Article

Building a secure and optimised cloud landing zone

By:
Aniruddha Chakrabarti,
Suchismita Nayak
02 Mar 20254 min read
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In today’s business landscape, organisations are migrating to the cloud to achieve enhanced security, scalability, and cost efficiency. However, moving to cloud without a strategically optimised foundation can lead to significant challenges like security vulnerabilities, governance issues, and inefficient management of resources.A cloud landing zone provides foundational framework for building secure, scalable, and compliant cloud environment. It ensures that cloud architecture is designed with best practices from outset, allowing growth and scalability while maintaining security and compliance.

Benefits of a cloud landing zone

Better resource management: A well-designed landing zone provides a structured environment for organising and managing cloud resources. By implementing consistent naming conventions, tagging policies, and automated workflows, organisations can streamline resource allocation, track usage more effectively, and reduce wastage.

Improved security posture: Security breaches often result from misconfigurations and poor access controls. A landing zone incorporates security best practices from start, including network segmentation, identity and access management (IAM), and encryption. These foundational measures minimise the risk of unauthorised access, data breaches, or misconfigurations. 

Better compliance with regulatory standards: Organisations operating in regulated industries must adhere to strict compliance requirements. A landing zone includes pre-configured policies, access controls, and audit mechanisms to enforce compliance with standards. 

Key elements of a cloud landing zone

A well-designed cloud landing zone must  include the following components:

  • Multi-account setup: A multi-account structure is a crucial element for efficient cloud management. Organising resources into separate accounts for different business units or environments enhances security boundaries, ensures resource isolation, and simplifies permission management and billing.
  • Resource organisation: Creating a clear and logical resource hierarchy ensures efficient management and scalability. This includes organising resources into resource groups based on function, department, or project.
  • Virtual networks and Subnets: Implementing virtual networks to segment and control traffic. Segmenting virtual networks into subnets further enhances network management and security.
  • Connectivity: Configuring VPNs, Direct Connect, or Express Route for secure and reliable connectivity between on-premises and cloud environments.
  • User management and Single sign-on (SSO): Setting up user identities, roles, and groups to control access. Implementing SSO for seamless and secure resource access.
  • Policies: Establishing policies to grant or restrict permissions based on roles and responsibilities.
  • CI/CD pipelines: Setting up continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines to automate build, test, and deployment processes.
  • Infrastructure as code (IaC): Using tools like Terraform or CloudFormation to manage infrastructure through code.
  • Automation: Leveraging scripts and tools to automate repetitive tasks and ensure consistency.
  • Centralised logging: Collecting and storing logs from all resources in a centralised location for easy access and analysis.
  • Alerts and notifications: Setting up alerts to notify administrators of any issues or anomalies.
  • Firewalls and security groups: Configuring firewalls and security groups to manage and regulate incoming and outgoing network traffic for enhanced security.
  • Encryption: Securing sensitive data by converting it into a protected format both during storage and transmission, ensuring it remains accessible only to authorised users.
  • Access control: Define and implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) or similar mechanisms to manage permissions and ensure only authorised users can access specific resources.
  • Compliance enforcement: Use cloud tools to enforce organisational standards and compliance requirements, like applying tagging policies or resource configurations.
  • Audit trails: Enable logging and auditing to track changes, monitor compliance, and ensure accountability across environments.
  • Budgeting: Set up budgets to monitor and control spending across accounts, projects, or environments.
  • Cost allocation: Use consistent tagging practices to allocate costs to specific teams, departments, or projects for accurate tracking and chargeback/showback models.
  • Usage analysis: Leverage cloud-native cost management tools to analyse resource usage patterns and identify opportunities for optimisation.

Best practices for establishing a cloud landing zone

Multi-account structure: Create separate accounts for different environments (development, testing, production) to isolate resources and manage permissions. This approach helps in maintaining clear boundaries and reducing the risk of cross-environment issues.

Inbuilt networking best practices: Implement hub-and-spoke network architecture to centralise connectivity and simplify management. Hub-and-spoke architecture provides a scalable and manageable way to connect multiple VPCs or VNets.

Automated policy management: Continuously update security policies, perform regular audits, and implement encryption to protect data both during storage and transmission. Continuous security reviews and audits help in identifying and mitigating potential vulnerabilities.

Centralised logging and monitoring: Establish a centralised logging and monitoring system to collect and analyse logs and metrics from all resources across environments. This approach enhances debugging and improves security.

Standard tagging for easier cost management: Implement a consistent tagging strategy to label resources with metadata including environment, owner, project, and cost centre. Tags help categorise resources, enabling better cost tracking and allocation. 

Using IAC and hyperscalers tools for landing zone build: Automate repetitive tasks using IAC (Terraform), Hyperscaler tools (AWS Control Tower) to improve efficiency and reduce human error. 

Establishing a secure and scalable landing zone on cloud is paramount for successful cloud adoption. By adhering to best practices and leveraging right tools, organisations can ensure their cloud environments are secure, compliant, and efficient. 

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Authors
  • 140x140px_Aniruddha_Chakrabarti.png
    Aniruddha Chakrabarti Partner, Cloud and AI Services, Grant Thornton Bharat
  • 140x140px Suchismita Nayak
    Suchismita Nayak Sr. Cloud Consultant, Grant Thornton Bharat