Key Takeaways
- CIEM provides full visibility of all cloud identities and permissions, helping prevent overprivileged accounts.
- It enforces least-privilege access by continuously analyzing and right-sizing entitlements.
- Automated CIEM workflows reduce manual cleanup and audit effort, improving compliance and security posture.
- Integrating CIEM with IAM, CSPM, or CNAPP solutions strengthens cloud security by managing identity risk proactively.
Cloud environments have made it easier than ever to scale, but they’ve also made access control a nightmare. You might have hundreds of users, workloads, and applications — all with permissions across multiple clouds.
The problem? Most organizations don’t know who has access to what, or whether those permissions are justified. That’s exactly where Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) comes in.
In this guide, we’ll break down what CIEM is, how it works, the key features that make it essential, and how it fits into the broader cloud security ecosystem.
What is Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) and Why is It Important?
Think of CIEM as your control center for cloud identities and permissions.
It helps you manage, monitor, and right-size the access that users, applications, and services have across your cloud infrastructure.
In simple terms, CIEM (Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management) solutions discover all your cloud identities — human and machine — and analyze what permissions they have. The goal? To eliminate excessive, unused, or risky privileges that attackers could exploit.
The core problem: Overprivileged identities in the cloud
In traditional IT, access was centralized — everything lived in your data center. In the cloud, that model breaks.
Now you have multiple providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), multiple services, and often, thousands of ephemeral identities with complex roles.
For example:
- A DevOps engineer creates a temporary AWS Lambda function to test something.
- That function inherits admin-level privileges because of a poorly scoped IAM policy.
- It never gets deleted.
- Six months later, an attacker exploits that stale function to gain control of your cloud environment.
Why is CIEM important for your cloud security?
CIEM helps you answer critical questions like:
- Who has access to what in your cloud?
- Are these permissions justified?
- Which identities pose the highest risk?
- How can you enforce least-privilege access automatically?
Without these answers, your organization is exposed to insider threats, misconfigurations, and privilege escalation attacks. With CIEM, you can continuously enforce least privilege access — a cornerstone of zero trust cloud security.
- How it happens
- See If You’re Exposed
- The Solution
How Does CIEM Work in Cloud Environments?
CIEM tools integrate with your cloud service providers’ native identity and access management (IAM) systems (e.g., AWS IAM, Azure AD, or Google IAM).
They continuously scan your environment to map all identities, permissions, and entitlements.
Here’s what typically happens behind the scenes:
- Discovery:
The CIEM solution discovers every identity in your cloud environment — including users, roles, groups, workloads, and third-party applications. - Mapping & Analysis:
It maps the relationships between those identities and the cloud resources they can access. This helps identify toxic combinations, like a user with both read and write access to critical storage buckets. - Risk Scoring:
Each identity is scored based on how risky or excessive its permissions are — for example, whether they’re admin-level, unused, or misconfigured. - Remediation & Enforcement:
CIEM tools then recommend — or even automate — fixes to remove or downsize risky permissions. - Continuous Monitoring:
Since cloud environments change constantly, CIEM solutions run continuously, updating entitlement data in real time.
In short, CIEM solutions act like a permission radar — scanning for identity risks that other tools (like CSPM or SIEM) often miss.
What Features To Look For in a Cloud Entitlement Management Tool?
Let’s break down the key CIEM features you should expect:
1. Unified Identity and Entitlement Visibility
You can’t protect what you can’t see.
CIEM provides a single view of all entitlements across multiple cloud platforms — AWS, Azure, GCP, and more.
It identifies both human identities (users, admins, contractors) and non-human identities (VMs, APIs, functions, service accounts).
Example:
Imagine your security team audits permissions for your AWS and Azure environments separately. CIEM unifies those audits into a single dashboard so you can instantly spot users who have administrative access in both environments — a common red flag for lateral movement.
2. Least-Privilege Access Enforcement
CIEM continuously evaluates whether each identity’s access matches its role and activity level.
It flags excessive privileges and suggests right-sizing policies.
Example:
If a developer has “write” access to a production database but hasn’t used it for 90 days, CIEM flags this and recommends downgrading it to “read-only” or revoking it altogether.
The result? Reduced attack surface, fewer insider risks, and stronger compliance posture.
3. Automated Remediation of Risky Entitlements
Manual entitlement management doesn’t scale. CIEM tools automate repetitive access cleanup tasks.
They can:
- Automatically revoke unused permissions.
- Enforce policy baselines.
- Integrate with IAM or ticketing systems to streamline approvals.
Example:
A CIEM product detects that a dormant Azure service account has owner-level access to storage accounts. It automatically triggers a workflow that removes this access after notifying your security admin.
4. Entitlement Analytics and Risk Insights
Beyond discovery, CIEM offers analytics to understand how access is being used.
It can show trends like:
- Which users frequently request escalated privileges.
- Which roles have overlapping permissions.
- How permissions drift from approved templates over time.
This insight helps prioritize remediation and supports audits or compliance checks.
5. Continuous Compliance Monitoring
Cloud environments are dynamic — new accounts, roles, and APIs appear daily.
CIEM ensures you stay compliant with standards like ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, or GDPR by continuously checking permissions against your compliance policies.
Example:
If your compliance policy mandates MFA for admin accounts, CIEM alerts you if it detects any non-compliant accounts — before auditors do.
6. Integration with Broader Cloud Security Stack
Modern CIEM solutions don’t work in isolation.
They integrate with:
- CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management) for configuration visibility.
- CWPP (Cloud Workload Protection Platforms) for runtime protection.
- SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) for alert correlation and reporting.
- CNAPP (Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms) to unify cloud risk management.
This interoperability gives security teams a complete view of identity risk in context.
What are the Main Benefits of Using CIEM Over Traditional Identity Management?
Traditional IAM (Identity and Access Management) tools are essential — they handle authentication, provisioning, and access control.
But IAM wasn’t built for the scale and complexity of the cloud.
That’s where CIEM vs IAM becomes clear.
| Capability | IAM | CIEM |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Manages users & authentication | Manages entitlements & permissions |
| Visibility | Application-level | Cloud resource-level |
| Automation | Manual workflows | Automated entitlement cleanup |
| Risk Detection | Reactive | Continuous, proactive |
| Purpose | Access control | Least privilege enforcement |
CIEM fills IAM’s blind spot
IAM tools know who the user is — but not what they can do once inside your cloud.
CIEM focuses on the “what”, continuously assessing permissions to prevent privilege misuse.
Example:
IAM grants a developer access to a Kubernetes cluster. CIEM monitors that access and flags if the developer suddenly gains the ability to delete nodes or access secrets — permissions that go beyond their normal scope.
So, IAM controls entry, but CIEM controls exposure.
Which Security Solution is Best for Comprehensive Cloud Security: CWPP, CSPM, CNAPP, or CIEM?
If you’re wondering how CIEM fits into the broader cloud security ecosystem, you’re not alone.
Let’s quickly decode how each solution contributes:
| Solution | Focus Area | Core Function |
|---|---|---|
| CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management) | Configuration & compliance | Detects misconfigurations, policy violations |
| CWPP (Cloud Workload Protection Platform) | Workload protection | Secures workloads like containers and VMs |
| SIEM (Security Information & Event Management) | Log collection & correlation | Detects security incidents from logs |
| CIEM (Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management) | Identity & access management | Manages and right-sizes permissions |
| CNAPP (Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform) | Unified protection | Combines CSPM + CWPP + CIEM capabilities |
Why CIEM stands out
While CSPM and CWPP focus on configurations and workloads, CIEM focuses on identities — the new perimeter of cloud security.
Modern breaches often exploit overprivileged identities rather than system vulnerabilities.
By integrating CIEM with CSPM or CNAPP, you get an identity-aware defense strategy — one that not only detects threats but limits their impact.
Example:
Let’s say your CSPM tool detects an open S3 bucket. CIEM checks who can access it and automatically revokes unnecessary write permissions. Together, they prevent data exposure and privilege exploitation.
How Does CIEM Help in Real-World Cloud Environments?
Let’s take a real-world example to visualize how CIEM strengthens your cloud security posture.
Scenario:
A global retail company uses AWS and Azure to host customer and inventory data. Over time, multiple DevOps teams create new accounts, roles, and policies. As a result, hundreds of inactive identities accumulate — many with admin privileges.
Without CIEM:
- The company struggles to track who owns what access.
- Compliance audits take months.
- A compromised developer account leads to data leakage from an S3 bucket.
With CIEM:
- All cloud identities are automatically discovered and mapped.
- Risky admin privileges are flagged and removed.
- Unused accounts are deactivated automatically.
- The compliance team gets real-time visibility across both clouds.
In short, CIEM not only tightens security but also saves time, reduces manual effort, and improves audit readiness.
Quick Checklist to Choose the Right CIEM Solution for Your Organization
When evaluating CIEM products or CIEM solutions, consider the following factors:
- Multi-cloud support:
Ensure the CIEM integrates seamlessly with AWS, Azure, and GCP. - Automation capabilities:
Look for automated remediation and least-privilege enforcement features. - Integration ecosystem:
Your CIEM should connect with IAM, CSPM, and SIEM tools for unified visibility. - Analytics and reporting:
Ensure the platform provides contextual risk insights and audit-ready reports. - Scalability:
Choose a solution that can handle thousands of identities across hybrid environments.
Pro Tip: If you’re already using Microsoft Entra Permissions Management, that’s an example of a CIEM capability built into the Microsoft ecosystem. It helps enforce least privilege across multi-cloud environments.
What’s Next: Strengthening Your Cloud Identity Security
As cloud adoption grows, so does the complexity of managing entitlements.
CIEM security brings clarity and control back into your cloud ecosystem by managing permissions intelligently and continuously.
To recap:
- CIEM helps you see and secure every identity across clouds.
- It enforces least privilege access and reduces lateral movement risk.
- It complements IAM, CSPM, and CNAPP tools for a comprehensive cloud security strategy.
If you want to protect your cloud from the inside out, start with your identities — and that means starting with CIEM.
Fidelis Security is here to help you simplify this process. Whether you want to map entitlements, detect excessive permissions, or implement ongoing monitoring, our CIEM solutions give you the tools and guidance to take action confidently.
Take the next step today: Book a Demo to see how Fidelis Security can protect your cloud environment, or Contact Us to speak with our experts and get a customized approach for your organization. Secure your cloud the right way — before threats find you.
