Cloud Security Self-Assessment Tool

Scores are typically categorized:

0-40% Critical (immediate action required),

41-60% Developing (significant improvements needed),

61-80% Maturing (good foundation with gaps),

81-95% Advanced (strong posture with minor improvements),

96-100% Optimized (industry-leading).

Compare your score against industry benchmarks for your sector.

Focus on critical controls first, particularly identity management, encryption, and logging.

Common findings include:

inadequate multi-factor authentication,

overly permissive IAM policies,

unencrypted data at rest,

missing logging and monitoring,

publicly exposed storage buckets,

lack of network segmentation,

weak password policies,

and insufficient backup testing.

Many organizations also have incomplete asset inventories and fail to implement least privilege access.

Addressing these foundational issues significantly reduces risk.

The assessment maps directly to NIST CSF core functions:

Identify (asset management, risk assessment),

Protect (access control, data security),

Detect (monitoring, anomaly detection),

Respond (incident response planning),

and

Recover (backup and recovery).

Each question evaluates specific controls within these categories, providing a comprehensive view of your cloud security maturity across all framework pillars.

What is the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) framework?

CSA provides the Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing, covering 14 domains including governance, compliance, data security, and identity management.

The Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) offers specific security controls mapped to industry standards.

Our assessment incorporates CSA best practices to ensure comprehensive evaluation aligned with cloud-specific security requirements.

How often should I conduct cloud security assessments?

Conduct comprehensive assessments quarterly, with continuous monitoring in between.

Perform immediate reassessment after major infrastructure changes, security incidents, or before compliance audits.

Monthly reviews of high-risk areas like IAM and data exposure are recommended.

Regular assessment establishes baselines, tracks improvement over time, and ensures security keeps pace with evolving cloud environments.

What are CIS Cloud Benchmarks?

CIS benchmarks provide prescriptive security configuration guidelines for AWS, Azure, GCP, and other cloud platforms.

They cover identity and access management, logging and monitoring, networking, storage, and compute security.

Level 1 benchmarks are foundational controls suitable for all organizations, while Level 2 includes defense-in-depth measures for high-security environments.

Following CIS benchmarks ensures baseline security.

How do I implement assessment recommendations?

Prioritize findings by risk level and business impact.

Start with critical issues like exposed resources and weak authentication.

Create remediation plans with specific timelines and ownership.

Use infrastructure-as-code to implement controls consistently.

Leverage cloud-native security tools like AWS Security Hub or Azure Security Center.

Document changes and retest to verify effectiveness.

Consider professional assistance for complex remediations.