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CSPM vs. DSPM: Complementary security posture tools
CSPM delivers important information on cloud configuration status. DSPM details the security posture of data, whether it's in the cloud or an on-premises environment.
Recent years have seen the emergence of products collectively described as security posture management tools. Primarily focused on cloud environments, these tools help organizations assess controls and configuration status, mitigate threats and vulnerabilities, and protect data.
Two popular security posture management tools are cloud SPM (CSPM) and data SPM (DSPM). In a nutshell, CSPM emphasizes the security posture of assets and services within cloud environments, and DSPM looks at how data is secured, classified and stored.
CSPM and DSPM are essential components of cloud and data security strategies, but they focus on different aspects of risk management. Let's examine each tool before discussing their similarities and differences.
Intro to CSPM
CSPM tools monitor cloud infrastructure for gaps in security policy enforcement. They identify misconfigurations and compliance risks in IaaS, SaaS and PaaS environments.
Organizations use CSPM products to find and correct configuration errors -- for example, leaving storage buckets open and thus accessible to attackers. Another use case is when security settings are not tightly linked to the principle of least privilege, which can enable bad actors to move laterally throughout a breached cloud environment.
Intro to DSPM
DSPM products are designed to monitor enterprise data on-premises and in the cloud. They provide visibility into the data and its security posture. Data is difficult to track for many reasons, including the vast volumes of data routinely produced and the many places where data resides.
With DSPM tools, IT teams can better control access to data by finding unused but active employee accounts, labeling unstructured data and tracking data used to train AI products and models. These capabilities help security teams prevent data breaches and respond to incidents when they occur.
The similarities between CSPM and DSPM
CSPM and DSPM are both designed to secure cloud-based environments, ensuring that cloud configurations and data remain protected from cyberthreats. Both emphasize risk mitigation, helping to reduce security risks, but they focus on different layers. CSPM considers infrastructure and configuration, while DSPM addresses data security.
CSPM and DSPM products use AI and machine learning to automate threat detection, apply security policies and reduce manual efforts. Both types of tools can help organizations meet core tenets of security frameworks and regulations, such as GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, PCI DSS and ISO 27001, by identifying gaps or violations and suggesting remediation options.
Both products integrate with security tools already in use, such as SIEM and security orchestration, automation and response platforms, identity and access management (IAM) platforms and services, and endpoint security tools.
The differences between CSPM and DSPM
The obvious distinction between the two tools is in scope. CSPM focuses on cloud configuration status while DSPM emphasizes the data security posture, including data classification, encryption, access control and movement.
Beyond that, a key differentiator is that DSPM has broadened to cover both cloud and on-premises environments. This is critical, as it's not uncommon for many organizations to still have a vast array of sensitive data in traditional file shares and other data center storage platforms.
Another difference is in the areas of coverage. For example, CSPM tools can identify a misconfigured cloud storage bucket that is publicly exposed, while DSPM can identify the types of data within the bucket. The types of risk mitigation and remediation also differ, with CSPM recommending or changing a configuration setting within the cloud, and DSPM classifying and categorizing data, then applying data-centric controls, such as access restriction or encryption depending on policy.
Leading use cases for CSPM and DSPM
Organizations implement CSPM and DSPM for a variety of reasons, including the following:
- Cloud configuration security. This is the primary driver and use case for CSPM, ensuring that cloud storage, networks and workloads are securely configured. DSPM aligns with this use case, but it isn't the focus.
- Data discovery and classification. This is the primary driver and use case for DSPM, identifying sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information, protected health information and financial data, across cloud and on-premises environments. This use largely does not apply to CSPM. For DSPM, data leakage prevention also ties into this use case.
- Excessive permission detection. CSPM tools detect IAM misconfigurations that lead to excessive permissions, where DSPM ensures least-privilege access to sensitive data.
- Compliance auditing and reporting. Both products help monitor and enforce compliance requirements by implementing cloud security best practices and policies for handling sensitive data.
- Cloud storage monitoring. CSPM detects public exposure and misconfiguration of cloud storage, while DSPM identifies sensitive data residing in cloud storage and who has access to it.
CSPM, DSPM or both?
CSPM tools are broadly applicable to any organization using PaaS and IaaS, so there's no specific vertical or type of organization more likely to use CSPM than others. For many, the primary drivers to purchase and use CSPM are concerns about exposure or attack surface, a complicated-to-secure multi-cloud architecture -- with a need to monitor all clouds in a single platform -- and compliance or regulatory reporting for audits. DSPM tools tend to be slightly more prevalent in highly regulated industries, such as finance, healthcare and government, where data discovery and control are emphasized.
For many organizations, CSPM and DSPM make sense together because of their complementary roles in securing cloud environments. CSPM ensures cloud environments are securely configured, but it doesn't provide visibility into the security of the data itself. Similarly, while DSPM protects data, it doesn't prevent or detect most cloud misconfigurations, excessive permissions or compliance drift in cloud infrastructure. Given that many organizations today have a hybrid design, often with multiple cloud providers in the mix, CSPM and DSPM together will provide the most complete security coverage.
Dave Shackleford is founder and principal consultant at Voodoo Security, a SANS analyst, instructor and course author, and GIAC technical director.