Cloud Detection & Response for Dummies

Cloud attacks require cloud-specific detection & responseThe guide makes it clear that cloud environments generate massive, fast-moving data, operate through APIs, and rely heavily on identity. Traditional on-prem detection models don’t work here – you need CDR built for real-time cloud telemetry and context
2. End-to-end coverage is essentialEffective CDR spans the entire incident lifecycle: mapping your attack surface, monitoring high-risk assets, detecting cloud-native attacker behavior, enriching alerts with context, and enabling fast containment.
3. Collaboration between SecOps, cloud, and developers is non-negotiableBecause cloud environments are built and changed constantly by developers, CDR only works when SecOps, cloud security, and engineering teams operate together – especially during investigations and remediation.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is explicitly written for:

Security Operations (SecOps / SOC) teams responsible for real-time alerting, detection engineering, and incident response.
Cloud security teams tasked with configuration, posture management, and cloud security architecture.
Developers / DevOps teams who deploy workloads and own the context needed to remediate cloud threats.
CISOs and security leaders overseeing organizational cloud risk.

From the Table of Contents and intro pages, the guide covers:

Cloud incident fundamentals

What makes cloud attacks different from on-prem, why cloud telemetry is noisy and fast-moving, and how cloud complexity changed SecOps.

The CDR framework (Prepare → Detect → Investigate → Respond)

A full walkthrough of:

Cloud attacker techniques

Examples of cloud-native TTPs like identity compromise, misuse of permissions, API abuse, and lateral movement through cloud services.

Roles and collaboration models

How SecOps, engineering, and cloud teams work together during incidents and why hand-offs matter.