One step behind
The final decade has been difficult for the cyber trade. Attackers at all times appear to have the higher hand whereas defenders play catch up. It’s frequent to level to the ever-accelerating frequency and class of assaults, siloed safety that creates gaps, and a scarcity of expert cyber professionals as rationale for this lagging place. All are true however none symbolize the core purpose for our present scenario.
The explanation we’re the place we’re is due to cloud computing. Don’t get me incorrect, cloud computing has been and continues to be profoundly useful. It enabled digital transformation that reshaped how we do enterprise. However additionally it is an enormous disruptor that turned conventional, centralized computing and knowledge networking fashions on their head, forcing carriers and community suppliers alike to innovate and adapt or threat obsolescence. And as networking fashions shifted, from centralized to distributed, so too did safety, however at all times at a lagging tempo.
With cloud computing, distributed networking, and cloud-based safety changing into normal, organizations should reassess their cybersecurity method. It’s crucial that they undertake complete end-to-end options that align with the evolving panorama of cloud computing and connectivity to deal with their cyber challenges.
Cloud computing’s cascading impact
It’s at all times been about knowledge – the place knowledge lives and the way it’s accessed by customers. Shifts in knowledge residency and entry have triggered a collection of occasions, starting with:
Our introduction to the cloud
- Server virtualization and cloud compute infrastructure, regularly known as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), ushered in low value, versatile, and useful resource environment friendly computing through digital machines (VMs)
- Progress in cloud computing shifted focus to new ways in which enabled customers, whether or not in workplaces (websites) or at house (distant customers), to entry the information required to carry out their job duties
Cloud adoption led to new networking fashions
- Networks had been re-architected to align with shifting knowledge residency, from centralized knowledge facilities to distributed cloud infrastructure
- This transition included shifting from MPLS/datacenter designs to SD-WAN with Web breakouts and hybrid or multi-cloud options
Community safety transformation lagged
- As knowledge networking fashions developed so too did community safety, however at a lagging tempo
- Over time, the enlargement of cloud-delivered safety options helped organizations to align and optimize community safety inside this new cloud and networking atmosphere
However this new knowledge and networking paradigm requires consideration past community safety
- Endpoint safety has turn into extra crucial to contemplate on this new age of cloud computing and community connectivity the place the main target is now squarely on enabling customers on laptops, desktops, and cell gadgets (endpoints) to entry knowledge on cloud servers and VMs (additionally endpoints)
- Endpoints bookend this continuum of customers accessing knowledge on cloud workloads, and as a necessary a part of the communications stream, they have to be thought-about when designing an end-to-end safety answer
Doubling down on the cloud
We have now come a good distance from the preliminary cloud use case of take a look at/dev. We’ve since moved to operating production-grade functions within the cloud and are actually coming into the following part of cloud utility improvement – microservices and containerization. Because the cloud turns into more and more foundational to your group, it’s essential to prioritize sturdy safety for all cloud workloads. This consists of guaranteeing top-performing endpoint safety not just for VMs but additionally for cloud containers.
Key issues
As you propose your future within the cloud, maintain these key issues in thoughts:
Communications continuum: The brand new communications continuum consists of customers on workstations and cell gadgets accessing and using knowledge residing within the cloud, inside workloads (servers/VMs/containers).
Endpoint significance: Endpoints bookend this continuum in order you take into account community safety in your trendy community and cloud atmosphere, don’t go away endpoint safety to likelihood.
Analysis and procurement: Assess and procure prime performing endpoint safety options, whereas guaranteeing they excel not solely on Home windows endpoints but additionally on Linux, on condition that cloud workloads function on each Home windows and Linux working techniques. Bear in mind that some options could lack function parity and efficiency on Linux in comparison with Home windows.
Container safety assurance: Along with sturdy efficiency on Linux endpoints, verify that your chosen endpoint safety options present an agent for Kubernetes clusters to safe your cloud containers as nicely.
