Cloud security is a top concern for companies today. Do you know that in 2021, about 79% of companies reported at least one cloud data breach? Given that most companies in the world today have a cloud presence, this statistic is sure to ring some alarm bells for you.
So, what can you do to protect your applications, services, virtual machines, and other resources hosted on the cloud? The simple answer – leverage the benefits of cloud workload security platforms.
What is a Cloud Security Workload Platform?
A cloud security workload platform is a set of wide-ranging security practices that protect your cloud-based resources and reduce the chances of attacks. It encompasses best practices such as using encryption, securing the APIs that are used by cloud apps, protecting the consoles, tools, and other infrastructure used by organizations, and more.
The next question on your mind is, how can you implement this cloud security? Many cloud workload security platforms are available and let's look at some of the best ones.
The Best Cloud Workload Security Platforms
Here are some of the best cloud workload security platforms. We have evaluated them across multiple criteria and believe that the below ones can provide top-notch security for your cloud infrastructure and greatly mitigate attacks.
- PingSafe – EDITOR’S CHOICE This Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform provides system hardening scans and live threat detection for cloud workloads and the infrastructure that supports it. Access a demo.
- Datadog Cloud Workload Security Analyzes your cloud workload across hosts, containers, and kernel to identify vulnerabilities and accordingly, presents security rules that are the best fit for your environment.
- McAfee Cloud Workload Security This is an advanced platform that provides extensive visibility and protection for your cloud environment, and from on-prem to cloud in a hybrid environment.
- CloudGuard Workload Security CloudGuard is a fully-automated cloud-native security solution that provides unified visibility and threat prevention across all your cloud resources.
- Trend Micro This is a comprehensive platform that secures your workloads in the cloud. It also scales well with your business and helps maintain continuous compliance.
- Prisma Cloud This is a cloud-native security solution that provides complete visibility and data protection throughout your cloud infrastructure.
Which of the above is best suited for your organization? Read the detailed description and feature set of each of these tools before deciding.
1. PingSafe – GET DEMO
PingSafe is a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP). The platform includes a range of cloud system security services that include preventative scanning and live security monitoring.
Features
PingSafe is intended for use with the major cloud platforms and it will track the applications hosted on those platforms and also storage accounts.
- Cloud platform integrations The system can interface to the Azure, AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Digital Ocean platforms to extract live statistics and log messages. Users can also point log forwarders from other platforms to get them included in the monitoring system.
- Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) This unit scans all assets and pay attention to configuration and user account, looking for security weaknesses in their settings. The tool recommends changes to tighten security.
- Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) This service tracks applications as they run and it identifies unexpected behavior, such as unauthorized access attempts or changes in functions, which could indicate altered code.
- Infrastructure-as-Code security This unit looks at the management systems of cloud platforms and looks for security weaknesses.
- Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM) This tool looks at invokations and settings of the containers that are used to deliver applications.
- Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) This unit enhances the functions of the CWPP and provides automated responses to detected threats.
The PingSafe platform is a typical CNAPP except that it lacks the Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) system that is usually included with these platforms. That would be an identity and access manager for cloud services.
Pros:
- Provides system hardening scanning for all cloud assets
- Implements constant live application security monitoring
- Includes an attack analysis module for threat assessments
- Automated responses to undo hacker damage
- Compliance management for SOC2, PCI DSS, and HIPAA
Cons:
- Doesn’t include access rights management
Pricing: PingSafe doesn’t publish a price list.
Free Demo: To examine the PingSafe system, you can request a demo.
EDITOR'S CHOICE
PingSafe is our top pick for a cloud workload security platform because it provides preventative scanning, live threat detection, and automated responses. This package provides a security posture management service for your cloud platforms and also for the delivery systems for Web applications that involve containers and Kubernetes. The platform continuously watches for attacks, which could involve code alteration. The PingSafe system automatically blocks attacks and restores the original authorized code.
Download: Access the Demo
Official Site: https://www.pingsafe.com/get-a-demo/
OS: Cloud-based
2. Datadog Cloud Workload Security
Datadog Cloud Workload Security is a comprehensive platform that performs an in-depth analysis of your kernel and infrastructure to identify any vulnerability. Based on this input, it customizes the existing security rules to present a set of best practices that work well for your cloud environment.
Features
Datadog comes loaded with many features that can streamline and improve your cloud security. Here are some salient ones.
- Monitors Workload Activity Datadog does deep-dive monitoring of your workload activity and in the process, uncovers any threats that may be lurking in your hosts or containers. It also does a thorough in-kernel analysis to identify any hidden vulnerabilities. This platform can also detect errors during runtime. Besides detecting, it also sends alerts along with the complete context, so you can better understand the threat and mitigate it at the earliest.
- Use Out-of-the-box Rules Datadog has come up with a bunch of security rules and alerts based on common occurrences and vulnerabilities. These rules can form the baseline of your security threat and are automatically included in the Datadog Agent. An advantage of these rules is that you can customize them further to meet your specific requirements.
- Scalable and Flexible A salient feature of Datadog is its scalability. As your cloud presence grows, Datadog can be automatically extended to cover them all without increasing the complexity of monitoring. This improves operational efficiency and reduces costs greatly. Further, you can leverage the 600+ integrations to customize the platform just the way you want.
- File Monitoring File controlling and monitoring are key aspects in the cloud, and it is also a complex task given that your files can be spread across multiple cloud environments. This is where Datadog helps! Its file monitoring capabilities provide deep visibility into all the file-related activities across your cloud environment and detect problems as they come up. It supports both containers and hosts in real-time, and through it, reduces your overhead. It's also highly scalable and grows with your organization.
Overall, Datadog is an advanced cloud workload security platform that continuously monitors all aspects of your cloud environment against a set of baseline rules, and alerts you when the values exceed the established threshold. It doesn't just send alerts, but also the context for quick troubleshooting.
Pros:
- Takes a holistic approach to server performance and health monitoring
- Supports auto-discovery that builds network topology maps and inventory lists in real-time based on devices that enter the network
- Supports both SNMP monitoring as well as packet analysis, giving you more control over monitoring than similar tools
- Uses drag and drop widgets to customize the look and feel of the dashboard
- Robust reporting system with pre-configured compliance templates
Cons:
- Designed for IT professionals, not the best option for non-technical users
Pricing: The base price starts at $15/host/month for the Pro version and $23/host/month for the Enterprise version. There's also a free version that supports up to five hosts and retains metrics for just one day. Based on your needs, you can add on more services and the price will vary accordingly.
Free Trial: Click here to start a free trial.
3. McAfee Cloud Workload Security
McAfee Cloud Workload Security is a popular platform that provides high levels of visibility and protection for your hybrid cloud environment. It handles end-to-end security and workload from on-prem to the cloud.
Features
McAfee comes with many advanced features to provide a simplified security service across your data center and cloud environments. Here's a look at some of them.
- Automates Discovery McAfee comes with automation templates to continuously monitor your workloads and infrastructure. In the process, it identifies vulnerabilities and blind spots and provides protection right from the word go.
- Simplified Management This platform simplifies cloud security management. Besides providing a centralized view of instances across all accounts, it also automates workloads and provides contextual information for easy troubleshooting. Further, its one-click quarantine and single-pane console make it easy to customize security rules as needed across your physical, virtual, and hybrid cloud environments.
- Uses Advanced Security Tools McAfee uses machine learning, VM-optimized malware, file integrity monitoring, and micro-segmentation to protect your workload from possible attacks. Its advanced threat defense can prevent external attacks as well as lateral attacks in the data center. It also uses host-based workload strategies for virtual instances. These strategies, in turn, prevent any issues in the underlying infrastructure.
- Integration McAfee integrates with many cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and VMware environments. It also supports Chef and shell scripts to deploy your automation. All these make your McAfee platform more extensible and customizable for you.
In all, McAfee comes with many advanced features for protecting your cloud, physical, and hybrid environments. Its simplified management and intuitive user interface add to its appeal.
Pros:
- Supports Windows, Linux, and Mac OS
- Offers roll-back points for infected endpoints
- Monitors network traffic to stop DDoS attacks, botnets, and rouge mail servers
- Allows sysadmins to orchestrate security policies across their environment
Cons:
- Must contact sales for a quote
Pricing
McAfee Cloud Workload Security offers three plans:
- Cloud Workload Security Basic
- Cloud Workload Security Essentials
- Cloud Workload Security Advanced
Contact the customer team for a quote.
Free Trials/Downloads: There are no free trials or downloads at the time of writing this piece.
4. CloudGuard for Workload Protection
CloudGuard is an automated cloud-native workload solution that provides unified visibility across your entire cloud environment. It comes with threat prevention capabilities and provides compliance with all standards.
Features
Let's now look at the salient features of CloudGuard Workload Protection.
- Automated Security This is a cloud-native security solution that provides automated security for containers and cloud applications. It offers comprehensive protection for every cloud layer, so all threats are highly mitigated. Further, it empowers security and DevOps teams to approach this platform with a zero-trust security policy. Such an approach is sure to improve security and compliance.
- Posture Management CloudGuard provides a set of best practices that aligns with NIST and CIS benchmarks. You can even build custom compliance rules that provide visibility into your cloud assets.
- Extensive Workload Protection CloudGuard provides extensive workload protection during runtime. It profiles applications and their functions and continuously monitors their behavior. Further, it checks the functionality and metrics against established baseline values to check for anomalies.
- Elaborate Reporting This platform comes with out-of-the-box report templates that can be used for auditing and compliance. These reports also come in handy for decision-making.
Overall, CloudGuard Workload Protection continuously monitors your workloads and ensures that their performance metrics are in tune with the established baseline values.
Pros:
- Focuses heavily on automated workload security
- Uses NIST and CIS benchmarks to help adjust and monitor your security posture
- Offer highly detailed reporting – great for audits
- Offers both continuous and manual scans
Cons:
- Is more advanced than similar tools – can take time to learn
Pricing: Contact the sales team for a custom quote.
Free Trial: Click here for a free trial.
5. Trend Micro Workload Security
Trend Micro Cloud Workload Security provides comprehensive cloud protection that comes with elastic workloads and containers. Its advanced cloud security capabilities scale well with your business and ensure that you can maintain continuous compliance.
Features
Here's a look at some of the important features of Trend Micro.
- Automated Processes Trend Micro automates the deployment and discovery of applications. In turn, this automation saves time, improves efficiency, and streamlines compliance. Further, it also simplifies migration and expansion, as needed for your business.
- Highly Flexible Another advantage of Trend Micro is that it is highly flexible and works well with most cloud service providers, integrations, and APIs. this means, you can choose the appropriate cloud, platforms, APIs, and tools for your operations and Trend Micro will monitor them for discrepancies and vulnerabilities.
- Workload Protection This platform constantly monitors your applications, containers, hosts, and other deployments in the cloud. In the process, it identifies malware, ransomware, malicious URLs, and unknown domains that can attack your infrastructure. Another cool aspect is that Trend Micro has an ongoing bug bounty program to identify new errors across a wide range of platforms.
- Comprehensive and Scalable Trend Micro provides a comprehensive and scalable solution. It is as broad as needed to cover your entire infrastructure and also has the depth to manage your cloud security needs. Its scalability also ensures that it grows well with your business.
In all, Trend Micro is a good choice if your cloud infrastructure is spread across multiple cloud providers. Also, it is all-encompassing and highly flexible, and scalable to meet your changing business needs.
Pros:
- Unifies access control and vulnerability management across your cloud environments
- Can protect individual runtime environments across multiple containers
- Supports physical, virtual, public, and private cloud environments
- Unifies monitoring of multiple cloud vendors from a single dashboard
Cons:
- Ideal for larger companies utilizing multiple cloud vendors
Pricing: Click here to find a partner near you. This partner can provide a custom quote based on your requirements.
Download: Click here to download a free trial version.
6. Prisma Cloud
Prisma Cloud is a cloud-native security platform that provides threat protection, compliance, data protection, and visibility to your entire cloud infrastructure. It also comes with many features that simplify the overall management of your cloud infrastructure.
Features
Let's now look at the salient features of Prism Cloud.
- All-encompassing Prisma Cloud encompasses not just your applications, but your entire cloud infrastructure even if it's spread across multiple clouds. It is a unified solution that provides unmatched security and visibility through a single pane.
- Complete Lifecycle This platform integrates well with any CI/CD workflow to secure your cloud infrastructure and applications. This flexibility ensures that you can still use Prisma Cloud, even if you change your providers or your infrastructure.
- Simplifies Security Prism Cloud simplifies security by providing all the information you want in a single pane. This greatly simplifies security and compliance as you can find all the information you want in a single pane. Further, the setup process is simple and doesn't entail a lot of time and effort.
In all, Prisma Cloud simplifies your cloud workload security platform without compromising the performance or security of your cloud infrastructure.
Pros:
- Focuses more on automated threat identification and remediation
- Can detect compliance violations
- Integrates with your Git repository
- Works well as a vulnerability detection and management platform
Cons:
- Better suited for larger DevOps environments
Pricing: Contact the sales team for a custom quote.
Free Trial: Click here to request a free trial.
Thus, these are some of the well-known cloud workload security platforms. We hope this information gives the insights you need to choose the platform that's best suited for your business needs.
Conclusion
To conclude, cloud workload security platforms are a good option to defend against zero-day and other threats that can impact your cloud infrastructure. Most of these platforms even come with comprehensive reporting for compliance and audits. Needless to say, these platforms continuously monitor your cloud infrastructure and send alerts along with the context for quick troubleshooting.
