What is Cloud Application Security?
Cloud application security involves the strategies, technologies, and practices designed to protect applications deployed in cloud environments from security threats. This includes everything from securing data transmission and user access, to real-time vulnerability monitoring and satisfying compliance requirements.
Who needs cloud application security?
So who needs cloud application security? Short answer - anyone who has applications deployed in the cloud. The continued migration to cloud environments requires adequate security tooling strategies and practices in order to keep organizations’ applications secure. Cloud applications often process sensitive data like PII and payment details: this type of data is an attractive target for bad actors, necessitating a cloud security strategy.
Cloud application security ensures:
Protection of sensitive data (e.g., PII, financial info, PCI DSS standards)
Continuity of business operations
Customer trust and reputation
What are the challenges to implementing effective cloud application security?
In order to be effective, cloud application security requires a robust strategy. Failure to secure cloud applications can result in loss of customer trust, regulatory fines, and reputational damage for organizations without an effective cloud security program in place. But securing cloud environments is challenging.
Some major challenges include:
The complexity of the ‘Shared Responsibility Model’: Cloud providers and customers must both manage different parts of security. With cloud providers responsible for securing the infrastructure and customers responsible for securing their data, application configurations and access controls, there is often a lack of visibility. Without proper delineation of responsibilities and communication between these two parties, it’s easy for teams to miss key security gaps.
Data privacy and sovereignty: The complexity of cloud environments can make insight and oversight into where and how data is stored (and who can access it) very difficult to track.
Misconfigurations: A leading cause of cloud vulnerabilities, misconfiguration, often results from human error or lack of visibility into cloud assets. With rapid deployment cycles (DevOps, CI/CD workflows), it has become increasingly difficult to ensure teams aren’t deploying insecure or outdated code.
Shadow IT: When employees use unauthorized or unapproved cloud services and applications, they bypass organizational security policies, which can introduce vulnerabilities into the application development ecosystem.
Complex architecture: The complexity of cloud environments, housing everything from APIs and microservices to containers, increases the attack surface.
What are the core elements of a cloud application security strategy?
In order to be effective, a cloud application security strategy must be robust and multi-faceted - meaning it considers all elements of the environment and the parties responsible for implementing it.
A good strategy begins with implementing Identity and Access Management (IAM) which effectively determines who has access to what within the cloud environment. This is foundational to limiting unwanted or malicious access to applications and systems. Strong authentication mechanisms, like multi-factor authentication and role-based access control are foundational to success here.
Encryption is also key, where encryption protocols help to protect data at rest and when it is in transit. End-to-end encryption helps ensure that in the event data is intercepted, it remains unreadable for unauthorized malicious (or unwitting) actors.
Firewalls and web application firewalls (WAFs) are a critical component to any cloud application security strategy, acting as gatekeepers to filter out malicious traffic that targets web-based applications. Integrating security testing and validation into the development process also helps identify vulnerabilities before they can be deployed.
A robust security posture also relies on continuous monitoring, alerting, and logging, which enable rapid detection of and response to suspicious activity or potential breaches. Compliance management tools ensure that your applications align with regulatory standards.
What are some best practices for securing cloud applications?
Effective cloud application security requires a proactive and layered approach. Organizations should enforce the principle of least privilege, granting users only the minimum access necessary for their roles. This reduces the likelihood of insider threats or credential misuse.
Security should be embedded into every phase of the software development lifecycle, with developers routinely scanning code for vulnerabilities and adopting secure coding practices. Automated tools can help identify misconfigurations and detect anomalies in real time, allowing for quick remediation.
Maintaining visibility into APIs—which often serve as the gateway between services—is essential. API gateways and rate limiting can prevent abuse and reduce exposure to attacks such as injection or denial-of-service.
It’s also important to regularly back up data, perform security audits, and ensure that cloud environments are regularly updated and patched against known vulnerabilities.
Best practices are to:
Use multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Regularly update and patch applications
Conduct automated vulnerability scans
Apply the principle of least privilege (PoLP)
Monitor APIs and ensure secure API gateways
Regularly audit and log activities
Implement a zero trust architecture
Which compliance standards are relevant to cloud application security?
A cloud application security program should consider and plan for compliance with the following standards:
FedRAMP (US government systems)
Which tools and technologies should you consider for cloud application security?
A range of tools are available to help build a successful cloud application security. Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) provide visibility and control over data across cloud services, ensuring compliance and policy enforcement.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems aggregate and analyze logs to detect threats and anomalies. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools safeguard devices connected to cloud environments by identifying and responding to threats in real time. WAFs can serve as gatekeepers to filter out malicious traffic that targets web-based applications.
Many cloud providers also offer native security platforms, such as AWS Security Hub, Google Cloud Security Command Center, and Microsoft Azure Security Center, which provide integrated dashboards, policy enforcement, and threat detection tailored to their ecosystems.
How Fastly can help
Fastly's Next-Gen WAF is designed from the ground up with these features in mind. As the world's largest global edge cloud platform, it sits within milliseconds of users worldwide.
This strategic positioning allows Fastly to protect websites and applications faster than traditional WAFs. Inspecting traffic close to end users quickly limits the level threats can penetrate, helping to block attacks before they ever reach the origin servers.
Among its key benefits, Fastly's Next-Gen WAF provides:
Comprehensive protection: Fastly detects and blocks the OWASP Top 10 web application vulnerabilities and custom threats you define through simple rules.
Rapid response times: With its global network of POPs, Fastly's Next-Gen WAF ensures ultra-low latency inspection for exceptional user experience, even during attacks.
Flexible configuration: You can customize rules, response pages, and more via Fastly's user-friendly interface without relying on lengthy change windows.
Real-time analytics: Thanks to Fastly's dashboard and API for proactive issue identification, you benefit from valuable insights into traffic and security events.
Seamless integration: Fastly's Next-Gen WAF works transparently with its CDN and edge computing services for unified security, performance, and delivery capabilities.
Learn more about how the Fastly Next-Gen WAF can provide advanced protection for your applications, APIs, and microservices with flexible deployment options and cutting-edge detection capabilities.
Learn about Fastly Next-Gen WAF
