Automating & Optimizing User Provisioning in a Multi-Cloud Environment

Last updated on May 17th, 2023 at 12:56pm

Cloud user provisioning grows in complexity in multi-cloud environments, requiring the strategic application of tools, automation, and processes to ensure consistent, secure, and compliant provisioning of user accounts.

Here are some key challenges of multi-cloud account provisioning - and the strategies and essential tools for making it work.

Key Considerations for User Provisioning in a Multi-Cloud Environment

User provisioning for a multi-cloud environment includes the same considerations as single-cloud user provisioning but with more of a focus on centralizing and standardizing provisioning controls and management, plus automating everyday provisioning tasks. Public sector cloud projects also face additional FedRAMP challenges, particularly more steps in the authorization process due to the complexity of a multi-cloud environment.

Here are a few key considerations for multi-cloud user provisioning.

Identity Management

A centralized identity management platform in the form of Okta or a similar solution is necessary for authenticating across all your cloud platforms under management. Such centralization ensures that user access and roles are consistent across all cloud platforms.

Automation

Automating user provisioning processes can save time and reduce the risk of human error when onboarding users securely to a multi-cloud environment. Your organization can implement automation through identity and access management (IAM) tools that integrate with multiple cloud platforms.

Compliance

When provisioning users for multi-cloud environments, it's essential to ensure that your user provisioning processes comply with relevant regulations and standards for your industry, such as:

• General Data Protection Legislation (GDPR)
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)

Multi-Cloud User Provisioning Best Practices

The best practices for multi-cloud user provisioning build on the same best practices you're probably already following for provisioning your users in a single cloud environment.

Implement a Centralized IAM Solution

Implementing a centralized IAM solution helps ensure that user access is consistent and manageable in a multi-cloud environment, thus reducing the risk of security breaches that inconsistent or mismanaged user access may cause. IAM policy defines permissions for your organization's users, groups, and rules.

Establish a Clear User Provisioning Process

Take the time to establish and document a straightforward user provisioning process to help ensure that your service desk and other teams grant user access in a timely and secure manner.

Elements of a user provisioning process include:

• Policies for creating user access
• Use of automated user provisioning processes
• Regular user access reviews

Use RBAC

Implementing RBAC can ensure that users only have access to the resources they need to do their jobs. RBAC can help reduce the risk of accidental or malicious access to sensitive data.

Monitor User Activity

Monitoring user activity helps your cybersecurity and cloud teams respond to security threats promptly. Monitoring includes monitoring user access logs, setting up alerts for suspicious activity, and conducting regular security audits.

Ensure Compliance with Regulations and Industry Standards

It’s essential to ensure user provisioning processes comply with relevant regulations and industry standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS. This compliance helps avoid costly fines and damage to reputation.

Automating User Provisioning

Automating user provisioning in a multi-cloud environment can solve several problems, including:

• Inconsistent user access across different cloud platforms from error-prone manual user access management practices.
• Slow user provisioning, especially when onboarding a large number of users.
• Security risks include unauthorized access, compliance violations, and data breaches that manual user provisioning may introduce.
• Cloud user provisioning as a manual process can be costly because it requires significant time and effort from your IT staff, taking their focus off more strategic tasks and the increased potential of errors leading to costly security breaches.

Automating user provisioning in a multi-cloud environment brings with it many benefits, including:

Improved Efficiency

Automating user provisioning can save time and reduce the risk of human error while freeing your cloud and cybersecurity teams up for more strategic tasks. By automating the process, IT teams can ensure that users have access to the resources they need promptly.

Consistency

Automated user provisioning ensures that you grant user access consistently across all cloud platforms, helping to reduce the risk of security breaches caused by inconsistent or mismanaged user access. Consistent user provisioning can also help ensure your cloud team can remove user access promptly when no longer needed.

Scalability

Automated user provisioning can scale to meet the needs of a growing organization. As your organization adds or removes users, an automated process can quickly and easily adjust access rights across your multi-cloud environment.

Cost Savings

Automating user provisioning can help your organization save costs by reducing the need for manual labor and minimizing the risk of security breaches caused by human error.

Compliance

Automated user provisioning can help ensure compliance with relevant regulations and industry standards, such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). By automating the process, your organization can ensure that user access management is consistent and secure across your multi-cloud environment.

Get Started with Multi-Cloud User Provisioning

Multi-cloud user provisioning refers to creating and managing user accounts across multiple cloud platforms. Kion provides an automation & orchestration solution that you can extend to manage user provisioning in a multi-cloud environment.

To get started with multi-cloud user provisioning:

1. Identify the cloud platforms you want to provision users for. Typically, organizations are provisioning for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
2. Choose a multi-cloud user provisioning tool that enables your organization to provision and manage user accounts across a multi-cloud environment from a centralized dashboard.
3. Configure the multi-cloud user provisioning tool, including setting up connectors or integrations between the provisioning tool and the cloud platforms.
4. Define user roles and permissions for each cloud platform, ensuring that your users have the appropriate level of access to the cloud resources they require to do their jobs.
5. Provision users by creating their accounts and assigning their user roles and permissions across your multi-cloud environment.