Secure Your Migration To AWS Part I: The Challenges

The cloud provides the infrastructure backbone for most enterprises, as well as the delivery of mission-critical applications. In the last decade, the cloud has become scalable, flexible, reliable, and customisable—and is the leading foundation of server architecture among both new and established businesses. The rapid growth of hybrid and multi-cloud environments in the enterprise world has not only saved organisations money, but has allowed them to have an elastic, agile infrastructure–especially during times of highly dynamic growth.

With this rapid growth, however, comes security concerns. Too often, organisations prioritise functionality and features over security, which they can view as a hindrance to potential growth. But with the increase of attacks on applications, services, and data stored in the cloud, companies who don’t build security into their infrastructure from the beginning are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk.

Check Point works closely with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to address these security concerns. To achieve optimal protection, Check Point enhances AWS security with offerings such as posture management, advanced threat prevention, application security, and threat intelligence—all available on AWS Marketplace.

In Part I, we will discuss the security challenges that organisations often face when moving to the cloud. Part II will discuss how Check Point integrates with AWS services to remove security obstacles and create a safe and easy path for migration to AWS, making security an enabler of transformation, not an inhibitor.

Security Challenges of Cloud Migration

Organisations can face many security challenges when migrating to the cloud. Proper planning can help, but no single migration strategy can address every company’s requirements. The following five security issues are some of the biggest obstacles to secure migration.

The Dangers of Misconfigurations

In The Biggest Cloud Security Challenges in 2021, Check Point listed misconfigurations as a key concern for over two-thirds of companies. Failure to secure interfaces and misalignment with the principle of least privilege can result in misconfigurations. Without a clear migration strategy, enterprises often focus on minimising services and effort, rather than focusing on configuring security policies consistently. These misconfigurations are an open door to data breaches, which can result in non-compliance, large fines, and reputational damage.

Lack of Visibility

Gaining visibility into all environments means the ability to identify dark data, manage access control, and handle data privacy. Cross-platform collaboration and technical complexities can make visibility difficult, so accessing risk before a migration can help avoid major impacts on availability, integrity, and confidentiality—all security-related issues.

Protecting Network Traffic and Preventing Advanced Network Threats

Businesses migrating to the cloud need the ability to control their own data and keep it private, protect themselves from cyber threats, and securely connect their cloud with their traditional ‘on-premises’ network, all while maintaining compliance with regulatory mandates. Cloud-based environments, like traditional environments, are targets for malware and bots, and cloud-based content can be exploitable.

Growing Number of Web-based Applications

Cloud-based applications are multiplying as more customers transition to the cloud. However, these apps can potentially expose new attack vectors and security vulnerabilities. More than half of the world’s websites were affected by the Log4j issue (also called Log4Shell) in early 2022, as a security gap in a ubiquitous open-source logging program served as a backdoor into millions of organizations—and their cloud-based environments.

Managing/Controlling/Enabling DevSecOps

When organisations move to the cloud, DevSecOps teams are often responsible for identifying and addressing security issues, corporate compliance, and best practices for each layer and component. When the workloads and applications go live, they must remain protected against threats.

In Part II, we’ll discuss the best practices to address these challenges to implement a successful migration, providing an overview of how Check Point enhances AWS security.

By Mark Brindley, Head of Cloud Alliance