Industry Insights
Read the latest cloud security news, trends, and thought leadership from subject matter experts.
Modernizing Assurance for Cloud and Beyond
Since we launched in 2009, organizations around the world have looked to the Cloud Security Alliance to see what we might be able to offer to assist them in addressing assurance issues with the cloud services they were beginning to use. Fast forward to 2023, this has grown into a critical aspect ...
CCSK Success Story: From an IT and Cloud Security Manager
This is part of a blog series interviewing cybersecurity professionals who have earned their Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK). In these blogs we invite individuals to share some of the challenges they face in managing security for cloud computing and how they were able to leverage k...
SecurityScorecard Partners with Cloud Security Alliance - Why Continuous Cyber Risk Monitoring Across Industries is Crucial
Originally published by SecurityScorecard. Effectively evaluating risk goes a long way toward improving an organization’s cybersecurity posture. The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a sec...
Using the CSA STAR Consensus Assessment Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ) as a Procurement Tool
IntroductionThe CSA STAR Consensus Assessment Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ) is an industry-wide initiative to standardize security and risk management assessments of cloud computing vendors. The CAIQ was developed to provide a consistent way for cloud service providers (CSPs), customers, and th...
What is the Cloud Security Alliance and Why Should I (as Someone Selling or Buying Cloud Services) Care?
This blog was originally published by Pivot Point Security here.If you’re not involved in cloud services you’re probably frozen in ice somewhere. With SaaS penetration nearing 100% of businesses, what is the state of cloud security?To talk about the biggest issues and answers in cloud security to...
CAIQ-Lite: The Lighter-weight Security Assessment Option
CSA’s Consensus Assessment Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ) is a downloadable spreadsheet of yes or no questions that correspond to the controls of the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM), our cybersecurity controls framework for cloud computing. A cloud service provider can use the CAIQ to document what ...
Transitioning to the Cloud in 2022: Recommended Resources from CSA
How can your organization improve how it approaches the cloud? In this blog we put together a list of research created by the Cloud Security Alliance’s working groups and other resources created by our community that will be helpful to you if you are considering transitioning your organization to...
What is CAIQ?
CCM, STAR, CCSK, CCAK – the Cloud Security Alliance is rolling in acronyms that you might not be familiar with yet. In this post, we’re going to get you up to speed on one of our most useful tools for cloud security transparency: the CAIQ.A Questionnaire for Transparency and AssuranceCAIQ is an a...
CCM Testimonial: The Advantages and Future of the Cloud Controls Matrix
The Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) is composed of 197 control objectives that cover all key aspects of cloud technology. It can be used as a tool for the systematic assessment of cloud implementation and provides guidance on which security controls should be implemented by which actor within the clo...
The Visionary CCM/CAIQ v4 Early Adopters
This blog was updated on 8/16/21 with the news that organizations can now submit CAIQ v4 to the STAR Registry.The Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) is a cybersecurity control framework for cloud computing aligned to CSA best practices and is considered the de-facto standard for cloud security and priva...
How is CSA STAR Different From ISO 27001 and SOC 2?
The STAR Registry lists cloud solution providers and security providers that have earned a cloud compliance certification from CSA or submitted a cloud security self-assessment questionnaire. While STAR Level 1 is a basic Yes/No or N/A question set to self-declare your compliance with the Cloud C...
CAIQ v4 Released - Changes from v3.1 to v4
This blog was updated on 8/16/21 with the news that organizations can now submit CAIQ v4 to the STAR Registry.Since the publication of CCM v4 in January 2021, CSA has initiated a process to upgrade CAIQ, the questionnaire associated with CCM. In this blog we will explain changes made to version 4...
CCM v4 FAQ - Transition Timeline
This blog was updated on 12/17/21 with the latest information regarding the release of CCM v4 components.On January 21st CSA released version 4 of the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM). The new version ensures coverage of requirements deriving from new cloud technologies, new controls and enhanced int...
What is the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM)?
By Eleftherios Skoutaris, Program Manager for CCM Working Group at Cloud Security AllianceWhat is the Cloud Controls Matrix?The CSA Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) is a cybersecurity control framework for cloud computing. It is a spreadsheet that lists 16 domains covering all key aspects of cloud tec...
Why use the CAIQ for vendor analysis vs. other questionnaires?
Security assessments, security questionnaires, vendor assessments, RFPs are all unavoidable in today’s world of cloud computing and drain valuable resources and time when completing them. However, they’re a big part of closing new deals and maintaining or up-selling to existing accounts. If you a...
It's all about the Data! - Preventative Security
By John DiMaria, Assurance Investigatory Fellow, Cloud Security AllianceI have always said I am a "data guy." Decisions made with data eliminate all bias, opinions, and ad hoc decisions that cause potential costly moves.In my most recent podcast interview with Phillip Merrick, CEO of Fugue, he di...
CAIQ V3 Updates
Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) would like to present the next version of the Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ) v3.1.The CAIQ offers an industry-accepted way to document what security controls exist in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS services, providing security control transparency. It pr...
Using The CAIQ-Lite to Assess Third Party Vendors
By Dave Christiansen, Marketing Director, WhisticThe mere mention of “security questionnaires” can evoke thoughts of hundreds of questions aimed at auditing internal processes in order to mitigate third party risk. This typically means a lengthy process prime to be optimized. While we don’t disag...
CSA STAR – The Answer to Less Complexity and Higher Level of Compliance
By John DiMaria, Assurance Investigatory Fellow, Cloud Security AllianceCSA STAR enables a higher level of compliance, data governance, reduced risk and more cost-effective management of your security and privacy systemWe just launched a major refresh of the CSA STAR (Security, Trust and Assuranc...
Introducing CAIQ-Lite
By Dave Christiansen, Marketing Director, WhisticThe Cloud Security Alliance and Whistic are pleased to release CAIQ-Lite beta, a new framework for cloud vendor assessment.CSA and Whistic identified the need for a lighter-weight assessment questionnaire in order to accommodate the shift to cloud ...
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