Understand your requirements
Start with analyzing your cloud usage across cloud providers and platforms. This will help you define the level of sensitivity associated with various data types stored in the cloud. Based on the sensitivity of your data, you can determine the compliance regulations your organization is adhering to, such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, or any other.
Analyzing these details will help you define the level of granularity you require to manage user access and entitlements.
Request Demo and Proof of Concepts (POCs)
You should never step back from experiencing how a solution addresses your specific needs and workflow. Requesting a demo is always helpful! Demos help you assess the usability, intuitiveness, and reporting capabilities of the CIEM solution.
Further, integrating the solution in a test environment gives you more idea about the effectiveness and efficiency of the product with your existing infrastructure.
Evaluate Available Solutions
Find and list the various options available and compare their features, functionality, and the supported cloud platform. We suggest trying to evaluate solutions that support all three major clouds i.e. AWS, Azure, and GCP. Below is a small list that you should consider while comparing solutions;
- Entitlement discovery and inventory: Ability to identify all user permissions across your cloud environment.
- Risk assessment and prioritization: The solution’s ability to evaluate potential risks associated with excessive or inappropriate entitlements.
- Remediation capabilities: Options to automate or streamline the process of correcting excessive permissions.
- Compliance reporting: Ability to generate reports demonstrating required compliance regulation.
- Ability to integrate with existing tools: Although this is not a recommended best practice. But, if you do not want to remove your existing security infrastructure, check if the tools you’re evaluating support existing security infrastructure.
- Just-in-time access: Use time-limited permissions with user-friendly request processes, automated workflows, and thorough auditing for effective access management.
Customer Reviews and References
The Internet is full of voices! Thus, research online reviews, and read case studies to understand the real-world experiences of users using the selected CIEM solution. Exploring these things will help you understand and address aspects like vendor support, solution effectiveness, ease of use, and overall customer satisfaction.
Of course, you can dig deeper to evaluate this list further! But, we have tried to help you get started on your journey to selecting the right CIEM solution for your organization. In addition to the above list, we also recommend that put yourself first. How? Evaluate the future growth possibilities of your organization and adapt a solution that will be able to meet your goals. Choosing a vendor that has a strong reputation for customer support, and has readily available resources for troubleshooting and training.
Compare Pricing and Licensing Model
Remember, different organizations have different pricing structures. Understand what pricing structure is offered
to you including subscription pricing, user-based pricing, or number of cloud accounts, etc to name a few.
We request select a tool that fits your budget constraints, and you get the best security features with scalability
for future growth.