Best practices for data security in cloud-native infrastructure

In this article, the author discusses best practices for protecting different types of data that flow through cloud applications' components. The article first provides an overview of how modern applications process and manage data, highlighting common weaknesses and security threats to these systems. It then delves into specific measures organizations can take to secure their data, such as encrypting it at rest and in transit, protecting credentials with secrets managers, controlling access to data across services and accounts, and monitoring data sources and their activity. The author emphasizes the importance of understanding when sensitive data enters different states (at rest, in transit, or in use) and implementing appropriate security measures accordingly. Additionally, the article discusses the role of management planes in enhancing data security through secrets management and authorization and access controls, as well as providing adequate visibility into data activity. The author concludes by recommending Datadog as a tool to monitor an application's data activity and create additional layers of security for data flowing in cloud environments.