It’s undeniable that cloud computing has become the standard. More companies are making the move to the cloud, which will be an essential tool for doing business during the epidemic. While this opens exciting new possibilities, businesses are also facing a slew of new obstacles as they attempt to make the transition to the cloud. Because of the new computing ecosystem, there are now more chances for cybercrime and other digital changes. The cloud is no different. Every new idea brings its own set of problems, and the cloud is no different. As businesses move to a cloud-first strategy, they must now look at cloud security.
In this article, we’ll go through the reasons behind and trends in cloud migration, where most companies should begin, the most prevalent obstacles, and how maximizing return on investment in the cloud may give companies a competitive edge while keeping data safe.
Cloud security: A business imperative
IDC data shows that in Q4 of 2021, enterprises around the world spent $3.1 billion on compute and storage services for cloud infrastructure, including both dedicated and shared environments. This is a 13.5% increase from the previous year. In a similar way, Gartner predicts that 85% of businesses will have moved to a “cloud-first” strategy by the year 2025. Most companies now see moving to the cloud as the smart thing to do because it gives them a competitive edge. from lower IT expenses and higher adaptability to greater innovation and streamlined operations. There are, however, limitations to these advantages.
As billions of dollars continue to be spent on cloud adoption, we might also expect the number of threats to digital organizations to grow quickly and dramatically. A growing digital society naturally invites greater cyber risks. Since security is the backbone of any IT structure, there is very little difference between public and private cloud choices in this respect. Instead, shifting to a cloud-first mentality shifts a company’s focus on security.
Since cloud operations happen in an environment that is always changing and is often open to multiple threats, security issues are much more important. There is real risk in the cloud because there are so many “unknown knowns” and you don’t have full control. Security in the cloud has gone from being an IT problem to a business need. This means that leaders need to change how they think about cloud security policy considering a business model that is more flexible and integrates IT.
Navigating the challenges
When it comes to cloud security, we think one of the biggest obstacles is just keeping track of all the moving parts of your cloud transformation. And the top three worries among leaders are:
- Lack of visibility of data in the cloud
- Poor controls over data and data accessibility
- Ensuring adherence to regulatory compliance
On top of all that, they must deal with how hard it is to stop cloud-native breaches and other kinds of attacks from inside the company. Under these conditions, making sure the cloud is completely secure can seem like an impossible task for businesses that have to deal with an unknown threat from an invisible vector.
Only 40 out of every 4,000 misconfigurations are reported. This means that 90% of misconfigurations are not being found. With the rise of hybrid work models, it’s also important to think about the risk that disloyal employees who have access to the cloud and its resources could pose.
Initiating your cloud security journey
Therefore, where should businesses begin in terms of cloud security? The process starts with gaining in-depth familiarity with the local ecosystem. Because the cloud is always changing, it makes things more complicated for businesses that work with more than one cloud provider. So, it’s important to learn as much as you can about your infrastructure, software, cloud service providers, operational support systems, and everything else you work with or depend on. Businesses need to make sure their cloud assets are in line with all applicable policies. This point serves as a starting point and a reference point.
Step two is ensuring the safety of vital resources, including information, identity, and work. This will let you figure out what internal and external threats your assets face and where they are weak. Create a comprehensive security playbook for your organization based on these. A security playbook is a set of standards, both written and visual, for how businesses should set up and protect their cloud-based operations and routines.
Toward the future of cloud security
The need for and interest in establishing a cloud-wide zero-trust environment are both on the rise. This requires getting rid of preferential privilege and is very different from the usual idea of perimeter security. Palo Alto Networks’ Zero Trust cybersecurity strategy, for example, is based on the saying “never trust, always verify.”
To protect new cloud environments and encourage digital change, zero trust has been created. It uses strong authentication, and network segmentation stops lateral movement, protects against threats at the layer 7 level, and makes “least access” rules easier to follow. With this added learning-based automation, the second part of cloud security will be around for a long time. The growth of data sources has sped up the use of AIOps, heuristics, and modified machine learning, as well as the development of more automated ways to keep track of the situation and act quickly.
Organizations may get ready for these shifts with the support of service providers like VaporVM and key partners like Palo Alto Networks. As time-to-value and time-to-market become more important, organizations need to find trusted partners to help them protect their digital agility and be consistent with security at lower costs.
Conclusion
By 2025, Gartner expects 85% of enterprises will be “cloud-first.” Enterprises spent $3.1 billion on computing and storage services in Q4 2021. It’s up 13.5% from last year. 90% of cloud misconfigurations are not identified; just 40% are reported annually. Businesses must deal with an invisible threat vector.
First, learn about the local environment. Interest in a cloud-wide zero-trust environment is rising. Businesses must comply with all cloud policies. AIOps, heuristics, and modified machine learning have become more popular as data sources proliferate.
