Compliance monitoring is an important feature of a CSPM tool because it helps organizations ensure that they are meeting regulatory and compliance requirements in their cloud environment. Many industries are subject to strict compliance regulations, such as healthcare, finance, and government, and failure to comply with these regulations can result in significant financial penalties and reputational damage. It can continuously monitor the cloud environment for compliance violations and alert administrators if any are found. This includes monitoring for specific regulatory requirements such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, GDPR, and others. It also includes the CIS Centre for Internet Security (CIS) Benchmark, cloud provider-specific benchmarks such as Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark (MCSB), and best practices.
In addition to identifying compliance issues, a CSPM tool with compliance monitoring features can also generate reports that demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements. These reports can be used to prove compliance to auditors, regulators, and other stakeholders.
Configuration management
Configuration management helps organizations maintain control over their cloud infrastructure and ensure that it is configured according to best practices and compliance requirements. With cloud environments becoming increasingly complex, configuration management can be a daunting task, especially in large organizations. A CSPM tool with configuration management features can help organizations automate and streamline configuration management tasks. The tool can continuously monitor the cloud environment for configuration changes and alert administrators if any are found. It can also provide automated remediation to bring the infrastructure back into compliance.
In addition to identifying configuration issues, it provides recommendations for best practices and compliance requirements. This includes providing guidance on security configurations, network configurations, Identity and Access Management (IAM) configurations, and resource usage.
Threat detection and response
CSPM tool needs to have a threat detection and response feature because it allows organizations to proactively identify and respond to security threats in their cloud environment. With the rise of sophisticated cyberattacks and the increasing complexity of cloud environments, organizations need to have a robust threat detection and response strategy in place. A CSPM tool that leverages this feature can continuously monitor the cloud environment for suspicious activity, such as unauthorized access or data exfiltration. It can also provide automated alerts and notifications when potential threats are detected.
Usually, CSPM tools can be integrated with SIEM/SOAR tools, which complement threat response features that provide automated incident response capabilities. This includes automated remediation to contain and mitigate security incidents.