Working with AI Security Challenges in Cloud Environments

Cloud Security Newsletter 2.0 - Edition 1

Welcome to the 🎉new 🎉 Cloud Security Newsletter. Thanks to everyone who shared their excitement about the few changes we announced last week.

Let us reintroduce you to Cloud Security Newsletter 2.0

What is Cloud Security Newsletter? And why we started it!

A Weekly newsletter deep diving into top of mind topics in emerging technology to make sure collectively we feel confident securing things in this every changing world of Cloud, AI and whatever comes next.

Each week, we will aim for you to walk away from you device with one of the following:
- Learn about something new or a different perspective on a topic that is top of mind for your Cloud & Cloud Native Security colleagues in the industry
- Learn a new research or tactical solution or research to how to solve a cloud security problem
- Learn something that can help you finish a project or start a new one for your current cloud security stage to get your dream role or promotion.
- Put all the above in byte size pieces in a weekly schedule

As always we are looking to improve and learn each week together with you, so if you want us to cover a topic or have constructive feedback, feel free to let us know and we will make sure we take that onboard 🙂 !

Who else is here with you?
Ashish & Shilpi, from the weekly show Cloud Security Podcast, friends and colleagues from companies like Netflix, JP Morgan, Linkedin, Reddit, Github, Gitlab, CapitalOne, Robinhood, HSBC, British Airways, Airbnb & more who subscribe to this newsletter. If you are reading this - thank you for supporting us.

Cloud Security Topic of the Week - AI-SPM

This week, we're diving deep into the world of AI security and exploring the emerging concept of AI Security Posture Management (AI-SPM). Now you may ask, how does that lend itself to Cloud Security?

For a lot of organisations, AI Security goes hand in hand with Cloud Security, as the easily accessible & scalable data storage used by the models and the efficient yet economical compute infrastructure required is hosted on… you guessed it Cloud! Often Public cloud because these things can be expensive to run.

To take us through these concepts we spoke to Dan Benjamin, Head of Data, Identity and AI Security at Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto and Nabil Hannan, Field CISO at NetSPI. We have also included insights from our latest episode on AI Cybersecurity Podcast where Caleb and Ashish deep dived into

AI Security in the world of Cloud 🛡️🤖

As organizations rapidly adopt AI technologies in cloud environments, new security challenges and frameworks are emerging.

📚 Defining AI Security Posture Management (AISPM)

AI Security Posture Management (AI-SPM) is a very new concept in cloud security driven by the increased adoption of AI and building the AI models on Cloud infrastructure.

Key components of AI-SPM include:

• 🔍 AI inventory management

• 🔒 Access control for AI models

• 📊 Data governance for AI training and usage

• 🛡️ Compliance and risk management for AI systems

🎯 Practitioners & Leaders View:

Here is what you can do today, if you are starting to review or build AI infrastructure in your organizations.

1. Establish an AI Inventory:

   • Identify all AI/ML models and services used across your organization

   • Include both cloud-native and third-party AI services

2. Implement Data Security Controls:

   • Leverage Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) technologies

   • Ensure proper classification and protection of data used to train AI models

   • Regularly audit and monitor data access and usage in AI systems

   • Develop clear data governance policies specific to AI applications

3. Develop a Comprehensive AI Security Framework: Combine insights from multiple sources like:

   • NIST AI Risk Management Framework

   • OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications

   • Vendor-specific frameworks (e.g., Databricks AI Security Framework)

   • No single framework covers all aspects of AI security

   • Combine frameworks based on your organization's specific needs

   • Consider the practicality and applicability of each framework

4. Foster Cross-Functional Collaboration:

   • Create dedicated AI security task forces

   • Ensure communication between security, data science, and IT teams

5. Implement Continuous Monitoring and Incident Response:

   • Develop specific protocols for AI-related incidents

   • Include scenarios like data leakage through model output or LLM application vulnerabilities

6. Invest in AI security training for relevant team members:

   • Your team is your biggest strength - ensure they are equipped to deal with the new challenges that come with hosting AI applications in your environment.

💡 Key Considerations for AI Security in the Cloud

1. Shared Responsibility Model: Understand the division of security responsibilities between your organization and the cloud/AI service provider.

2. AI Model Lifecycle Security: Implement security controls at every stage of the AI model lifecycle, from development to deployment and monitoring.

3. Prompt Engineering and Injection: Be aware of potential vulnerabilities related to prompt manipulation in large language models.

4. AI Ethics and Compliance: Ensure your AI systems adhere to relevant regulations and ethical guidelines.

5. Scalability and Automation: Leverage cloud-native security tools to automate and scale your AI security efforts.

🔗 Related Resources

1. NIST AI Risk Management Framework

2. OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications

3. Databricks AI Security Framework

4. Cloud Security Alliance: AI in Information Security

5. Microsoft AI Security Risk Assessment

6. Google's Responsible AI Practices

🔗 Related Podcast Episodes

🤖 Are you interested in AI Cybersecurity?

Then you should definitely checkout our sister podcast AI Cybersecurity Podcast that is hosted by Ashish Rajan and Caleb Sima.

👩🏽‍💻Cloud Security Training from Practitioners!

Want to learn more about Cloud Security or know someone who wants to, we got you !

If you have been following our journey for a while, you would know that one of the big reasons we started Cloud Security Podcast was to make cloud security knowledge accessible for anyone wanting to learn it.

Have you joined our FREE Monthly Cloud Security Bootcamp yet. There are paid online and corporate trainings available for those looking to hit their Cloud Security goals this year!

We would love to hear from you📢 for a feature or topic request or if you would like to sponsor an edition of Cloud Security Newsletter.

Thank you for continuing to subscribe and Welcome to the new members in tis newsletter community💙

Hope you are enjoying this new look Cloud Security Newsletter, there’s plenty more to come.

Peace!

Shilpi Bhattacharjee

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