5 Stumbling Blocks on the Path to Cloud Adoption

Cloud computing has transitioned from a preference to a necessity due to its scalability, enhanced service quality and higher-tiered availability. Organizations have recognized that cloud can enable them to swiftly respond, accelerate recovery, reevaluate their operational methods, and redefine their business continuity strategies to remain competitive with their platforms, applications, and data.

Outline

Despite the advantages, challenges and stumbling blocks consistently surface in cloud adoption across industries. Interestingly, most of these challenges do not stem from the fundamental technologies underlying cloud computing. Instead, it is often the afterthought of extending security to the cloud that is currently observed as a key challenge, along with segregation of duties, Security Governance’s lack of skills and security configurations. In this blog, we take a closer look at some of these pitfalls that organizations frequently observe and how to overcome them.

1.??? Cloud Security as an Afterthought

Cloud migration, a critical part of the transformation for an organization, is currently being driven primarily by Technology and Business units, with security teams and audit teams racing to fill the gaps postmortem. As the third line of defense is initiating in-depth assessments on the cloud, it has become quite evident that, in most cases, security was not baked in as a prerequisite, primarily due to most migrations happening during peak pandemic times.

To ensure robust and holistic cloud security implementations, organizations should define security parameters and objectives before onboarding cloud services. This needs to follow closely with governance and compliance requirements, security tools offered by the providers, data sovereignty fulfilments and considerations of incident management in the cloud. A defined security approach when migrating to the cloud from Build to Operate must be thoroughly defined and implemented to defend the organization from potential threats.

2.??? Lack of alignment with Business Objectives

Cloud adoption is a major challenge in the technology industry due to the lack of understanding. Cloud computing can be complex and intimidating with its many services and constantly evolving best practices. It is important to understand why cloud adoption is necessary and that it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Each organization should carefully craft their cloud adoption approach to align with its custom and unique business needs and objectives. A critical aspect of cloud adoption is aligning the cloud security strategy with the organization's overall cloud strategy. Failure to do so might result in misdirected investments and underutilized resources.

To overcome these challenges, both individuals and organizations should prioritize their cloud strategy by making cloud security a mandatory pillar. This approach will help security departments achieve visibility on the cloud roadmap and enable them to procure solutions and expand governance efforts accordingly.

3.??? Overlooked Duty Segregation in Cloud Governance: Unveiling the Hidden Risks

The issue of duty segregation while providing cloud services is a key consideration for enterprises adopting cloud computing. Traditional on-premises environments had protocols and controls in place to guarantee that no single individual had undue authority (mostly) over a specific aspect of IT (Information Technology) operations, lowering the risk of fraud, mistakes, and illegal access. However, the self-service aspect of the cloud can blur these distinctions, making it more difficult to maintain the separation of roles. This line gets further blurred when a cloud service provider also offers managed services.

Cloud administrators frequently have broad access credentials to manage a variety of cloud resources, such as infrastructure provisioning, security setups, and application deployment. This concentration of power might result in potential conflicts of interest and security flaws. To overcome this issue, organizations must define clear boundaries of segregation for the service being procured and ensure coverage of the same in contracts to build Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) around it. Periodic evaluation of the Cloud service provider to ensure the fulfilment of duties will further strengthen the governance process of the provider and provide reasonable assurance to the organization.

4.??? Insufficient Expertise ??

While cloud services are designed to be user-friendly and compatible with existing systems, it is important to note that simply assuming your team can seamlessly adapt may not be realistic. One of the primary causes of delays in cloud migration is the insufficient skill set among team members. Cloud migration often requires specialized technical knowledge and skills depending on the platform or service the organization chooses to procure. Employees lacking the necessary expertise in cloud technologies may struggle with the migration process. This can result in inefficient or incomplete migrations, leading to operational issues, performance issues and security configuration issues

As the cloud is continuously evolving in the world of many organizations, transitioning to the cloud invariably requires adopting new tools and often heavy adjustments to existing workflows. This transition necessitates training, socialization, and operationalization, often taking a long time. When devising a cloud transition strategy, it is crucial to concurrently focus on upskilling your team on the platform and the service selected to build operational and administrative capabilities. Enabling the existing workforce with training and upskilling is often the most cost-efficient way to add cloud security knowledge in technology teams than hiring new personnel.

5.???? Ineffective Governance and Risk Management in the Digital World

Migrating to the cloud presents a unique set of challenges for companies operating under strict regulatory and compliance frameworks. Such organizations must ensure that their cloud adoption strategy aligns seamlessly with local and global regulatory requirements and best practices, making compliance a top priority throughout the migration process. Furthermore, assessing risks in the cloud environment depends vastly on the platform, service and controls that are the tenant's responsibility, often requiring an update on the risk assessment methodology followed in the cloud environment.

For organizations navigating the complexities of compliance in the cloud, it is essential to engage with cloud service providers that offer compliance certifications and tools designed to assist in meeting regulatory requirements or provide you with the tools to configure the cloud service efficiently and securely. Such providers often have dedicated resources and features tailored to address the unique needs of regulated industries and organizations that want to implement best practices in their cloud footprint. Establishing a well-defined cloud governance framework that includes policies, procedures, and awareness programs can help ensure that employees are aware of compliance requirements and follow best practices. Organizations must also perform yearly governance and risk assessments on their cloud environment to ensure that their on-premises security controls are extended to the cloud and controls are defined and approved where controls are non-existent.

In conclusion, migrating to the cloud while adhering to stringent regulatory and compliance frameworks (or best practices) requires meticulous planning, attention to detail, and the utilization of cloud provider features specifically designed for these purposes. By proactively and periodically assessing your cloud footprint for governance and risk, reviewing the audit reports of your CSP (SOC 2, ISO 27017 etc.) and configuring your cloud services to protect your data, monitor through audit trails and develop the ability to monitor incidents on the cloud environment.

Credit: Varun Kukreja , Director

Protiviti surveyed over 100 organisations in the Middle East Region across various industries to understand the current state of data privacy programmes, key focus areas, and expected future roadmaps. The publication provides an independent study of the survey results and offers perspectives and considerations for organisations embarking on the data privacy journey in the region.

The whitepaper highlights the concerns related to cloud adoption and the factors to assess before migrating to the cloud.

Read the whitepaper - https://www.protiviti.com/ae-en/whitepaper/navigating-state-data-privacy-middle-east