In the fast-paced realm of cyber security, it's easy to assume that as new technologies emerge, the old ones fall away. Does this really apply to Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), with some questioning whether it's still relevant. Is CSPM dead, as some would suggest, or has it simply evolved into a more complex form? The short answer: CSPM is very much alive, but it now operates within a broader framework. Let’s explore what CSPM was designed to do, how it’s now integrated into Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP), and why it remains the foundation for many of your cloud security challenges.
CSPM emerged as a necessary tool to address a fundamental problem: the growing complexity of cloud environments and the risk that misconfigurations pose to security. Cloud infrastructure is inherently dynamic, with services and resources constantly shifting and scaling, creating countless opportunities for errors. In public cloud, a single misconfiguration, a single click and you may have a breach.
CSPM’s objective is straightforward: continuously monitor cloud infrastructure for misconfigurations and security risks, flagging potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. It enforces cloud security best practices by identifying non-compliant assets and providing remediation guidance, or even better, auto-remediation capability.
The rise of Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) has brought with it a shift in how cloud security is approached. CNAPP is a comprehensive solution designed to provide end-to-end security for cloud-native applications. It combines several capabilities, such as runtime protection, workload security, and identity management, into one platform.
So, where does CSPM fit into the picture? The truth is that CSPM has not been replaced or rendered obsolete. Instead, it has been absorbed into the broader CNAPP ecosystem, enhancing the overall scope of protection. While CNAPP expands cloud security coverage by incorporating features like workload protection and identity security, CSPM remains integral, addressing misconfigurations and compliance issues at the infrastructure level.
Think of CNAPP as a multilayered security framework, with CSPM acting as one of the foundational layers. CNAPP is designed to secure cloud-native applications from development to deployment, and it relies on CSPM’s ability to manage the security posture of the underlying cloud infrastructure. Without CSPM’s continuous assessment of cloud configurations, CNAPP’s other features would be addressing a fundamentally insecure environment.
As Misconfigurations continue to be the leading cause of cloud security incidents, and often the root cause of major breaches, it’s great that CSPM can automate the process to identify them and provide remediation guidance. The next step is remediation, but how far can we trust the platform to implement remediation tasks autonomously? In the same time it can be unrealistic to expect the cloud security team to manually carry out remediation tasks for hundreds or thousands of findings. We found that with most of our customers, a semi-automated remediation approach was the optimal solution. With such approach, the remediation policies are configured with the right permissions and according to the organisation security policies to perform remediation actions but must be triggered by a human, benefiting from the scalability and speed of automation plus the assurance of human verification.
In addition to remediation, CSPM can be used to enforce preventive measures. By preventing misconfigurations before they can be exploited, CSPM reduces the attack surface and ensures that other layers of security—whether runtime protection or threat detection—aren’t compromised by a weak foundation. In this sense, CSPM serves as a critical first line of defence, complementing CNAPP’s more advanced capabilities.
Furthermore, CSPM ensures continuous compliance with regulatory standards, which is an ongoing challenge for organizations in regulated industries. Whether dealing with GDPR, HIPAA, or SOC 2, CSPM automates the process of ensuring that cloud environments remain compliant, and more importantly, ensures continuous compliance.
So, CSPM has simply become part of a larger, more comprehensive solution in the form of CNAPP. But its core capabilities—ensuring security best practices, preventing misconfigurations, and maintaining compliance—remain as vital as ever.
As cloud environments continue to grow in scale and complexity, the need for vigilant posture management will only increase. CSPM may no longer be a standalone solution, but it is still doing the essential work of securing the cloud infrastructure that everything else depends on.
If you are interested to see the CSPM capabilities in action as part of a wider CNAPP approach – get in touch for a free Cloud Risk Assessment