How to Become a Cloud Security Engineer: A Complete Guide

Cloud computing has transformed business operations by enabling seamless access to vital data across digital platforms, making it readily available from anywhere in the world. However, this convenience introduces significant threats such as malicious actors, system vulnerabilities, and unauthorized access, all of which can result in data breaches and cyberattacks. In this context, cloud security becomes indispensable.

Cloud security involves a set of measures and protocols to protect cloud data, applications, and infrastructure. These practices protect sensitive information, ensuring business continuity, and maintaining compliance with data privacy regulations. By addressing these challenges, cloud security helps organizations leverage the benefits of cloud computing while staying protected.

As businesses embrace digital transformation and cloud infrastructure, adopting cloud security practices has become essential. This shift has led to a growing demand for cloud security engineers. This blog explores the diverse facets associated with this role.

Who Is a Cloud Security Engineer?

A cloud security engineer plans, designs, and implements security measures to safeguard computer networks, information, and cloud infrastructure against cyber threats. They have a strong understanding of cloud architecture and security protocols and ensure organizational assets are secure and adhere to industry standards and regulations.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

The list below provides an overview of the major contributions and expectations from this role.

• Designing and implementing security measures: The primary duty of a cloud security engineer is to design secure cloud architectures to protect cloud-based data, applications, and infrastructure, thereby defending against breaches and potential vulnerabilities.
• Conducting risk assessments:
  Thorough risk assessments are essential for identifying vulnerabilities within the cloud environment. This involves evaluating potential threats and implementing strategies to mitigate them.
• Maintaining compliance: A cloud security engineer ensures that cloud infrastructure and processes comply with industry standards and regulations. This involves conducting regular audits and updates to maintain compliance with evolving laws and policies.
• Monitoring and managing security: Continuous surveillance of the cloud environment is crucial. Cloud security engineers conduct assessments and audits, track incidents, and use specialized tools and technologies to remediate risks prior to exploitation.
• Collaborating with teams: A cloud security engineer collaborates and communicates with teams and educates them on best practices for cloud security. This enhances employees’ overall security awareness and knowledge.

Requirements to Become a Cloud Security Engineer

Formal education, relevant technical skills, domain-specific certifications, and a sound understanding of fundamentals and advanced concepts form the core requirements for becoming a cloud security engineer.

Essential Skills and Knowledge

The growing demand for cloud security professionals highlights the need for a broad skill set. Expertise in major cloud platforms; knowledge of security regulations, network principles, and programming languages; and strong soft skills are essential for managing, securing, and optimizing cloud environments effectively. The list below provides an overview of some of the skills required.

• Cloud security expertise and proficiency in major cloud platforms such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), which aid in the effective implementation and management of security measures across different environments.
• Sound knowledge of security regulations and standards, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and HIPAA (the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and how to ensure compliance in a cloud environment.
• Deep understanding of network security principles and technologies, including firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), and virtual private networks (VPNs).
• Being well-versed in diverse programming languages like Java and Python for the coding expertise required to build and regulate secure cloud architectures.
• Familiarity with incident response planning and forensic investigation, and the capability to analyze security gaps and remediate threats effectively.
• Soft skills such as effective communication, collaboration with teams, attention to detail, quick response to changes, etc.

Relevant Tools

Cloud security engineers rely on a variety of tools to effectively secure, manage, and optimize cloud environments. These tools support critical functions such as resource management, application integration, infrastructure automation, and performance optimization. By leveraging the below technologies, cloud security engineers can ensure seamless cloud operations, enhance security, and improve overall efficiency.

• AWS (Amazon Web Services) offers on-demand cloud computing tools and services, including computing power, storage, databases, and more.
• CloudHub, a part of MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform, focuses on application integration and application programming interface (API) management. It facilitates the deployment of integrated applications across multiple cloud environments and empowers users to develop new API workflows seamlessly.
• Chef is a configuration management tool that helps with infrastructure tasks such as provisioning virtual systems and managing consistent configurations across environments.
• Microsoft Azure Cost Management is a cloud management tool used to analyze cloud usage, identify resource inefficiencies, and provide cost optimization recommendations.

Is Cloud Security a Good Career Choice?

The 2024 Cloud Security Report highlights that 78% of businesses prefer hybrid and multi-cloud approaches for maximum flexibility and control and to utilize the diverse advantages of different cloud services. However, the report reveals an alarming number of critical cybersecurity skills shortages, with 93% of respondents expressing concerns over the availability of qualified professionals capable of securing complex multi-cloud environments (Fortinet, 2024).

Due to the high demand for skilled professionals, competitive salaries, career progression opportunities, diverse job roles, and the critical importance of safeguarding cloud-based data, cloud security is a strong career choice. Its prominence across diverse industries, like finance, healthcare, media, government, etc., further makes it an attractive and rewarding career option.

Salary Range by Region

Cloud security engineers protect cloud infrastructure and data from cyber threats. As the demand for skilled cloud security professionals keeps rising, so does their remuneration (based on various factors such as educational background, level of expertise, skill set, etc.) On average, a cloud security engineer’s salary in the US is $144,373 [1], while in the United Kingdom, it is £70,000 [2].

Here’s a location-wise table of average salaries for cloud security engineers:

Sources (Data as of January 2025)
[1]: https://www.talent.com/salary?job=cloud+security+engineer

[2]: https://uk.talent.com/salary?job=cloud+security+engineer#:~:text=Find%20out%20what%20the%20average%20Cloud%20Security%20Engineer%20salary%20is&text=The%20average%20cloud%20security%20engineer%20salary%20in%20the%20United%20Kingdom,to%20%C2%A387%2C500%20per%20year.

[3]: https://www.glassdoor.co.in/Salaries/malaysia-cloud-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,8_IN170_KO9,23.htm [4]: https://www.payscale.com/research/DE/Job=Cyber_Security_Engineer/Salary

[5]: https://in.talent.com/salary?job=cloud+security+engineer

[6]: https://www.glassdoor.co.in/Salaries/france-cyber-security-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,6_IN86_KO7,30.htm?countryRedirect=true

[7]: https://www.payscale.com/research/NZ/Skill=Cloud_Computing/Salary

[8]: https://www.payscale.com/research/BR/Skill=Cyber_Security/Salary

[9]: https://ca.indeed.com/career/cloud-engineer/salaries

[10]: https://za.indeed.com/cmp/Amazon-Web-Services-05cb4ad1/salaries/Cloud-Engineer#:~:text=Average%20Amazon%20Web%20Services%20Cloud,in%20the%20past%2036%20months.

[11]: https://www.payscale.com/research/CH/Skill=Cloud_Computing/Salary

[12]: https://www.salaryexpert.com/salary/job/cloud-engineer/spain

[13]: https://www.glassdoor.com.au/Salaries/cloud-security-engineer-salary-SRCH_KO0,23.htm

[14]: https://www.glassdoor.co.in/Salaries/queretaro-cloud-security-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,9_IC3487251_KO10,33.htm

[15]: https://uaesalary.com/cloud-engineer#google_vignette

[16]: https://devitjobs.nl/en/salaries/Cloud/all/all

[17]: https://www.payscale.com/research/SA/Skill=Cyber_Security/Salary

Career Growth

The career growth graph of a cloud security engineer is always progressive, with ample opportunities at every stage (early, middle, and advanced).

Entry-level engineers start by gaining foundational certifications and hands-on experience in associated security or infrastructure domains. They usually handle tasks that involve fundamental knowledge of a specific cloud provider, maintaining systems and setting up applications.

As they progress to mid-career roles, cloud security engineers are tasked with more complex responsibilities, such as gathering requirements, crafting and implementing cloud security strategies, etc. Additionally, they ensure business operations run smoothly and maintain the essential infrastructure needed to deploy solutions in the cloud.

At advanced or senior levels, the roles evolve into more strategic leadership and specialist requirements. At this stage, cloud security engineers are responsible for crafting cloud strategies and implementing DevOps practices, diverse Agile methodologies, and cloud security standards. In addition, they focus on secure, cost-effective, and highly available cloud solutions.

Future Job Market Trends

The job market is constantly evolving with several key trends. A few of the recent trends include:

• Increasing prevalence of remote work: The rise of remote work has led to an increase in demand for cloud security engineers while promoting maximum productivity and flexibility. This work culture has offered access to a vast talent pool, improved work–life balance, and reduced overall expenditures for organizations.
• Growing usage of technologies such as AI and ML: The integration of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) into cloud security is transforming the role of cloud security engineers. These technologies enable advanced threat detection and improve predictive analytics, thereby promoting proactive defense against cloud-based attacks and malpractice.
• Rising importance of zero-trust architecture: Zero Trust Architecture, which assumes no implicit trust within a network and requires continuous verification, is the new talk of the town! Cloud security engineers will need to design and implement security policies and ensure that every access request is authenticated and well-authorized.
• Heightening focus on compliance and regulatory requirements: Organizations are focusing on not just meeting various industry standards but going above and beyond to ensure their data protection standards are robust regardless of mandatory regulatory requirements. Engineers play a crucial role in conducting regular cloud security assessments to identify and fill gaps to secure an organization’s overall cloud infrastructure.

How to Start a Career as a Cloud Security Engineer?

In cloud security engineering, digital security meets cloud technology! To build a rewarding career in the domain:

• Start by gaining formal education through graduate and postgraduate degrees in computer science, information technology, or cybersecurity.
• Study cloud networking security, systems administration, risk management, identity and access management (IAM), cryptography, and compliance for a well-rounded grasp of cloud computing and other security aspects.
• Earn certifications in cloud architecture and operations and fundamentals of cloud security, along with participating in hands-on training programs and workshops specific to AWS, Azure, and GCP, to further broaden and formalize your skills and expertise.

Hands-On Training for Aspiring Cloud Security Engineers

To excel in this job role, hands-on training and practical experience are crucial. The one credential that has clearly made its mark in the plethora of cloud certifications is the C|CSE by EC-Council!

The C|CSE (Certified Cloud Security Engineer) certification is a comprehensive instructor-led program focused on cloud security. It provides an in-depth understanding of cloud security infrastructure, governance, and risk management. The program is designed for professionals aiming to excel in cloud security and thereby combines theoretical knowledge with practical skills to tackle industry-level challenges.

Its holistic curriculum covers a wide range of vendor-neutral and vendor-specific topics, along with a focus on the diverse features of AWS, Azure, and GCP, cloud storage techniques, audits in cloud computing security, other specialized tools and technologies, and much more. Additionally, the courseware spans forensic methodologies for cloud infrastructure as well as covers policies and legal implications in the cloud.

This cloud certification emphasizes industry-relevant skills tailored for immediate application in cloud security roles. It covers practical skills imparted by 85+ labs and in-depth insights essential for real-world scenarios, ensuring that professionals are equipped to handle current and emerging cloud security challenges effectively.

Additionally, the program’s content is continuously updated to keep pace with the latest advancements in cloud security, making it an essential resource for anyone looking to excel in this field. Know more about the C|CSE: https://www.eccouncil.org/train-certify/certified-cloud-security-engineer-course/

Tips and Resources for Aspiring Cloud Security Engineers

To sum it all up, as discussed above, embarking on a career as a cloud security engineer requires a solid educational foothold in cloud and related topics, industry-recognized certifications, proficiency in essential technical and soft skills, practical exposure, and staying updated on industry trends and technologies.

Here’s the “EC-Council’s Cloud Security Playlist” that covers essential cloud security topics. With a plethora of comprehensive resources, including testimonials, product overviews, success stories, expert opinions, and guidance on diverse cloud concepts, the playlist has valuable tips and insights on securing cloud environments! View the playlist content:

Cloud security is a booming and rewarding career path! With the rising demand for professionals skilled in securing cloud environments, mastering essential skills and tools along with earning renowned certifications such as the C|CSE can be instrumental in shaping a successful career in the field.

References

Fortinet. (2024). 2024 Cloud Security Report. https://global.fortinet.com/lp-en-2024-cloud-report?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=Cloud-NAMER-US&utm_content=AR-2024cloudsecreport-G&utm_term=Blog&lsci=701Hr000001lkADIAY&UID=ftnt-4032-225332