By Kevin Elias Thomas
SSH, or Secure Shell, is a protocol that allows users to access, control, and modify their remote servers over the internet. SSH is widely used by system administrators, developers, and IT professionals to manage their cloud infrastructure and applications. However, SSH also poses significant security risks if not configured and monitored properly. A hybrid cloud environment, which combines public and private clouds with on-premises infrastructure, offers many benefits for organisations, such as scalability, flexibility, cost-efficiency, and innovation. However, it also introduces additional complexity and challenges for securing SSH access.
Securing SSH access in a hybrid cloud environment involves several challenges that require careful planning and implementation. Some of these challenges are:
Managing SSH keys and credentials: SSH relies on public-key cryptography to authenticate users and encrypt data. This means that each user or server has a pair of keys: a public key that is shared with others, and a private key that is kept secret. To access a remote server via SSH, a user needs to have the corresponding private key or a valid password.
Ensuring compliance and governance: Organisations that operate in hybrid cloud environments need to comply with various regulations and standards, such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, NIST, and ISO 27001. These regulations and standards require organisations to implement strict security controls and policies for their SSH operations, encrypting data in transit and at rest, and reporting any incidents or breaches.
Optimising performance and availability: Organisations that use hybrid cloud environments need to ensure high performance and availability for their SSH operations. This means that they need to minimise latency, downtime, and errors when accessing their remote servers via SSH. However, optimising performance and availability across different cloud platforms can be difficult and resource-intensive.
Opportunities of Securing SSH Access in a Hybrid Cloud Environment
Despite the challenges mentioned above, securing SSH access in a hybrid cloud environment also offers many opportunities for organisations to improve their security posture and operational efficiency. Some of these opportunities are:
Leveraging automation and orchestration: Automation and orchestration are key enablers for securing SSH access in a hybrid cloud environment. Automation refers to the use of software tools or scripts to perform repetitive or complex tasks without human intervention. Orchestration refers to the coordination of multiple automated tasks or workflows across different systems or environments.
Adopting cloud-native technologies: Cloud-native technologies are technologies that enable consistent and reliable development, deployment, management, and performance across cloud environments and cloud vendors. Some examples of cloud-native technologies are containers, microservices, serverless computing, DevOps, and Kubernetes.
Utilising specialised solutions: Specialised solutions are solutions that are designed and optimised for a specific purpose or function. In the context of securing SSH access in a hybrid cloud environment, specialised solutions are solutions that provide comprehensive and integrated features and capabilities for SSH security and management. Some examples of specialised solutions are Ezeelogin, Teleport, and PrivX. By utilising specialised solutions, organisations can achieve a high level of security and efficiency for their SSH operations, ensuring compliance and governance.
How to Use PAM for Securing SSH Access in a Hybrid Cloud Environment
PAM can help organisations address the challenges and opportunities of securing SSH access in a hybrid cloud environment. PAM can provide the following benefits for SSH operations:
Centralised management: PAM can provide a single pane of glass for managing all privileged accounts, including SSH accounts, across different cloud platforms. PAM can automate the lifecycle of SSH keys and credentials, such as creation, distribution, rotation, revocation, backup, and restore. PAM can also enforce granular policies and controls for SSH access, such as role-based access control (RBAC), just-in-time (JIT) access, just-enough (JEA) access, multi factor authentication (MFA), session recording, and termination.
Enhanced visibility: PAM can provide real-time visibility into all privileged activities, including SSH activities, across different cloud environments. PAM can monitor and audit all SSH sessions and commands, and generate reports and alerts for any suspicious or anomalous behaviour. PAM can also integrate with other security tools, such as SIEMs, firewalls, and IDS/IPS, to provide a holistic view of the security posture and compliance status of the organisation.
Improved performance: PAM can improve the performance and availability of SSH operations by optimising the network traffic and reducing the latency between users and servers. PAM can also leverage cloud-native technologies, such as containers and microservices, to scale up or down the SSH infrastructure according to the demand. PAM can also provide fault tolerance and disaster recovery capabilities for SSH operations by replicating and restoring the data and configuration across different cloud regions.
Conclusion
SSH is a vital protocol for accessing and managing remote servers in a hybrid cloud environment. Organisations need to address the challenges and opportunities of securing SSH access in a hybrid cloud environment. By leveraging automation and orchestration, adopting cloud-native technologies, and utilising specialised solutions, organisations can improve their security posture and operational efficiency for their SSH operations.
The author is Chief Information Security Officer, Ezeelogin
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