In the early days of cloud security, like in the early days of endpoint, the focus was on prevention. This makes sense: preventative measures are an essential way to reduce risk. Blocking known threats and attack paths makes sense as a way to harden an organization’s cloud estate.
For many organizations, a prevention-only strategy in the cloud might seem completely sufficient for reducing risk – and it is to an extent. But prevention alone can only go so far. In order to combat rapidly advancing cloud threats, the next step in maturation for cloud security is to implement a robust and effective detection and response solution.
The diminishing returns of a prevention-only strategy
While essential, preventative controls can’t realistically address every potential vulnerability. In dynamic cloud environments, assets and workloads spin up and down rapidly, often existing for only a few minutes. Multi-cloud and hybrid environments further compound the complexity, introducing unique security requirements across disparate platforms.
For cloud threat actors, this constantly shifting and often porous attack surface is ripe with opportunity. Threat actors leverage automation to exploit misconfigurations, excessive permissions, and compromised credentials — often in a matter of seconds. History has shown that even with strong preventative measures, sophisticated attackers can and will find ways to evade defenses. This is why many security leaders are starting to operate under the assumption of a breach. Prevention is a crucial part of security, but it alone isn’t sufficient to protect against advanced cloud threats. To truly mitigate risk, security teams need detection and response capabilities that allow them to see, understand, and neutralize threats as they emerge.
Understanding the assumption of compromise
When it comes to cloud security, the mindset has shifted from “if” to “when” an attack will happen. As part of this shift in posture, security leaders are increasingly adopting a “shield right” approach — anticipating threats will or have bypassed even the best preventative controls
Michael Clark, Head of Sysdig Threat Research, explains:
CISOs and security analysts alike should always operate under the assumption of compromise. The accelerating frequency and sophistication of attacks means a prevention-only approach won’t cut it, especially against mature threat actors with advanced defense evasion techniques.
To combat the faster, more sophisticated, and increasingly costly cloud attacks, resilient organizations are implementing comprehensive detection and response capabilities to ensure business continuity.
The cost of not shifting right: Risks of a prevention-only strategy
Failing to implement detection and response capabilities comes with high operational, financial, and regulatory risks. Consider the following potential impacts of a prevention-only approach:
- Data loss and exfiltration: Threat actors can steal valuable IP, customer data, and sensitive information, resulting in regulatory penalties, customer churn, and reputational harm.
- Operational disruption: Attackers deploying cryptominers can degrade performance, while ransomware can halt operations altogether. Prolonged downtime can result in significant revenue losses, especially with customer-facing applications.
- Increased recovery costs: The longer a threat goes undetected, the more costly it becomes to remediate. According to Sysdig’s “Unlocking Business Value with Enhanced Investigations” report, meeting the 555 Benchmark can reduce breach risk by 41%, potentially saving organizations up to $1.8 million in response and remediation costs.
- Regulatory penalties: Failing to detect, respond, and report breaches quickly can lead to hefty fines, especially under GDPR or CCPA regulations that mandate prompt breach disclosure.
Why real-time detection matters
Detection and response isn’t just about finding threats — it’s about finding them in time to stop them. With real-time visibility across all cloud workloads and applications, security teams gain critical insight into abnormal behaviors, such as privilege escalations, lateral movement, or unusual data transfers. This level of visibility enables proactive threat hunting and quick intervention, helping teams stay ahead of attackers.
Real-time detection from Sysdig enables organizations to identify threats faster, and enhanced investigation enables teams to gain critical cloud context to understand the who, what, where, and how of an attack in just 5 minutes. This agility can be the difference between stopping an attacker or becoming the next headline.
Building an effective framework for cloud detection and response: The 555 Benchmark
The Sysdig Threat Research Team has shown that cloud threats can escalate at unprecedented speeds, going from exploit to exfiltration in under 10 minutes. This research led Sysdig to create the 555 Benchmark, the first and only framework for cloud detection and response. To meet this benchmark, security teams must:
- Detect threats within 5 seconds to quickly identify anomalies across the environment.
- Correlate and analyze the threat within 5 minutes to understand its scope and impact.
- Initiate a response in under 5 minutes to contain and neutralize the threat before it spreads.
By striving to meet this benchmark, organizations can significantly reduce the likelihood and impact of cloud breaches, limiting attacker dwell time and minimizing operational disruption.
Conclusion: Moving beyond prevention to a comprehensive cloud security strategy
Prevention tools are a necessary part of any security team’s strategy. But in today’s cloud-driven world, prevention alone cannot address the full scope of risk. The complexity and pace of cloud environments demands a layered security approach — one that includes comprehensive detection and response capabilities to secure dynamic workloads and protect sensitive data. As attackers continue to grow more sophisticated, organizations must evolve in lockstep.
By adopting real-time detection, with advanced investigation and response capabilities, security leaders can better protect their cloud environments, reduce threat impact, and maintain resilience against the next wave of cloud-based attacks. It’s time for CISOs and security leaders to go beyond prevention and embrace a proactive, layered security strategy that addresses today’s realities and anticipates tomorrow’s threats