Kivera Joins Cloudflare: Enhancing Cloud Security for Bluechip Customers

Kivera Joins Cloudflare: Enhancing Cloud Security for Bluechip Customers

Cloud security

We are happy to declare that Kivera, a pioneer in data protection, cloud security, and compliance, has formally joined Cloudflare. By including inbuilt cloud app controls, this strategic purchase increases our SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) portfolio and offers Bluechip Computer System clients strong preventative precautions for all of their cloud services.

Cloud services and SaaS (Software as a Service) apps are crucial to an organization’s regular operations in the modern digital age. However, the rise in data sharing between companies and their cloud providers increases the risk of online assaults, noncompliance, and data breaches. Security management is made more difficult by the fact that many businesses are now working with several cloud providers to take advantage of their distinct advantages and cut expenses.

The reactive nature of Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) alongside associated tools makes it difficult for security teams to monitor cloud configurations, permissions, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) scanning. These solutions only identify issues after misconfigurations have taken place, which results in an excessive number of alarms. But by incorporating preventive security measures “inline,” or right into the deployment process, Kivera and Cloudflare One provide a proactive way to stop mistakes before they happen. This approach is crucial for preserving data security, expediting compliance, and safeguarding cloud infrastructure from ever changing cyberthreats.

An Early Warning System for Cloud Security Risks

Kivera brings significant advancements to Bluechip’s cloud security strategy by adding inline controls that enforce secure cloud configurations. By monitoring cloud API traffic, these controls provide enhanced visibility and allow for granular security management, empowering organizations to mitigate risks before they materialize.

Kivera will enhance Cloudflare’s SASE platform with the following features –

  • One-click security: The most frequent cloud breaches are often caused by configuration errors like mistakenly allowing public access or inconsistent policies, which are immediately prevented for customers through proactive security measures.
  • Enforced Cloud Tenant Control: It is simple for businesses to set limits on their cloud resources and customers in order to keep critical information inside their own walls. 
  • Data Exfiltration Prevention: Easily establish rules to prevent data from being transferred to unapproved sites.
  • Reduce Shadow Cloud Infrastructure: Make sure that all communications with cloud providers follow accepted security guidelines.
  • Simplified Compliance: Regulation-based compliance is automatically evaluated and put into effect.
  • DevOps Integration: Reduce dependency on certain deployment technologies by setting up customized controls that are not linked to public cloud configurations.

By enhancing our SASE platform, Bluechip can offer cloud control, access management, and threat protection on a unified platform. With Kivera, these inline security measures complement existing tools like CSPM or Cloud Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPPs), significantly reducing the volume of alerts and simplifying remediation efforts.

Why This Matters: The Growing Threat of Cloud Misconfigurations

One of the main targets of cyberattacks nowadays is the cloud. From 2021 to 2022, cloud exploitation increased by 95%, as per 2023 Cloud Risk Report. Misconfigurations, such as improper security settings, are the main source of these breaches. The 2023 Thales Global Cloud Security Study also highlights that 44% of organizations experienced a data breach due to human error or misconfigurations.

At Bluechip, we recognize that the rapid adoption of cloud services, the complexity of cloud environments, and decentralized management increase the risk of misconfigurations. By offering proactive cloud security measures through Kivera, we help our customers mitigate these risks effectively.

The increase in cloud misconfigurations is caused by a number of factors –

1. Rapid Adoption of Cloud Services: Cloud services are rapidly being used across industries due to their scalability, cost effectiveness, and support for remote work and real-time communication. However, the speed and complexity of these services can be difficult for IT teams to handle, though, and can result in accidental misconfigurations.

2. Complexity of Cloud Environments: With numerous services and configurations to maintain, these cloud infrastructures are quite complex. For example, AWS provides more than 373 services with hundreds of actions and parameters which makes it difficult for IT teams to maintain configurations accurately. 

3. Decentralized Management: In large enterprises, cloud resources are often managed by multiple departments or teams. Without centralized oversight of security settings, the risk of misconfigurations and vulnerabilities increases, as inconsistent policies and practices can lead to gaps in security.

4. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): CI/CD pipelines provide frequent and timely infrastructure changes. However, if modifications are not appropriately monitored or approved, this speed raises the potential of misconfigurations and allows errors to spread rapidly across the system.

5. Insufficient Training and Awareness: Cloud security is an area where many employees lack cross-functional experience, especially when it comes to network design, user authentication, and service configurations. This lack of understanding leads to mistakes and heightens the risk of cloud misconfigurations that can compromise security and compliance.

Common exploitation methods 

Threat actors use strategies including power exploitation, encryption bypassing, and misconfiguration targeting to take advantage of cloud services. Sensitive data can be easily accessed due to misconfigurations like exposed storage buckets and unsecured APIs. When attackers increase their access through compromising credentials or poor identity and access management (IAM) restrictions, this is known as privilege abuse. Furthermore, the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive data are jeopardized since unencrypted data can be captured and cracked.

Some common security weaknesses that Kivera helps address include –

1. Unrestricted Access to Cloud Tenants
Allowing uncontrolled access to cloud environments may result in data exfiltration by suspicious parties. Implementing strict access controls and limiting rights to authorized tenants with defined IP addresses and service destinations is essential for preventing unauthorized access.

2. Exposed Access Keys
There are serious risks associated with exposed access keys since they allow unauthorized individuals to take or remove private information. To successfully reduce this risk, organizations should impose encryption on access keys and limit their use.

3. Excessive Account Permissions
The effect of security breaches can be increased by giving cloud accounts unnecessary privileges. It’s crucial to limit permissions to only what is necessary for operational functions, thereby preventing lateral movement and privilege escalation by potential attackers.

4. Inadequate Network Segmentation
Attackers can exploit poor segmentation techniques and ineffective network security groups to navigate freely within cloud environments. Setting up distinct boundaries for cloud tenants and resources aids in ensuring that private information is kept safe within the company.

5. Improper Public Access Configuration
The possibility of unwanted access and data compromise might be increased by improperly configured public access to key services or storage resources. Organizations must restrict public access to sensitive data unless it is absolutely required for the purpose to significantly reduce risk.

The Limitations of Traditional Tools

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) technologies are frequently used by organizations to keep an eye on cloud misconfigurations. However, security teams are kept in a defensive posture because these tools usually respond after problems arise. Security and development teams must work together during remediation, which causes delays and raises compliance risks. It takes an average of 207 days to identify breaches, and an additional 70 days are required for containment. 

With Kivera’s preventive controls, Bluechip offers a solution that prevents issues before they arise and enforce best practices.

What’s Next for Kivera and Bluechip

Kivera’s integration with our primary cloud security solution will be smooth. Our objective is to incorporate Kivera’s preventive inline cloud app controls into our products in an easy way. The Kivera team will concentrate on this integration for the rest of 2024 and the first part of 2025. They will also look for early access users to give input on the features they would want to see. 

Bluechip Computer System is dedicated to offering cutting-edge technologies that safeguard our clients’ cloud environments and improve their operational effectiveness. We are thrilled with this new chapter and the enhanced security capabilities that Kivera brings to our platform.