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# Accelerate Your Cloud Migration Initiatives with Active Attack Surface Management

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By [Giuliana Sturma](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/author/giuliana-sturma/?ts=markdown "Posts by Giuliana Sturma")  
Mar 20, 2023  
3 minutes  
[Announcement](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/announcement/?ts=markdown)  
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[ASM](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/tag/asm/?ts=markdown)  
[Attack Surface Management](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/tag/attack-surface-management/?ts=markdown)  
[Cortex Xpanse](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/tag/cortex-xpanse/?ts=markdown)

Several industries, including healthcare, insurance, financial services, and real estate, are increasingly adopting cloud technology to facilitate digital experiences and innovate in their approach to customer service. [Research](https://www.channelfutures.com/channel-research/survey-finds-70-of-companies-have-accelerated-cloud-migration-in-last-year) shows that 70% of organizations have accelerated cloud migration in the last year, and [Gartner](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-11-10-gartner-says-cloud-will-be-the-centerpiece-of-new-digital-experiences) estimates that over 85% of companies will be cloud-first by 2025.

If your organization is juggling multiple cloud instances, services, and providers, it can be difficult to have full visibility of your infrastructure and the resources in use. Cloud sprawl is one of the most common blockers to a successful digital transformation and is often the leading factor behind project delays and budget overruns.

The following five steps are recommended to centralize the visibility and management of your cloud infrastructure:

1. **Survey your current cloud inventory.** Take stock of your applications and services to establish a full picture of your cloud estate and identify what you need to migrate.
2. **Conduct an audit of cloud environments from M\&A, as these are often a leading cause of rogue IT.** Organizations that have gone through multiple acquisitions or have a lot of subsidiaries often lack visibility into M\&A assets, and it is important to ensure diligence across historical and ongoing acquisitions.
3. **Decide on your cloud consolidation strategy** **and create an explicit list of approved (and unapproved) cloud providers.** This will help drive compliance and reduce the risk of running an application in an unapproved environment.
4. **Deploy an attack surface management (ASM) solution to verify that assets are deprecated from legacy hosting environments once they are set up in your new cloud spaces.** Deprecating old assets often falls through the cracks but identifying the right owners and business units can help with accountability during and after a migration. Don't let your old assets be the cause of a data breach.
5. **Periodically audit your Internet facing assets to identify other rogue IT to bring under management.** Implementing a regular review can help find any cloud providers, certificates or domains that have fallen off your radar.

Following these five steps will help minimize risk and maximize operational efficiency across your cloud environment. Cortex Xpanse's continuous scanning of the entire internet indexes your unknown assets, discovers acquired assets to bring under your management, and surfaces assets utilizing any suspicious or unsanctioned cloud environments that should be migrated onto your organization's cloud. As your organization invests in cloud strategy, it is highly recommended that you consider Cortex Xpanse's Active ASM solution to effectively manage and control the scope of your constantly evolving cloud environments with confidence.

To learn more, read our [CISO's Guide to Attack Surface Management](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cyberpedia/a-cisos-guide-to-attack-surface-management)!

*** ** * ** ***

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[#### How Palo Alto Networks Cortex Helps Federal Agencies Comply with CISA's Binding Operational Directive 23-01](https://www2.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/security-operations/how-palo-alto-networks-cortex-helps-federal-agencies-comply-with-cisas-binding-operational-directive-23-01/)

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[#### Automate Insecure OpenSSH vulnerability patching in Ubuntu AWS EC2 with Cortex Xpanse](https://www2.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/security-operations/automate-insecure-openssh-vulnerability-patching-in-ubuntu-aws-ec2-with-cortex-xpanse/)

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[#### Get Ahead of Chrome Changes with Cortex Xpanse](https://www2.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/security-operations/get-ahead-of-chrome-changes-with-cortex-xpanse/)

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