The Shared Responsibility Model

Cloud providers secure the underlying infrastructure, while customers are responsible for securing their data, identities, and configurations within that infrastructure. Misunderstanding this split is a leading cause of cloud incidents.

Core Cloud Security Basics

  • Identity and Access Management (IAM) — grant only the minimum permissions each user or service needs.
  • Encryption — encrypt data both at rest and in transit.
  • Configuration management — regularly audit storage buckets and databases for accidental public exposure.
  • Logging and monitoring — enable audit logs to detect unusual access patterns.
example: least-privilege IAM concept 
# Grant only what is needed, nothing more
role: read-only-analytics
permissions: [storage.read]

The majority of cloud data exposures result from misconfiguration, not sophisticated attacks — a small oversight can have a large impact.

Cloud Security Checklist

  1. Enable multi-factor authentication for all cloud accounts.
  2. Regularly review IAM roles and remove unused permissions.
  3. Audit storage buckets and databases for public access.
  4. Enable logging and set up alerts for unusual activity.