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Addressing Cloud Security Blind Spots for Better Protection

  • Kriti Awasthi

As businesses increasingly migrate to the cloud, securing these dynamic environments has become more challenging than ever. Traditional security measures struggle to keep pace with the evolving threat landscape, leaving organizations vulnerable to undetected cloud security risks.  

One of the biggest challenges in cloud security is the presence of blind spots—hidden cloud security vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit. These potential security gaps can lead to data breaches, compliance failures, and operational disruptions.  

Fidelis Halo® is designed to eliminate these blind spots. As a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP), it delivers complete cloud visibility, automated security, and compliance enforcement, empowering organizations to secure their cloud environments with confidence.

What Are Cloud Security Blind Spots?

Cloud security blind spots are unseen vulnerabilities within your cloud environment that attackers can exploit. These gaps often arise due to misconfigurations, undocumented APIs, insufficient logging, and overly complex cloud infrastructures. Without proper cloud visibility, organizations struggle to detect threats, putting sensitive data and critical applications at risk.

Why Do Blind Spots Exist?

  • Complexity of cloud environments: Issues of cloud environments can occur as organizations use multiple cloud providers, services, and configurations which leads to security professionals missing critical settings and creating security gaps.
  • Shared Responsibility Model: In this model the cloud Infrastructure is governed by cloud providers, but customers are responsible for their data, applications, and access controls but misunderstanding this model creates security blind spots.
  • Changes In Cloud are Rapid: Organization that works on DevOps push security patches and updates to cloud resources frequently. Without real-time security monitoring, cloud security risks can go unnoticed.

The Risks of Ignoring Blind Spots

Unwarranted blind spots lead to data breaches, regulatory non-compliance, and business outages. These vulnerabilities are exploited by cybercriminals to access  and exfiltrate sensitive data or attack that system. The financial losses that organizations incur from ignoring cloud security blind spots are accompanied by more than reputational damage and regulatory penalties.  

Due to the rise of cloud adoption, recognizing and remediating these weaknesses is vital to keep a secure and compliant infrastructure.

Key Areas Where Blind Spots Occur

Cloud-Security-blind-spots

Cloud security blind spots could exist in any corner of your cloud environment, exposing organizations to breaches and cloud compliance gaps. Understanding and remediating these vulnerabilities is critical for a secure cloud environment.

  • Misconfigured Cloud Services

    Cloud security misconfigurations (like S3 buckets, security groups, IAM roles, etc.) are very common security gaps. When services are misconfigured, they can inadvertently reveal sensitive data to unauthorized users.
    Let's take an example - Publicly open S3 bucket has always been a common cause of data leakage, as it allows attackers to get sensitive information without even having an authentication key.

  • Undocumented APIs

    Cloud providers often have APIs that are not officially documented, creating an entry point for cybercriminals. Since these APIs are not logged or monitored effectively, organizations remain unaware of their existence and potential security flaws.
    Without proper security controls, attackers can exploit undocumented APIs to access cloud resources undetected.

  • Pre-GA Services

    In cloud platforms, services are often available in alpha or beta stages, before reaching general availability (GA). These early-access features frequently include weak security practices, leaving them open to attacks trying to use as-yet-unpatched vulnerabilities.

  • Insufficient Logging and Monitoring

    Many organizations miss the ball and do not enable extensive logging across cloud services, thus providing security teams with partial cloud visibility into adverse-streaming events. It is hard to catch suspicious activity, monitor for breaches, and respond to incidents without detailed logs.

  • Over-Permissioned Users

    Discovering insider threats and lateral movement by attackers becomes that much more difficult when users or services are granted far too many permissions. Over-privileged accounts may be leveraged to facilitate privilege escalation, access sensitive data and deploy other malicious activities in the cloud environment.

How Fidelis Halo® Eliminates Cloud Security Blind Spots

Fidelis Halo® is a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) designed to eliminate blind spots in cloud environments. By providing real-time visibility, automated security, and intelligent threat detection, it ensures organizations can proactively enhance the security posture of their cloud infrastructure.

  • Comprehensive Visibility Across Cloud Environments

    Maintaining cloud visibility over all assets is one of the major challenges in cloud security. Fidelis Halo® automatically finds and evaluates cloud resources, from servers to containers to serverless functions, so no asset is left undiscovered. This level of comprehensive visibility gives security teams the ability to identify misconfigurations, unauthorized access, and shadow IT activities before they ripen into full-blown security incidents.

  • Automated Security and Compliance

    By automating security checks and compliance assessments, Fidelis Halo® minimizes the potential for human error. It falls under the category of embedded security as it integrates directly with DevOps pipelines. By improving forward visibility, they can reduce human error (misconfigurations) and help organizations meet compliance and regulatory requirements like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2.

  • Actionable Insights and Remediation

    Fidelis Halo® identifies security gaps, but also gives prescriptive, step-by-step remediation guidance. These insights fit within existing workflows, helping security teams quickly and efficiently respond to potential threats as they arise without interruption to operations.

  • Scalable Across Multi-Cloud Environments

    Organization’s operations usually span over multiple cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Fidelis Halo® provides persistent security across these environments, including hybrid cloud environments, which enables our customers to adopt clouds without fear or worry about increases in cloud complexity.

  • Continuous Monitoring and Threat Detection

    Fidelis Halo® uses advanced analytics and machine learning to identify threats early in the kill chain before they can escalate. It has the capability to continuously surveil cloud environments for abnormal activity, issuing real-time alerts and initiating automated responses to prevent harm before it can occur.

  • Rapid Deployment and Instant Value

    Fidelis Halo® can be deployed in minutes, providing security insight into your full network within minutes. It offers instant insights into thousands of cloud assets so security teams can respond quickly, while also automating workflows to increase long-term efficiency.

Your No-Blind-Spots Toolkit for Stronger Security

Discover how to:

  • Detect threats before they cause damage
  • Eliminate security gaps in your environment
  • Strengthen defenses with actionable insights
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Best Practices for Eliminating Cloud Security Blind Spots

The road to bridging cloud security blind spots is proactive and involves proactive monitoring, stringent access control, and automation, right from the beginning. Here are some best practices to improve your cloud security posture:

  • Apply the Principle of Least Privilege

    Restrict user and service privileges to the least privileges necessary to perform their function. Lateral movement is more likely to occur with over-permissioned accounts if a breach occurs. Update the permissions periodically to limit unauthorized access.

  • Enable Comprehensive Logging and Monitoring

    Implement logging of API calls, access requests, and data transfers for all cloud services. Centralize logs and use SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solutions to identify threats in real time.

  • Regularly Audit and Update Configurations

    Cloud security misconfigurations are a major source of security breaches. Conduct frequent audits to identify and remediate security gaps. Tools like Fidelis Halo® provide automated checks to enforce best practices and ensure there no cloud compliance gaps..

  • Secure Pre-GA and Undocumented APIs

    Restrict access to early-stage cloud services and undocumented APIs, as they may lack critical security controls. Continuously monitor API usage for anomalies that could indicate exploitation attempts.

  • Leverage Automation for Continuous Security

    Enable security automation of policies, vulnerability assessments, and compliance enforcement to ensure consistent security. Integrate security into any DevOps workflows to catch misconfigurations prior to deployment.

Conclusion

Proactive cloud security is no longer optional—it’s essential. As cloud environments become increasingly complex, removing blind spots is essential to both preventing breaches and maintaining compliance.  

Fidelis Halo® provides the cloud visibility, automation, and intelligence required to fill the security gaps and protect your cloud infrastructure.

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  • Detect threats in real time
  • Automate response for faster remediation
  • Strengthen your security posture effortlessly
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About Author

Picture of Kriti Awasthi
Kriti Awasthi

Hey there! I'm Kriti Awasthi, your go-to guide in the world of cybersecurity. When I'm not decoding the latest cyber threats, I'm probably lost in a book or brewing a perfect cup of coffee. My goal? To make cybersecurity less intimidating and more intriguing - one page, or rather, one blog at a time!

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