Source URL: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/managing-risk-cloud-enabled-products
Source: NCSC Feed
Title: Managing the risk of cloud-enabled products
Feedly Summary: Guidance outlining the risks of locally installed products interacting with cloud services, and suggestions to help organisations manage this risk.
AI Summary and Description: Yes
Summary: The text emphasizes the critical importance of understanding how deployed products interact with cloud services, addressing aspects of data collection, control mechanisms, vendor transparency, independent research, and personal investigation. It aims to equip security professionals with insights on managing risks related to cloud service integration.
Detailed Description:
The text outlines essential considerations for security professionals regarding the interaction of deployed products with cloud services. It stresses the need for awareness about data handling practices, potential threats, and control measures regarding system interactions with external services. Key points include:
– **Understanding Product Interactions**: Security professionals must investigate how products, including operating systems and installed software, collect and use data from systems.
– **Key Questions to Consider**:
– What kind of information does the product regularly collect?
– What additional information can the product gather?
– What changes can the product make at the direction of cloud services?
– What controls are in place to manage these interactions?
– **Information Sources for Risk Assessment**:
1. **Vendor Statements**:
– Review terms, conditions, and privacy policies from vendors to understand data interactions and control mechanisms.
– Utilize frameworks like the 14 Cloud Security Principles from NCSC to assess potential risks.
– Pay careful attention to contractual agreements, which may allow extensive permissions to vendors over systems and data.
2. **Independent Research**:
– Leverage third-party reviews and analyses of products to obtain an unbiased evaluation of their interaction with cloud services.
– Consider the credibility and timeliness of the research to ensure results are applicable to current product versions.
– Note that independent findings may not definitively deem a product insecure, and observe how vendors address identified vulnerabilities.
3. **Personal Investigations**:
– Conduct tests within a controlled environment to analyze data flows from the product to its servers using tools like Wireshark.
– Recognize limitations in testing, such as undetectable information transfers and the effects of encryption.
– Use testing to identify unexpected data flows that may require further discussion with vendors.
– **Potential Risks**: The analysis indicates that without comprehensive testing, organizations may miss critical data flow aspects, leading to unaddressed vulnerabilities.
This thorough examination aids security professionals in understanding and mitigating risks associated with cloud service interactions, ensuring responsible data management and compliance with security standards. The insights gathered from this text are vital for maintaining an organization’s security posture regarding cloud-dependent products.