Radware Cloud Workload: Security of cloud workloads

Cloud computing is a digital promise of flexibility, scalability and innovation. While migrating resources to environments such as AWS, Azure and GCP opens up new opportunities for companies, it also introduces a whole new dimension of security challenges. Traditional approaches, focused on protecting the physical perimeter, are losing relevance in the dynamic, distributed world of the cloud. We need tools that understand the specifics of these environments and can protect our applications and data inside the cloud, where they actually run. Radware’s Cloud Workload Protection Service (CWP) – a solution designed to provide end-to-end security for cloud workloads in a smart and simplified way – fits right into this gap. At nFlo, we’re seeing a growing need for effective cloud protection, so we take a closer look at the technology that can become your shield in this new environment.

What is Radware Cloud Workload Protection Service?

Imagine that your cloud infrastructure is a modern, multi-story office building. Traditional firewalls and network security systems take care of security outside the building and at the main entrance. But what happens inside – on individual floors, in specific rooms where your applications run and data is stored? This is where Radware Cloud Workload Protection (CWP) comes in.

This is not another perimeter firewall. Radware CWP is a specialized security service focused on protecting the workloads (workloads) themselves – virtual machines, containers, serverless functions – running in the public cloud. It works like an intelligent in-building monitoring and protection system that constantly watches what’s going on, detects suspicious activity, identifies vulnerabilities (like unlatched doors or open windows in the form of configuration errors) and can automatically respond to threats in real time.

What security challenges arise when migrating to the cloud?

Moving operations to the cloud is not just about relocating servers. It’s a fundamental paradigm shift that brings with it unique security challenges that are often absent in traditional on-premise environments. First and foremost, cloud environments are characterized by tremendous dynamism and ephemerality – resources are created, scaled and deleted in the blink of an eye, making traditional, static protection methods simply unable to keep up. Equally important is the complexity of configuring cloud platforms; the plethora of options makes it easy to make a mistake (known as misconfiguration), which can result in serious vulnerabilities, such as publicly accessible S3 storage or unprotected databases.

Another challenge is the problem of redundant privileges in complex identity and access management (IAM) systems, where users or services are often given much broader access than they need, creating a huge risk in case of compromise. Additionally, the line of responsibility between vendor and customer (shared responsibility model) is sometimes unclear, and many companies do not fully understand that they are responsible for the security of configurations, data and applications in the cloud. Finally, new attack vectors are emerging that take advantage of cloud specifics, targeting configuration errors, compromised API keys or weaknesses in identity management. Radware CWP is designed to directly address these very, cloud-specific challenges.

How does Radware CWP protect resources in the public cloud?

Radware CWP provides multi-layered protection for workloads running on popular public clouds such as AWS, Azure and GCP. Its operation is based on several pillars. First, the system performs continuous configuration monitoring of your cloud resources – from virtual machines to databases to storage and network services – looking for bugs, non-compliance with best practices (e.g. CIS Benchmarks) and potential security vulnerabilities. Second, it provides advanced privilege management (CIEM), analyzing assigned roles and policies, identifying those that are redundant or unused, and recommending the use of the principle of least privilege.

The third pillar is real-time threat detection. Radware CWP monitors activity within workloads, looking for signs of compromise, malware activity or data theft attempts, analyzing, for example, suspicious processes, unusual network communications or attempts to access sensitive resources. Finally, the fourth element is automatic response and remediation. Once a threat or critical misconfiguration is detected, the system can take corrective action on its own, such as modifying firewall rules, revoking redundant permissions or isolating an infected resource. In this way, Radware CWP acts as a constantly vigilant guardian of your resources in the cloud.

Key Benefits of Implementing Radware Cloud Workload Protection:

Enhanced Security: Proactive detection and elimination of configuration errors and redundant permissions, which are the main vectors of attacks in the cloud. Real-time protection against malware, exploits and data theft attempts.
Simplified Compliance: Continuous monitoring for compliance with popular standards (CIS, NIST, PCI DSS, HIPAA) and regulations (RODO), along with detailed reporting, facilitates audits.
Automated Response: Automated remediation significantly reduces incident response time and reduces the burden on security teams.
Full Visibility: A central view of the security status of all cloud workloads in one place, even in multi-cloud environments.
Ease of Deployment (Agentless): The agentless approach minimizes the impact on the performance of protected resources and simplifies the deployment and management process.

How does Radware detect and eliminate redundant permissions in a cloud environment?

Privilege management in the cloud (often referred to as CIEM – Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management) is one of the biggest challenges. Radware CWP takes an intelligent approach to this problem. The system constantly analyzes the actual usage of permissions by users and services in your cloud environment. It compares granted roles and policies with actual activities, identifying redundant permissions (granted but not used), permissions that are too broad (giving access to more resources than needed), and risky combinations of permissions that can enable privilege escalation.

Based on this analysis, Radware CWP recommends specific changes to IAM policies, suggesting limiting permissions to the absolute minimum required for action ( Least Privilege principle). It can also automatically flag or even block attempts to use unsafe privileges. This proactive approach significantly reduces the attack surface associated with potential account compromise.

How does Radware CWP data theft attempt detection work?

Data theft (Data Exfiltration) is one of the main targets of attackers who have infiltrated cloud environments. CWP’s Radware takes a multi-faceted approach to detecting such attempts. The system monitors access to sensitive data resources, such as databases and S3 trays, observing who is accessing them and how. Behavioral analysis is key here – AI algorithms learn typical access patterns in an organization and flag unusual behavior as suspicious. This could be, for example, accessing large amounts of data through a rarely used account, attempting to copy data to unauthorized locations, or making unusual database queries. In addition, the system looks for known exfiltration techniques by analyzing network communication patterns (such as DNS tunneling) or the use of specific tools. In some configurations, it is also possible to integrate with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions to identify attempts to transfer sensitive data. Detection of a potential data theft attempt can trigger an immediate alert and an automated response.

How does Radware CWP’s automated threat response work?

A key advantage of Radware CWP is its ability to automatically respond to detected threats and critical issues, significantly reducing the time needed to neutralize risks. This mechanism is based on predefined or customized rules and playbooks. When the system detects an event that meets certain criteria (e.g. a critical misconfiguration, an attempt to use redundant privileges, suspicious network activity), it can automatically initiate appropriate actions. For example, this could be modifying a security group to block dangerous traffic, revoking redundant IAM permissions, imposing restrictive policies on a misconfigured S3 tray, isolating an infected VM by changing its network settings, or sending a notification to the security team or integrating with a ticketing system. This automation not only speeds up the response, but also ensures its consistency and relieves security teams of repetitive tasks.

What is Context-Aware Smart Hardening?

“Hardening” (hardening) of systems is the process of eliminating unnecessary features and configurations to reduce the attack surface. Traditionally, this is often a manual and time-consuming process. Radware CWP introduces the concept of “Context-Aware Smart Hardening,” which uses intelligence to automate and optimize this process.

The system analyzes the actual behavior and needs of a particular cloud workload – what network ports it actually uses, what other services it needs to access, what processes are running on it. Based on this context, Radware CWP automatically generates hardening recommendations that are precisely tailored to the application in question. Instead of using generic, often overly restrictive templates, it suggests, for example, closing specific unused ports in a security group, removing unnecessary software packages, or applying more granular access policies. This smart approach maximizes security without the risk of disrupting applications.

How does Radware CWP organize events into attack sequences?

Security teams often face a deluge of individual, seemingly unrelated alerts. Radware CWP solves this problem by automatically grouping related security events into logical sequences, representing a potential attack chain. Instead of seeing separate alerts for misconfigurations, attempted privilege abuse and suspicious network communications, the analyst receives a single, consolidated incident. This incident is often presented visually, showing the chronological sequence of events, resources involved and potential cause-and-effect relationships. Organizing the data in this way drastically simplifies the understanding of the context and severity of the situation, speeds up the investigation process, and allows for more informed response decisions. It’s like going from watching individual frames of a movie to seeing an entire scene.

What are the advantages of implementing an agentless Radware CWP solution?

One of the distinctive features of Radware CWP is its agentless architecture. This means that, unlike many other solutions, it does not require any additional software (agent) to be installed on protected virtual machines or containers. Instead, Radware CWP uses native APIs from cloud providers (e.g. AWS API, Azure API) to collect configuration and telemetry data. This approach carries significant advantages. First and foremost, it significantly simplifies and accelerates deployment, eliminating the need to manage the installation and upgrade of agents on potentially thousands of machines. Equally important, the solution has no impact on the performance of protected workloads, as it does not consume their computing resources. The agentless architecture also provides broad and easy coverage of all resources in the cloud environment, including those dynamically created, and minimizes the risk of conflicts with other software.

How does Radware CWP support centralized security management?

As organizations adopt a multi-cloud strategy, managing security in each of these environments separately becomes a nightmare. Radware CWP offers a centralized management console that provides a single, consistent view of the security status of workloads across all connected cloud environments (e.g. AWS, Azure, GCP). From one place, administrators can monitor alerts and incidents from all clouds, view configuration and compliance status scan results, manage security policies and response rules, and generate consolidated reports. This “single pane of glass” significantly simplifies security management across complex, multi-cloud architectures, improves visibility and enables consistent enforcement of policies across the infrastructure.

How to deploy Radware Cloud Workload Protection in an existing AWS environment?

Deploying Radware CWP in an AWS environment is usually a relatively simple process, thanks to its agentless architecture. The first step is to create an account on the Radware CWP service and access the management console. Then, in the AWS console, configure an IAM role with appropriate permissions (usually read-only) for the Radware service, using the trusted relationship mechanism between accounts. Once the AWS account is connected in the Radware console by entering the appropriate IDs, the service will automatically start scanning resource configurations and monitoring events. The final step is the configuration of policies and alerts, i.e. adjusting the default settings to meet the specific needs of the organization. The entire process is well documented and can often be completed in a short period of time.

What trends in securing cloud workloads will be important in 2025?

The world of cloud security is evolving rapidly. Looking to the near future, we can expect to see an intensification of several key trends, in which the Radware CWP philosophy also fits. We will see further convergence of cloud security tools into integrated Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) platforms, combining workload protection (CWPP), security posture management (CSPM) and privilege control (CIEM). The importance of security embedded earlier in the application lifecycle (“Shift Left Security”) will certainly increase, although real-time (runtime) protection will remain crucial. Automation and the use of AI for anomaly detection and response will continue to gain importance. The growing popularity of containers and serverless technologies will require increasingly specialized protection mechanisms. Finally, effective credential management (CIEM) will remain one of the biggest challenges and investment priorities in cloud security.

How does Radware CWP fit into the shared responsibility model in the cloud?

The Shared Responsibility Model is a fundamental concept in cloud security. It says that the cloud provider is responsible for the security of the cloud itself (physical infrastructure, network infrastructure, core services), while the customer is responsible for security in the cloud. Radware CWP is a tool designed precisely to help customers carry out their part of the responsibility. It focuses on areas that are your responsibility, such as the correct configuration of cloud services, effective identity and access management (IAM), protection of data stored and processed in the cloud, and security of applications and operating systems running on workloads. By using Radware CWP, organizations gain the tools they need to effectively secure these elements, fulfilling their role in a shared responsibility model.

Summary: Cloud Workload Security Best Practices.

Principle of Least Privilege: Always grant the minimum privileges necessary to complete a task. Regularly review and revoke unused accesses (Radware CWP helps automate this).
Continuous Configuration Monitoring: Regularly scan your environment for configuration errors and non-compliance with standards (Radware CWP does this automatically).
Network Segmentation: Use security groups and network access control lists (NACLs) to isolate resources and limit the potential reach of an attack.
Data Encryption: Encrypt data both at rest and in transit.
Security Automation: Use tools such as Radware CWP to automate detection, response and hardening of systems.
Regular Audits and Testing: Conduct regular security reviews, penetration tests and compliance audits.

How does Radware CWP integrate with other security solutions?

Although Radware CWP offers a wide range of functionality, it often acts as part of a larger security ecosystem. Therefore, it provides integration capabilities with other tools. It can send alerts and events to central SIEM platforms (e.g., Splunk, QRadar, Microsoft Sentinel) via standard mechanisms like Syslog or APIs, allowing correlation with data from other sources. Integration with SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation and Response) tools is also possible, allowing Radware CWP actions to be incorporated into broader automated incident response flows. The system can also automatically create tickets in ticketing systems (e.g., Jira, ServiceNow) in response to detected problems. Potentially, in the future, it can also integrate with CI/CD tools, providing security feedback earlier in the application lifecycle. These integrations allow Radware CWP to be integrated into an organization’s existing processes and operational tools.

How to effectively monitor and manage the security of cloud workloads?

Effective security management of cloud workloads requires a continuous and proactive approach. It is not enough to configure security once and forget about it. It is crucial to continuously monitor the status of configuration, permissions and activity in the environment, which is provided by tools such as Radware CWP. Equally important is the implementation of sound practices such as the principle of least privilege, regular reviews of IAM policies, use of strong authentication methods (MFA) and attention to configuration hygiene. Automation plays a key role here, allowing you to keep up with the dynamics of the cloud. Regular training of cloud management teams is also essential. Finally, the centralized view and management that Radware CWP offers is invaluable in maintaining control over complex environments.

What best practices are worth following when securing cloud workloads?

In addition to fundamental principles such as least privilege and continuous monitoring, there are several additional practices that significantly improve the security of cloud workloads. Always use the native security mechanisms offered by the cloud provider – security groups, NACLs, IAM services or encryption tools are the first, important line of defense. It is crucial to implement strong identity management, including the use of multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever possible, and the use of roles instead of long-term access keys.

It is critical to secure data by classifying it, using proper encryption (at rest and in transit), and backing it up regularly. Cloud network architecture should be designed with segmentation in mind, using VPC/VNet and subnetting to isolate resources. Also, don’t forget to include detailed logging for key services and regular analysis of these logs, preferably with the support of automated tools.

How does Radware CWP help you meet compliance and regulatory requirements?

Meeting requirements such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001 and RODO/GDPR is critical for many organizations operating in the cloud. Radware CWP supports this process in several ways. First, it continuously monitors resource configuration for compliance with popular benchmarks and standards (e.g., CIS Benchmarks), identifying and reporting any deviations. Second, its privilege management (CIEM) functions help enforce the principle of least privilege, a frequent regulatory requirement. Third, detailed logging and auditability of cloud activities and system responses to incidents provide essential evidence during audits. Finally, proactive detection and prevention of data security breaches is fundamental to meeting privacy requirements.

How does the Radware CWP solution support multi-cloud environments?

Multi-cloud (multi-cloud) strategies, using services from different providers (e.g. AWS and Azure), are becoming more common. Radware CWP was designed with such scenarios in mind. It offers the ability to connect and monitor accounts from different cloud platforms within a single, centralized console. This gives security teams a unified view of the security status of workloads regardless of which provider they are running. This allows for consistent application of security policies and compliance standards across a heterogeneous cloud environment, significantly simplifying management and reducing the risk of security vulnerabilities arising from differences between platforms.

How to measure the effectiveness of Radware Cloud Workload Protection deployment?

To assess the real value of a Radware CWP deployment, it is useful to track specific metrics (KPIs) that reflect improvements in security and operational efficiency. Key metrics include a reduction in the number of critical configuration errors, showing progress in eliminating risky settings. Also important is the reduction in the number of redundant IAM privileges, demonstrating effectiveness in applying the principle of least privilege. It is worth monitoring the number of real incidents detected and blocked by the system, such as data theft attempts or malware activity. If historical data is available, reducing the mean time to detection and response (MTTD/MTTR) to incidents through CWP automation is a valuable metric. Improvements in compliance audit results in areas monitored by CWP also demonstrate its effectiveness. Finally, it is worth evaluating (even subjectively) the reduction of the SOC team’s workload, for example by reducing the number of manually handled alerts. By regularly tracking these indicators, you can prove the value of your investment and identify areas for further optimization.

In summary, Radware Cloud Workload Protection Service is a modern, intelligent solution that addresses specific security challenges in the dynamic world of the cloud. With an agentless architecture, a focus on configuration, permissions and real-time threat detection, and powerful automation capabilities, CWP allows organizations to regain control over the security of their cloud workloads while ensuring compliance and operational efficiency.

Want to learn how Radware CWP can secure your cloud resources and simplify security management? Contact the experts at nFlo. We will help you assess whether this solution is right for your needs and guide you through the implementation process.