The vast majority of modern enterprises run on cloud-based networks and databases; helping organizations scale, manage infrastructure, and lower capital expenditures. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, and the resultant work-from-anywhere culture, cloud adoption accelerated at an unprecedented pace.

However, cloud-based infrastructure can be breached by saboteurs, intellectual property thieves, and other malcontents, making cloud security critical to business functionality and continuity.

The following cloud security books offer information that can help you eliminate security weaknesses, comply with regulations, and avert business disasters.

10 cloud security books to read

1. Multi-Cloud Architecture and Governance, by Jeroen Mulder. Organizations with multiple cloud services require a clear cloud management strategy that effectively keeps all components secure. Discover best practices extracted from a multiplicity of cloud adoption frameworks that will help you address complex cloud security issues. Emphasis on cloud governance across Azure, AWS, GCP, VMWare and OpenStack.
2. Cloud Computing, by Ray Rafaels. This book offers a comprehensive overview of how to successfully migrate your enterprise to the cloud. The author is known for his expertise in cloud computing, business management, network engineering and IT security. While a bit dated, this book is still recommended for IT managers, CIOs, senior IT engineers, and program managers across industries.
3. Threat Hunting in the Cloud, by Chris Peris, Binil Pillai, Abbas Kudrati. Discover elemental enterprise and technical drivers of cyber security threat hunting frameworks, obtain benchmarking metrics with which to assess the effectiveness of threat hunting, find out about how to threat hunt when using vendor-specific cloud security offerings, and get insights into threat hunting strategies for the multi-cloud. This piece is recommended for CTOs, CISOs, technical managers, system administrators, architects and consultants who manage components of the cloud.
4. Mastering Azure Security, by Mustafa Toroman and Tom Janetscheck. Have an Azure cloud? Discover innovative techniques designed to help you protect cloud workloads across apps and networks. Learn about how to build secure application gateways on Azure, how to protect your cloud from DDoS attacks, securing PaaS deployments and more. This book is intended for Azure cloud professionals, Azure architects and cyber security professionals interested in the Azure Security Center and other Azure security features.
5. CCSP Cloud Guardians, by Gwen Bettwy. If preparing for Certified Cloud Security Professional training, this book offers information that will help you ace the exams. This book guides readers through the six CCSP domains, and critical cloud concepts. Definitions and explanations were sourced from the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), GDPR and NIST in order to maintain consistency and minimize the confusion around competing definitions.
   
6. Cloud Computing Security: Foundations and Challenges, John R. Vacca. This handbook presents an overview of cloud computing and solutions to a variety of cloud-related issues. Information was gleaned from cloud computing research and expert reports. The author, known for more than 600 published articles on the topic of cloud, provides extensive analysis.
7. Security, Privacy and Digital Forensics in the Cloud, by Lei Chen, Hassan Takabi and Nhien-An Le-Khac. With this book, readers can obtain a complete understanding of cloud security, cloud security services, applications and data storage. The first portion of the book covers data confidentiality, access control in cloud IaaS, cloud security and privacy management, hacking and countermeasures, risk management, disaster recovery, auditing and compliance, along with security as a service (SaaS). In the second portion of the book, readers can delve into cloud forensics; from digital evidence management, to court preparation, to Forensics-as-a-Service (FaaS).
8. Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Network Engineer Guide, by Maurizio Ipsale. This book teaches the fundamentals of Google Cloud architecture, implementation and management of network architecture in the Google Cloud Platform, how to optimize network security, best practices for monitoring network operations, and how to prepare for professional cloud network engineering certification. This book is geared towards cloud architects, cloud network engineers, and others interested in managing network architecture within the Google Cloud Platform.
9. Secure Cloud Transformation: The CIO’s Journey, by Richard Stiennon. Cloud transformations manifest differently based on the size of an organization, the industry space that it occupies, and numerous other factors. This book describes the cloud transformation journeys of 16 core enterprises around the globe. Mentioned firms include Siemens, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, characterizes this piece as a “must-read”.
10. Cloud Security for Dummies, Ted Coombs. This book covers all of the basics, as they relate to cloud security. Get information about effective security protocols for cloud applications, networks and infrastructure, see how to manage and use security vendor provided tools, and learn about how to deliver security audits that help your organization meet compliance mandates. The straightforward strategies and techniques aren’t to be missed.

High profile hacks have hit multi-national conglomerates and have affected the most obscure of small businesses. No matter what kind of organization you lead, ensure that your cloud platforms are safe and secure.

For more information about cloud security, see CyberTalk.org’s past coverage.

Lastly, to receive cutting-edge cyber security news, insights, best practices and analyses in your inbox each week, sign up for the CyberTalk.org newsletter.