Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

Cloud misconfigurations are the leading cause of cloud security incidents, responsible for a significant proportion of data breaches globally. The most common and dangerous include: (1) Publicly exposed storage buckets — AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage, or GCP Cloud Storage left open to the internet, exposing sensitive files and databases. (2) Overly permissive IAM policies — users, roles, or service accounts granted excessive privileges beyond what their function requires (violating least privilege). (3) Disabled logging and monitoring — CloudTrail, Azure Monitor, or GCP Cloud Audit Logs not enabled, creating blind spots for attackers. (4) Unrestricted inbound rules — security groups or firewall rules with 0.0.0.0/0 open on ports 22 (SSH), 3389 (RDP), or 1433 (SQL), exposing management interfaces to the internet. (5) Unencrypted data at rest and in transit — databases, volumes, and backups without encryption enabled. (6) Hardcoded credentials — API keys or passwords embedded in code repositories or Lambda functions. CSPM tools continuously scan for these misconfigurations across your cloud environment and alert you in real time before attackers can exploit them.

CSPM continuously monitors your cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP) for misconfigurations, compliance violations, and security risks. Common cloud misconfigurations — such as publicly exposed S3 buckets or overly permissive IAM roles — are among the leading causes of cloud data breaches.

Cloud environments are dynamic — new resources are provisioned daily, and misconfigurations can be introduced with every infrastructure change. CSPM provides continuous automated assessment so security teams are alerted to posture drift immediately, rather than discovering issues during an audit or after a breach.

A comprehensive CSPM programme should cover all cloud platforms your organisation uses — missing even one creates blind spots that attackers can exploit. The three major platforms each have distinct security models: Amazon Web Services (AWS) — the largest cloud platform, requiring monitoring of IAM, S3 buckets, EC2 security groups, CloudTrail, GuardDuty, and Config rules. Microsoft Azure — particularly relevant for organisations using Microsoft 365, requiring oversight of Azure AD, NSGs, Key Vault, Security Center, and Policy compliance. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) — requires monitoring of IAM, Cloud Storage, VPC firewall rules, Cloud Audit Logs, and Security Command Center. Beyond the big three, a mature CSPM programme should also cover multi-cloud environments, SaaS applications (where applicable), and the network connections between on-premises and cloud resources. Most enterprise CSPM tools support all three major platforms through unified dashboards, enabling a single compliance view across your entire cloud estate. If your organisation uses multiple clouds, a platform-agnostic CSPM approach is essential to avoid configuration drift and compliance gaps.

Yes. Our CSPM service maps cloud security findings to BNM RMiT technology risk requirements and the controls prescribed under Malaysia's Cybersecurity Act 2024 (Act 854) for Critical Information Infrastructure operators — helping regulated entities maintain a compliant cloud security posture.

CSPM and CWPP are complementary cloud security tools that address different layers of the cloud stack. CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management) focuses on the configuration layer — it continuously audits cloud infrastructure settings, IAM policies, network configurations, and compliance against benchmarks like CIS, NIST, and PCI-DSS. CSPM answers: "Is my cloud environment configured securely?" CWPP (Cloud Workload Protection Platform) focuses on the workload layer — it protects the actual compute instances, containers, and serverless functions running in the cloud, providing runtime threat detection, vulnerability scanning, and behavioural monitoring. CWPP answers: "Are the applications and processes running in my cloud behaving safely?" Think of CSPM as securing the building's infrastructure (doors, locks, access controls) and CWPP as monitoring who is inside the building and what they are doing. Most mature cloud security programmes require both: CSPM to eliminate misconfigurations before they are exploited, and CWPP to detect and respond to attacks targeting workloads. Some vendors now offer combined CNAPP (Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform) solutions that integrate both capabilities in a single platform.