Browsing a website that operates primarily in the cloud environment means that you are most likely taking 24/7 access for granted and that personal data is secure. With that level of expectation, a site operator needs to ensure that back-end cloud services behave in a controllable way.
That means ensuring two important factors: services must be running without interruption, and strong security practices must allow system access only at specific times and with limited privileges when necessary.
What are backend cloud services?
Back-end cloud services are the operations and routines that end users don’t see. These are often referred to as east-west traffic in AWS conference talk. Cloud backend services allow frontend services to power user interfaces. Back-end services may include collecting, analyzing, and sending requested data.
When those cloud services fail, whether due to unexpected spikes in demand or unforeseen results of configuration changes, it can damage a company’s reputation. It is essential to secure the storage and distribution of access keys, operate with the principle of least privilege and safeguard communications between services.
By restricting access to a cloud environment, an organization can reduce its security risks.
Digital security terminology
Each industry has its own language. When it comes to digital security in the cloud, there are a few key terms you need to know and understand:
service account. This account is used by an application or computing workload, such as a cloud-based application, rather than by a person (user account).
Access key messages. These are long-term credentials, which in AWS are used to sign programmatic requests to the AWS Command Line Interface or AWS API Gateway.
service mesh. Service mesh is a dedicated infrastructure layer to facilitate service-to-service communications between services or microservices.
Digital certificate. This file verifies the identity of a user or service and enables encrypted communications.
Manage access to backend services
Developers who create websites or back-end services must meet the needs of customers. To do this, you can avoid potential breaches and security issues by following and establishing these best practices:
Keep the number of people with access to high-level data to a minimum. Follow the least privilege model to allow only absolutely necessary access to the service account.
Store security keys properly. It is not wise to store access keys or service credentials in code. Use an external key store or secrets manager to encrypt sensitive data, including access keys. For added protection, explore the use of cloud-based key management systems and hardware security modules.
Update, rotate, or change service account credentials regularly. When API access keys expire before they are updated, that can cause an outage. Update access keys regularly and avoid credentials that never expire.
Avoid using the same service accounts for multiple services. Please note that multiple users share accounts. Retire service accounts when you no longer need them. Track all the places where service accounts are in use.
Stay up to date with automated tools. These tools can help take the work out of managing service accounts to keep back-end cloud services secure. Features include automatic renewal of keys or certificates, cataloging of service principals and profile creation permissions, and management of privileges assigned to service accounts.
Cloud platforms offer innovations
Most cloud platforms allow users to manage credentials and view and protect services without changing passwords. Important strategies to protect services and minimize disruptions include the use of an automated certificate management tool, auditing access to services, time-limited access for on-call engineers, and secure key storage.
On AWS, AWS Secrets Manager allows users to rotate, manage, and retrieve database credentials, API keys, and other secrets throughout their lifecycle. Temporary security credentials can be set to expire after a few minutes or several hours.
Security enhancements offered by Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and other cloud providers are constantly evolving. Observability suites, for example, are software packages that, once fully integrated, can track system behavior. They provide warnings about security or operational problems. The managed identities feature of Microsoft Azure completely eliminates the need to manage credentials.
Some of the most prominent players in online services have experienced outages when no one realized that the certificates were expired. Google Cloud’s Managed Certificates feature automatically renews public certificates and updates applications when running behind an external load balancer or on a managed Kubernetes engine.
A utility network is a way to control how the different parts of an application share data with each other. It is also a dedicated infrastructure layer built into an application. Istio is an open source service network and the leading cloud providers have created their managed offerings. With service meshes, you can manage, observe, and secure services without having to change service credentials. They can reduce or completely eliminate the need to manage service accounts.
Some of the most prominent players in online services have experienced outages when no one realized that the certificates were expired.
AWS App Mesh can manage and monitor microservices. This service offers users control of the communication and network traffic directed to those microservices. When the cloud handles the mundane but critical administrative tasks of back-end services, IT departments and business units are free to take on more complicated tasks.
managing it all
Managing your backend services in the cloud with the help of providers like Google, AWS, and Microsoft Azure can mean that your frontend services appear seamless and reliable. But beware of password rotations and security certificate expiration dates. Mutual authentication using private certificates can help. Cloud-managed PKI certificates can simplify security administration tasks. For companies that can use microservices, service meshes can manage much of the infrastructure.
Keep an eye out for security innovations and new automation features as they can allow internal teams to focus on the work that leads to more productive programming and delivers business value.
Siddharth Bhai is a product management leader with more than 15 years of experience, including work at Google and Microsoft. He has extensive experience in identity management, security, and cloud computing. Bhai is a frequent speaker at technology conferences. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Source: www.techtarget.com