A hybrid cloud workplace is increasingly looking like norm for enterprises, small and medium businesses alike. Many organizations have to rush towards cloud adoption to ensure business continuity in remote working environments. However, getting cloud security right is a different ball game, especially at scale. Different groups have varying priorities: Engineers want better lead times and leverage for innovations, organizations intend to reduce costs, and in this process compliance, risk, and security get lost in mix as lesser priorities. How organizations manage these varying priorities will be critical to their future in a digitally connected world!
An effective cloud security program is the outcome of the organization’s risk profile and other idiosyncrasies. This isn’t a one-size fits all approach for cloud security and striking a balance between business goals, costs, and risks is pivotal to long-term success. It’s also pertinent to point out that a recent cloud security report highlights that 66% of survey respondents reckon that traditional security solutions won’t be enough for cloud security needs and this holds true. So, let’s take a look at five security strategies to meet your dynamic cloud adoption needs, based on insights.
Trusted cloud security advisor
To design an optimal cloud security solution for your organization this step comes as a no-brainer. However, many organizations tend to skimp on the essentials. To focus on building cloud security into the design instead of a separate face, hiring an expert is critical. However, even the smallest cloud security misconfigurations can be risky and expensive for an organization. To manage such threats, having a trusted professional onboard can save organizations the headache of going through a process of trial and error. This professional can design and keep tabs on upgrades to your security solution in a dynamic cloud environment. With a cloud war brewing for enterprises in the digital space, consolidating the services of the right security expert is critical.
Cloud tools to prevent threats
The complexity of cloud security vis-à-vis on-premise stems from one critical differentiator: There are multiple perimeters to address. This includes every employee who accesses the service, ever access role, various cloud computing services deployed, data story solutions deployed, and every workload or application that has access to the cloud. While every cloud service provider implement their own security solutions they may not meet the organization’s security criteria. As highlighted before, every organization’s cloud security needs are different and having a cloud security solution that compliments the existing solution is a good strategy to cover potential blind-spots.
There are thousands of third-party vendors today that provide cloud security solutions, some even offer customized solutions to your organization’s needs. Too many solutions would increase the complexity and it is better to have a solution with the broadest range of capabilities. As per marketsandmarkets, the global cloud security market was estimated to be worth USD 34.5 billion in 2020. It is estimated to reach 68.5 billion during the span of a six- year forecast period while growing at a CAGR of 14.5 %. The increase in sophisticated cloud security attacks is a key component that is driving the growth of this market in the post-pandemic era.
Maintaining visibility
A side-effect of deploying cloud solutions is that the perimeter for cyber-security attacks has increased greatly. Which is visibility plays such an important role in ensuring the efficacy of cloud security solutions. After all, what you can’t see cannot be secured effectively. Which is why, implementing a robust security solution that offers broad visibility check-points with AI and Machine Learning features for round-the-clock security is pivotal in today’s age. You need a security solution that ensures broad visibility under all environments at all times. Such a solution can also help identify potential blind-spots that hackers can target.
Future outlook
Apart from a robust cloud security protocol, adopting a zero-trust protocol and maintaining security hygiene among employees is essential to the success of cloud security efforts. Regular assessments and checks must also be done to identify loopholes as security threats are constantly evolving in a sophisticated cybersecurity landscape.
