A cloud workload protection platform (CWPP) is a security technology that detects and removes risks from cloud applications. A CWPP is similar to an automobile technician who detects defects and malfunctions inside a car’s engine before they cause additional damage. Except that it inspects the interior of cloud services rather than automobiles.
CWPPs automatically monitor a broad spectrum of workloads, including real on-premise systems, virtual machines, and serverless functions.
What are the primary functions of CWPPs?
These eight capabilities describe CWPPs, according to Gartner, a global research and advising firm:
- Strengthening, configuration, and vulnerability analysis: CWPPs help ensure that no vulnerabilities exist in software before its release to the public.
- Network visibility, micro-segmentation, and firewalling: A CWPP protects and micro-segments a network by providing network firewalling visibility, and micro-segmentation. The latter concept refers to segmenting a network so that an attacker cannot compromise the entire network at once.
- System integrity assurance: a CWPP ensures that cloud systems operate as intended.
- Allow listing and application control: a CWPP permits and blocks applications depending on a list of approved applications.
- Memory protection and vulnerability prevention: CWPPs prevent vulnerability exploitation in currently operating software.
- Endpoint detection and response (EDR) and behavioral monitoring response: CWPPs react to current threats as well as questionable changes in server and application behavior.
- Intrusion prevention on the host with vulnerability protection: CWPPs stop outsiders from accessing servers.
- Malware detection: cloud workloads that have malware incorporated are found by CWPPs.
These features can be used by CWPPs in any workload. That includes those running on physical servers, virtual machines, containers, and serverless activities.
How are multi-cloud and hybrid cloud installations protected by CWPPs?
CWPPs are excellent for securing infrastructure that disperses across several clouds since they can handle a variety of workloads. There are many different types of workloads in multi-cloud deployments. Which mix several public clouds, and hybrid cloud deployments, which combine public clouds with private clouds and on-premise infrastructure.
A CWPP offers a “single pane of glass” through which a company can quickly examine and assess cloud security threats common with all of these workloads.
Cloud Workload: What Is It?
General services, software applications, or a quantity of labor that uses up computer memory are all examples of cloud workloads. which are also referred to as cloud-based resources. Microservices, Hadoop nodes, databases, cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), containers, and Virtual Machines are typical workloads that leverage cloud-based resources (VMs).
Whereas CWPP assists in defining, implementing, and monitoring uniform, centralized security for workloads regardless of their location, form, or lifespan. Working with data that moves between environments is one of the major issues when using the cloud. This is what makes it such a huge target for hackers.
CWPPs was originally in development to deal with hybrid data centers. They include VMs, numerous public IaaS, container-based application architectures, and the physical storage of work and human data. CWPP is a workload-centric security protection solution, to put it simply.
What Are the Benefits of CWPPs?
The majority of cloud manufacturers will incorporate security protocols into their products, making a CWPP an additional line of defense against targeted attacks. By enabling you to react to danger more quickly, cloud visibility also enables you to increase threat detection and response.
Another advantage is cloud and human performance optimization. With CWPP, you can collect analytics from apps, which aids in cloud optimization. Human performance optimization also benefits from the integration of all cloud workloads into a single program. As a result, fewer staff members will be required to do upgrades, scans, and reports on each cloud workload.
All of these advantages (fewer employees needed to administer security, cloud optimization, and a single, centralized protection program) minimize maintenance costs and operational costs while also reducing the need for hardware.
Why Is CWPP Technology Essential for the Cloud?
With CWPP, you can perform security tasks across many environments. Simplify cloud protection, and increase portability, independent of the kind or location of a cloud workload.
No other piece of software provides as much security and centralized management as a CWPP, and for that reason, a CWPP is a must-have to stay safe from the cyber threats and data breaches of today.
