Cloud security posture management (CSPM) is an emerging market of vulnerability management and security compliance technologies designed to ensure protection for complex, modern hybrid computing environments. CSPM tools monitor cloud applications, services, containers, and infrastructure to detect and remediate misconfigurations, or incorrectly enforced policies. Cloud security posture management vendors create solutions that will typically remediate issues automatically when triggered by an anomaly or other misconfiguration based on rules set by the administrator.
Companies use these tools because it is very difficult to map out and consistently visualize all the components of a complex cloud computing environment. New tools have been developed to enable AI-based, automated management of identities, networks, infrastructure, etc. However, only CSPM software has emerged to provide continuous monitoring and visibility of a company’s security posture, and pair it with automated detection and remediation for issues as they emerge across disparate computing environments.
These tools are part of the emerging secure access service edge (SASE) technology market that also includes software defined perimeter (SDP) software, cloud access security brokers (CASB) software, secure web gateways, and zero trust networking software. Together, these tools are delivered virtually through SD-WAN software to provide an all-encompassing security solution for all components in any cloud environment.
To qualify for inclusion in the Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) category, a product must:
Facilitate the automated detection and remediation of cloud misconfigurations
Monitor security policies and configurations across infrastructure, applications, and other cloud environments
Visualize cloud infrastructure in a single-pane-of-glass view
Monitor for other issues relating to cloud compliance, infrastructure as code, and other potential security gaps