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Now that we have covered all the pesky background information, we can start delving into the best ways to actually protect data. Securing the Storage Infrastructure and Management Plane Your first step is to lock down the management plane and the infrastructure of your cloud storage. Encryption can compensate for many configuration errors and defend against many management plane attacks, but that doesn’t mean you can afford to skip the basics. Also, depending on which encryption architecture you select, a poorly-secured cloud deployment could obviate all those nice crypto benefits by giving away too much access to portions of your encryption implementation. We are focused on data protection so we don’t have space to cover all the ins and outs of management plane security, but here are some data-specific pieces to be aware of: Limit administrative access: Even if you trust all your developers and administrators completely, all it takes is one vulnerability on one workstation to compromise everything you have in the cloud. Use access controls and tiered accounts to limit administrative access, as you do for most other systems. For example, restrict snapshot privileges to a few designated accounts, and then restrict those accounts from otherwise managing instances. Integrate all this into your privileged user management. Compartmentalize: You know where flat networks get you, and the same goes for flat clouds. Except that here we aren’t talking about having everything on one network, but about segregation at the management plane level. Group systems and servers, and limit cloud-level access to those resources. So an admin account for development systems shouldn’t also be able to spin up or terminate instances in the production accounting systems. Lock down the storage architecture: Remember, all clouds still run on physical systems. If you are running a private cloud, make sure you keep everything up to date and configured securely. Audit: Keep audit logs, if your platform or provider supports them, of management-plane activities including starting instances, creating snapshots, and altering security groups. Secure snapshot repositories: Snapshots normally end up in object storage, so follow all the object storage rules we will offer later to keep them safe. In private clouds, snapshot storage should be separate from the object storage used to support users and applications. Alerts: For highly sensitive applications, and depending on your cloud platform, you may be able to generate alerts when snapshots are created, new instances are launched from particular instances, etc. This isn’t typically available out of the box but shouldn’t be hard to script, and may be provided by an intermediary cloud broker service or platform if you use one. There is a whole lot more to locking down a management plane, but focusing on limiting admin access, segregating your environment at the cloud level with groups and good account privileges, and locking down the back-end storage architecture, together make a great start. Encrypting Volumes As a reminder, volume encryption protects from the following risks: Protects volumes from snapshot cloning/exposure Protects volumes from being explored by the cloud provider, including cloud administrators Protects volumes from being exposed by physical drive loss (more for compliance than a real-world security issue) IaaS volumes can be encrypted three ways: Instance-managed encryption: The encryption engine runs within the instance and the key is stored in the volume but protected by a passphrase or keypair. Externally managed encryption: The encryption engine runs in the instance but keys are managed externally and issued to instances on request. Proxy encryption: In this model you connect the volume to a special instance or appliance/software, and then connect the application instance to the encryption instance. The proxy handles all crypto operations and may keep keys either onboard or external. We will dig into these scenarios next week. Share:

Hi folks, Dave Lewis here, and it is my turn to pull the summary together this week. I’m glad for the opportunity. So, a random thought: I have made a lot of mistakes in my career and will more than likely make many more. I frequently refer to this as my well-honed ability to fall on spears. The point? Simple. This is a learning opportunity that people seldom appreciate. Much like toddlers, we learn to walk by mastering the fine art of the faceplant. We learn in rather short order that we really don’t care for the experience of falling on our faces, and soon that behavior is corrected (for most, at least). So why, pray tell, do we continue to suffer massive data breaches? Not a week goes by without some major corporation or government body announcing that they have lost a USB drive or had a laptop stolen. Have we not learned yet that “face + floor = pain” is not an equation worthy of an infinite loop? Just my musing for this week. On to the Summary: Webcasts, Podcasts, Outside Writing, and Conferences Rich quoted by The Macalope. Adrian’s DR paper: Security Implications Of Big Data. Rich quoted on Watering Hole Attacks. Adrian’s DR post: Database Security Operations. Mike’s DR post: You’re A Piece Of Conference Meat. snort Favorite Securosis Posts Rich: 1 in 6 Amazon Web Services users can’t read. This seriously tweaked me. And don’t give me guff for picking my own post – no one else posted this week. You’d think with 3 full timers and 6 contributors, someone else… Adrian Lane: Proposed California Data Law Will Affect Security… but it will take quite a while before companies take it seriously. David Mortman: Flash! And it’s gone… Dave Lewis: Defending Cloud Data: How IaaS Storage Works. Other Securosis Posts Cybersh** just got real. Proposed California Data Law Will Affect Security. Brian Krebs outs possible Flashback malware author. Appetite for Destruction. Get Ready for Phone Security and Regulations. IaaS Encryption: Understanding Encryption Systems. An article so bad, I have to trash it. Favorite Outside Posts Rich: Activists on Front Lines Bringing Computer Security to Oppressed People. Lives really are at stake for these people. Mike Mimoso is doing a great job with this coverage. Adrian Lane: IT for Oppression. And I just thought this was IT culture. Dave Lewis: Googlers exultant over launch of Blink browser engine. Google rolls their own browser engine. This should be interesting. Dave Mortman: Building Technical Literacy in Business Teams. James Arlen: Delivering message w/ impact && Announing our ‘Reverse Job Fair’. This should be a brilliant workshop. Top News and Posts New PoS malware. That’s “point of sale”, not the other thing. Sometimes. How to Dress Like a Cyber Warrior OR Looking Like a Tier-Zero Hero. This amused me far more than it should have. Bill would allow bosses to seek Facebook passwords. …and then Amendment aimed at workers’ passwords pulled. Apple’s iMessage encryption trips up feds’ surveillance. Because encrytion is haaaard. (h/t James Arlen). Aaron Swartz’s Prosecutors Were Threatened and Hacked, DOJ Says. I’ll just bite my tongue Honeypot Stings Attackers With Counterattacks. Top 10 Web Hacks 2012. FBI Pursuing Real-Time Gmail Spying Powers as “Top Priority” for 2013 Attempted child abduction thwarted when girl asks stranger for code word. This article caught my eye for the brilliant simplicity for keeping your kids safe. Blog Comment of the Week This week’s best comment goes to Nate, in response to 1 in 6 Amazon Web Services Users Can’t Read. I’d go out on a limb and wager a good portion of those open buckets were setup by non-IT groups who used Amazon as an end around governance and process. I’d also wager a fair number just used one of the available tools to manage their S3 because they don’t really understand the technology and that tool set the bucket to public unbeknownst to them. That means even if they received and read the email above, they probably didn’t understand it. Is that Amazon’s fault? Absolutely not. It does highlight the issue of kicking governance down the road to IT rather than dealing with it at a business level so it can be easily avoided, or focusing governance only on dollars so small opex spends fly under the radar. Unless business leaders start caring about governance and process a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not. Sorry, the kids have been watching the Lorax movie non stop lately. Share: