Certified Incident Handler (CIH) Practice Ecam

Which of the following practices helps professionals protect the cloud environment against online threats?

1. Allow open network access

2. Ensure network access is isolated

3. Share credentials among services

4. Ignore security best practices

The correct answer is: Ensure network access is isolated

Ensuring network access is isolated is a fundamental practice in protecting cloud environments from online threats. By isolating network access, organizations can create segmented environments that limit the potential for unauthorized access and minimize the attack surface. This practice helps control communication between different network zones, thereby enhancing security. For example, isolating public-facing components from the more sensitive parts of the infrastructure reduces the risk of an attacker being able to move laterally within the cloud workload if they successfully breach one part. Furthermore, isolation facilitates more stringent access controls and monitoring, as each isolated segment can have specific security policies tailored to its needs, thereby enhancing overall security posture. In contrast, allowing open network access significantly increases vulnerability, as it permits unrestricted access to various services, making it easier for threats to exploit weaknesses. Sharing credentials among services introduces risks, as compromised credentials can lead to a broader security breach. Ignoring security best practices fundamentally undermines the integrity of the security framework, exposing the environment to numerous risks and threats. Hence, isolating network access is a proactive and essential measure to protect cloud environments effectively.