Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) is a class of tools that continuously inspects cloud environments for misconfigurations and policy drift. It compares settings in services such as compute, storage, identity, logging, and networking against expected baselines or compliance rules, then flags issues like public buckets, overly broad IAM roles, disabled encryption, or missing audit logs.
CSPM matters because many cloud breaches start with simple configuration mistakes rather than malware. Attackers look for exposed data, weak access controls, or paths to privilege escalation, while defenders use CSPM to spot those weaknesses before they are abused. In practice, CSPM platforms feed findings into tickets, alerts, and remediation workflows, helping teams track who owns each fix. They are most effective when paired with good account governance and fast response, since visibility alone does not secure the cloud.