Buyer's Guide for CISOs: Cloud Security Posture Management
TechTarget, Wednesday, May 6th, 2026
A comprehensive guide to CSPM tools that help organizations identify and mitigate cloud security misconfigurations and risks.
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) has become essential for modern cloud defense as it continuously identifies and reduces risks from misconfigurations, excessive privileges, and unmanaged assets in AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud environments.
CSPM tools connect to cloud platforms via APIs to evaluate control plane settings related to IAM, storage, networking, and compliance frameworks like NIST and PCI DSS. Key features include agentless visibility across multi-cloud environments, customizable policies, contextual risk analysis, and integration with security workflows.
While CSPM tools deliver significant value, organizations should be aware of limitations including alert fatigue, false positives, and the inability to detect runtime behavior. Leading vendors include Check Point CloudGuard, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloud.