# What is Cloud Network Security?

> Cloud network security is the practice of protecting the network paths, services, control interfaces, and traffic that connect cloud resources, users, on-premises systems, and external services.

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- Language: en
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## Content

It covers virtual networks, routing, name resolution, gateways, load balancers, private links, internet edges, and network policy. Its scope is the cloud communication layer, not every part of cloud security.

Provider APIs and automation create and change cloud networks. Workloads may be short-lived, while traffic can remain inside provider infrastructure and bypass traditional perimeters. Sound design maps required flows to controlled paths and protects forwarding and management interfaces.

### Key points

- **Architecture and policy:** Separate environments and trust zones, minimize public exposure, constrain ingress, egress, and east-west communication, and preserve policy when resources scale or move.
- **Control plane and responsibility:** Document which network layers the provider operates and which controls the customer configures. Apply least privilege to network administration and automation, protect credentials, review changes, and detect drift in routes, gateways, security rules, name services, and private connectivity.
- **Visibility and resilience:** Collect suitable flow, DNS, firewall, load-balancer, and control-plane events; test asymmetric paths, service limits, dependency failure, denial-of-service protections, and recovery without retaining unnecessary content.
- **Important limitation:** A private address, virtual network, or provider backbone does not authenticate a workload or make its traffic safe. Cloud-native controls can have service, region, protocol, and logging gaps, while an unsafe route, identity permission, or automation change can bypass several intended boundaries at once.

### Related terms

[Cloud firewall](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/cloud-firewall/>) · [Network segmentation](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/network-segmentation/>) · [Microsegmentation](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/microsegmentation/>) · [Virtual private cloud (VPC)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/virtual-private-cloud/>) · [Cloud security](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/cloud-security/>)

### Sources

[CISA Cloud Security Technical Reference Architecture v2](https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-02/cloud_security_technical_reference_architecture_2.pdf) · [NIST SP 800-210: General Access Control Guidance for Cloud Systems](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/210/final) · [NIST SP 800-125B: Secure Virtual Network Configuration for VM Protection](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/125/b/final)

## Attribution and scope

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