Securing Your Move To The Hybrid Cloud

The integration of both private and public cloud infrastructure, a practice prevalent among many organizations, presents distinct security challenges. Numerous factors drive the adoption of public cloud services, ranging from accommodating rapid growth without the constraints of capacity planning to capitalizing on flexibility and agility in providing customer-centric services. However, this utilization exposes companies to potential threats.

In situations where regulatory requirements or organizational preferences mandate the retention of certain applications on private (on-premises) infrastructure, organizations often opt for a combination of private and public infrastructure. Additionally, organizations frequently engage multiple cloud providers simultaneously or maintain the flexibility to switch between providers. Yet, this hybrid approach introduces diverse and unique security challenges, as different cloud providers and private cloud platforms may offer similar capabilities but implement security controls and management tools differently.

The fundamental question arises: How can organizations ensure consistent governance, policy enforcement, and controls across diverse cloud environments? Furthermore, how can they maintain a robust security posture while transitioning between these environments? Fortunately, there are measures that professionals can take to ensure ongoing security for applications, beginning from the early stages of development and extending throughout their lifecycle.

Traditional security tools not specifically designed for cloud environments prove ineffective in safeguarding applications running in the cloud. These tools struggle to keep pace with the accelerated development cycles of cloud-native applications compared to traditional waterfall methods. Automation embedded in the early stages of development becomes crucial to avoid becoming a bottleneck for development and operations.

Moreover, in the dynamic and varied cloud landscape, security solutions can no longer rely on permanent infrastructure and locations. Modern cloud applications are tied to the application itself rather than specific IP addresses or server locations. As workloads are dynamically orchestrated, applications may shift between containers, servers, or even cloud providers, making it essential to adopt modern, cloud-specific security solutions.

Cloud Providers’ Own Security Tools: A Limited Answer

While major cloud providers follow the shared responsibility model, placing responsibility for "security of the cloud" on the provider and "security in the cloud" on the customer, the tools offered by cloud security providers have limitations. These tools partially cover customer needs and increase dependency on the cloud provider but may not be equally effective in protecting multi-cloud environments, particularly private clouds.

The New Stack is Great for Security

The advent of technologies powering the new stack, such as containers and Kubernetes, brings improved security capabilities, offering granular visibility and automation. These technologies facilitate the seamless transfer of security measures across private and public cloud environments when implemented correctly.

Embracing a holistic approach to defending applications throughout their lifecycle, from development to production, is essential due to the complexity of cloud environments. This approach should address security gaps across infrastructure components and application code, managing vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, malware, or behavioral anomalies.

The Born-in-the-Cloud Approach

Some companies are not just adopting cloud technologies but are specifically focused on securing the new cloud-native stack, encompassing containers, virtual machines (VMs), and serverless architectures. The Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP), a category recognized by Gartner, emerges as a solution designed to protect enterprise applications against evolving attacks in the cloud.

While the future of cloud security appears promising, current uncertainties persist due to the escalating volume and sophistication of attacks targeting cloud infrastructure and supply chains. The increase in such attacks highlights the urgency of addressing knowledge and skills deficits. Platforms that bridge these gaps can contribute to achieving a high level of security through policy-driven automation, reduced attack surface, and the ability to detect subtle deviations or behavioral anomalies in application components. Security practices integrated into the development, deployment, and operation of cloud applications represent the way forward.