A practical checklist for securing cloud accounts, identities, data and logging.
Most cloud incidents trace back to configuration and access mistakes rather than flaws in the platform itself. Cloud providers secure the underlying infrastructure; you remain responsible for how you configure and use it.
Identity first
- Enforce multi-factor authentication, especially for administrators
- Grant least privilege and review permissions regularly
- Avoid long-lived access keys; prefer short-lived credentials
- Separate duties across accounts or subscriptions
Protect data
- Encrypt data at rest and in transit
- Block public access to storage by default
- Classify data so the most sensitive assets get the strongest controls
- Back up critical data and test restores
See what is happening
- Turn on audit logging in every account and region in use
- Send logs to a protected, central location
- Alert on high-risk changes such as new administrators or disabled logging
Keep it from drifting
Use infrastructure-as-code and policy guardrails so insecure settings are caught before deployment, and review the environment periodically.