyber attacks within 60 seconds of a compromise, they could reduce this

cost on average by $4 million (40%). However, in this same study, more

than 60 percent were unable to stop exploits because of outdated or

insufficient threat intelligence. Many in this survey said it takes over a day

to identify a compromise. That is simply too long. In that unified security

from the cloud can identify potential threats as they happen, it becomes an

essential value.

2. One single, centralized management component: Imagine juggling 5

balls. These five balls represent the various security channels that

constantly need to be reviewed and managed. Now imagine them as

grenades; if one gets dropped, it could explode. This is metaphorically

SEVEN C’S OF SECURITY

MONITORING:

As with all best practices, there are variables. How much to monitor? What priorities matter? Where are my greatest vulnerabilities? To this end, I have boiled down monitoring to 7 best practices…The 7 C’s of security monitoring:

1. Consistency 2. Continuous 3. Correlation 4. Contextual 5. Compliant 6. Centralization 7. Cloud

Learn how to achieve this from the

cloud: www.cloudaccess.com

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SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD:

closer to what may happen if any of these tools gets ignored for too long.

Obviously it is a positive step to have all the right tools; even the right tools

communicating in some fashion. However, the cloud creates a means to

unite the five balls into a single sphere. Understanding that the enterprise

is now an unstructured entity without traditional boundaries, the strategy

to control activity, users, applications and information must evolve. But as

the strategy becomes more complex, so does the administration of that

strategy. The time and expertise required to audit, report, adjust and

maintain levels of adequate protection can overwhelm even the most

prepared of organizations. For some it adds cost to the assumption that

security is already perceived as a cost center and diverts manpower and

resources away from revenue generating tasks. This is typically why so many

companies toe the line of what is required and not what is necessary. (that’s

like saying C grades are acceptable)HOWEVER, unified security creates the

centralization that removes the compound administrations for multiple

solutions. Most of the security reporting and management is controlled

through a single dashboard—that includes audit reports for compliance.

Additionally, most enterprises lack a unified view across these silos and

this leads to longer audits, unclear controls and policies, and vulnerabilities

related to unauthorized access. For instance, some SaaS applications

simply do not provide the audit logging needed for basic forensics. The

centralization combines asset discovery, vulnerability assessment, threat

detection, behavioral monitoring, security intelligence, identity

management, and access control

1. Full integration affords more protection, less cost: It’s easy enough to

build a unified solution…in theory. However, to incorporate and integrate

all the various point solution tools, comprehensive policies, cover all the

devices, endpoints and applications, network activity and devise all the

configurations, collaborations and compliance requirements might take

years and millions of dollars.

There is no debate that the on-premesis tactic is expensive and resource

heavy. Which is why only the most well-heeled companies follow this best

practice. But the cloud makes enterprise functionality and its protections

available to any sized company in any industry. The cloud model offers

obvious cost savings. In many cases, you can deploy a fully functional unified

REACT: Unified Security

from the cloud:

CloudAccess is the only

company currently providing

fully integrated unified security

from the cloud that leverages

SIEM, IDM, IAM, SSO and Log.

REACTTM or Realtime Event and

Access Correlation Technology is

a unified security platform that

leverages the cooperative

functionality of key toolsets

and/or deployed solutions. It

creates a unique holistic approach

to security management and asset

protection by broadening the

reach and scope of enterprise

monitoring, strengthening access

authentication and centralizing

control

Learn us demo this for you at:

www.cloudaccess.com

CLOUDACCESS 877-550-2568 www.cloudaccess.com

SECURITY FROM THE CLOUD:

security program for the same cost as what others pay for just support and

maintenance every year. But cost savings extend beyond the product

licensing. Cloud based security also provides the administrative and

management components to bring the necessary expertise without having to

hire any additional employees or expensive consultants. A unified deployment

offers greatest security value because of its modest costs, its far reaching

enterprise-power capabilities, the provision of immediate results, and it

operational efficiencies that actually improve performance.

But if security is still weighted by a risk versus reward investment, the

cloud offers the most comprehensive, feature-rich, and proven-effective

option for any company looking to increase organizational control, identify

and close vulnerability gaps maintain compliance, and protect its most

valuable assets. Cloud-based security, especially a holistic and unified

approach, is no longer the alternative to on-premise, but a means to create

a proactive advantage without sacrificing resources.