When reviewing a third-party agreement with a cloud service provider, the greatest concern regarding customer data privacy is the return or destruction of information. This is because customer data may contain sensitive or personal information that needs to be protected from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. The cloud service provider should have clear and transparent policies and procedures for returning or destroying customer data upon termination of the agreement or upon customer request. The cloud service provider should also provide evidence of the return or destruction of customer data, such as certificates of destruction, audit logs, or reports. The return or destruction of information should comply with applicable laws and regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The cloud service provider should also ensure that any subcontractors or affiliates that have access to customer data follow the same policies and procedures12.
References:
* Cloud Services Agreements - Protecting Your Hosted Environment
* CSP agreements, price lists, and offers - Partner Center

Heat maps are graphical representations of data that use color-coding to show the relative intensity, frequency, or magnitude of a variable1. Heat maps can be used to visualize the criticality of the cloud services in an organization, along with their dependencies and risks, by mapping the cloud services to different dimensions, such as business impact, availability, security, performance, cost, etc. Heat maps can help auditors identify the most important or vulnerable cloud services, as well as the relationships and trade-offs among them2.
For example, Azure Charts provides heat maps for various aspects of Azure cloud services, such as updates, trends, pillars, areas, geos, categories, etc3. These heat maps can help auditors understand the current state and dynamics of Azure cloud services and compare them across different dimensions4.
Contractual documents of the cloud service provider are the legal agreements that define the terms and conditions of the cloud service, including the roles, responsibilities, and obligations of the parties involved.
They may provide some information on the criticality of the cloud services in an organization, but they are not as visual or comprehensive as heat maps. Data security process flow is a diagram that shows the steps and activities involved in protecting data from unauthorized access, use, modification, or disclosure. It may help auditors understand the data security controls and risks of the cloud services in an organization, but it does not cover other aspects of criticality, such as business impact or performance. Turtle diagram is a tool that helps analyze a process by showing its inputs, outputs, resources, criteria, methods, and interactions. It may help auditors understand the process flow and dependencies of the cloud services in an organization, but it does not show the relative importance or risks of each process element.
References:
* What is a Heat Map? Definition from WhatIs.com1, section on Heat Map
* Cloud Computing Security Considerations | Cyber.gov.au2, section on Cloud service criticality
* Azure Charts - Clarity for the Cloud3, section on Heat Maps
* Azure Services Overview4, section on Heat Maps
* Cloud Services Due Diligence Checklist | Trust Center, section on How to use the checklist
* Data Security Process Flow - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics, section on Data Security Process Flow
* What is a Turtle Diagram? Definition from WhatIs.com, section on Turtle Diagram

The best way for the organization to take advantage of the supplier relationship feature of the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) is to leverage this feature to enable a smarter selection of the next cloud provider. The supplier relationship feature is a column in the CCM spreadsheet that indicates whether a control is influenced by contractual agreements between the cloud service provider and the cloud customer. This feature can help the organization to identify and compare the security and compliance capabilities of different cloud providers, as well as to negotiate and customize the terms of service (TOS) and service level agreements (SLA) according to their needs and requirements123.
The other options are not the best ways to use the supplier relationship feature. Option A, filter out only those controls directly influenced by contractual agreements, is not a good way to use the feature because it would exclude other important controls that are not influenced by contractual agreements, but still relevant for cloud security and governance. Option B, leverage this feature to enable the adoption of the Shared Responsibility Model, is not a good way to use the feature because the Shared Responsibility Model is defined by another column in the CCM spreadsheet, which indicates whether a control is applicable to the cloud service provider or the cloud customer. Option C, filter out only those controls having a direct impact on current TOS and SLA, is not a good way to use the feature because it would exclude other controls that may have an indirect or potential impact on the TOS and SLA, or that may be subject to change or negotiation in the future. References
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* What is CAIQ? | CSA - Cloud Security Alliance1
* Understanding the Cloud Control Matrix | CloudBolt Software3
* Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) - CSA2

When establishing cloud governance, an organization should first test by migrating a few applications to the cloud. Cloud governance is the process of defining and implementing policies, procedures, standards, and controls to ensure the effective, efficient, secure, and compliant use of cloud services. Cloud governance requires a clear understanding of the roles, responsibilities, expectations, and objectives of both the cloud service provider and the cloud customer, as well as the alignment of the cloud strategy with the business strategy. Cloud governance also involves monitoring, measuring, and reporting on the performance, availability, security, compliance, and cost of cloud services.
Migrating a few applications to the cloud can help an organization to test and validate its cloud governance approach before scaling up to more complex or critical applications. Migrating a few applications can also help an organization to:
* Identify and prioritize the business requirements, risks, and benefits of moving to the cloud.
* Assess the readiness, suitability, and compatibility of the applications for the cloud.
* Choose the appropriate cloud service model (such as SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS) and deployment model (such as public, private, hybrid, or multi-cloud) for each application.
* Define and implement the necessary security, compliance, privacy, and data protection measures for each application.
* Establish and enforce the roles and responsibilities of the cloud governance team and other stakeholders involved in the migration process.
* Develop and execute a migration plan that includes testing, validation, verification, and rollback procedures for each application.
* Monitor and measure the performance, availability, security, compliance, and cost of each application in the cloud.
* Collect feedback and lessons learned from the migration process and use them to improve the cloud governance approach.
Migrating a few applications to the cloud can also help an organization to avoid some common pitfalls and challenges of cloud migration, such as:
* Migrating legacy or incompatible applications that require significant re-engineering or refactoring to work in the cloud.
* Migrating all applications at once without proper planning, testing, or governance, which can result in operational disruptions, data loss, security breaches, or compliance violations.
* Migrating complex or critical applications without adequate testing or governance, which can increase the risk of failure or downtime.
* Migrating applications without considering the impact on the end-users or customers, who may experience changes in functionality, performance, usability, or accessibility.
Therefore, migrating a few applications to the cloud is a recommended best practice for establishing cloud governance. It can help an organization to gain experience and confidence in using cloud services while ensuring that its cloud governance approach is effective, efficient, secure, and compliant.
References:
* Migration environment planning checklist - Cloud Adoption Framework
* Cloud Governance: What You Need To Know - Forbes
* Cloud Governance: A Comprehensive Guide - BMC Blogs

Metrics around Platform as a Service (PaaS) development environments are frequently immature, as PaaS is a relatively new and evolving cloud service model that offers various tools and platforms for developing, testing, deploying, and managing cloud applications. PaaS metrics are often not well-defined, standardized, or consistent across different providers and platforms, and may not capture the full value and performance of PaaS services. PaaS metrics may also be difficult to measure, monitor, and compare, as they depend on various factors, such as the type, complexity, and quality of the applications, the level of customization and integration, the usage patterns and demand, and the security and compliance requirements. Therefore, PaaS metrics may not provide sufficient insight or assurance to cloud customers and auditors on the effectiveness, efficiency, reliability, and security of PaaS services12.
References:
* Cloud Computing Service Metrics Description - NIST
* Cloud KPIs You Need to Measure Success - VMware Blogs