Conducting a Comprehensive PaaS Security Review

Platform as a Service (PaaS) can speed deployment, but it also centralizes risk. A proper PaaS security review is the only way to know if your environment can survive a breach attempt.

A PaaS security review examines the stack from the control plane down to the runtime. This includes identity and access management, network isolation, API exposure, data encryption, and build pipelines. Every component must be tested for misconfigurations, weak defaults, and unpatched vulnerabilities. Providers handle infrastructure, but the shared responsibility model means you still control — and must secure — the application layer, secrets, and compliance workflows.

Start with identity. Audit every role, permission, and policy. Integrate single sign-on and enforce multi-factor authentication. Remove unused accounts. Then inspect network and service boundaries. Make sure private services are not exposed to the public internet. Use VPC peering, private links, and strict security groups.

Check encryption everywhere. Data should be encrypted at rest and in transit with current protocols. Rotate keys and certificates on schedule. For storage services, validate that encryption is actually enabled and CSA STAR or SOC 2 compliance is documented.

Examine continuous integration and deployment systems. Malicious code can slip in before it even reaches production. Verify that build environments are isolated, code is signed, and artifacts are scanned for vulnerabilities.

Run penetration tests that target both the PaaS provider’s attack surface and your own. Combine automated scanning with manual testing. Review logs from the provider portal, application layer, and any third-party integrations. Alerting should trigger in real time for suspicious traffic or configuration changes.

Finally, document policies and rehearse incident response. The best PaaS security strategy is useless if your team can’t act in minutes when something goes wrong.

Security in PaaS is not one-and-done. New services, new deploys, and new threats demand an ongoing review process. Done right, it reduces risk without slowing development.

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