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 characterize the core cause for our present state of affairs.
The cause we’re the place we’re is due to cloud computing. Don’t get me fallacious, cloud computing has been and continues to be profoundly useful. It enabled digital transformation that reshaped how we do enterprise. But additionally it is an enormous disruptor that turned conventional, centralized computing and information networking fashions on their head, forcing carriers and community suppliers alike to innovate and adapt or danger 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 turning into normal, organizations should reassess their cybersecurity strategy. It is crucial that they undertake complete end-to-end options that align with the evolving panorama of cloud computing and connectivity to handle their cyber challenges.
Cloud computing’s cascading impact
It’s at all times been about information – the place information lives and the way it’s accessed by customers. Shifts in information residency and entry have triggered a sequence of occasions, starting with:
Our introduction to the cloud
- Server virtualization and cloud compute infrastructure, steadily known as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), ushered in low price, versatile, and useful resource environment friendly computing through digital machines (VMs)
- Growth 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 have been re-architected to align with shifting information residency, from centralized information facilities to distributed cloud infrastructure
- This transition included transferring from MPLS/datacenter designs to SD-WAN with Internet breakouts and hybrid or multi-cloud options
Network safety transformation lagged
- As information networking fashions developed so too did community safety, however at a lagging tempo
- Over time, the growth of cloud-delivered safety options helped organizations to align and optimize community safety inside this new cloud and networking atmosphere
But this new information and networking paradigm requires consideration past community safety
- Endpoint safety has turn into extra crucial to think about 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 cellular gadgets (endpoints) to entry information on cloud servers and VMs (additionally endpoints)
- Endpoints bookend this continuum of customers accessing information on cloud workloads, and as a necessary a part of the communications circulation, they should be thought-about when designing an end-to-end safety resolution
Doubling down on the cloud
We have come a great 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 at the moment are coming into the subsequent part of cloud utility growth – microservices and containerization. As the cloud turns into more and more foundational to your group, it’s essential to prioritize strong safety for all cloud workloads. This contains 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 new communications continuum consists of customers on workstations and cellular gadgets accessing and using information 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 fashionable community and cloud atmosphere, don’t go away endpoint safety to likelihood.
Evaluation and procurement: Assess and procure high performing endpoint safety options, whereas guaranteeing they excel not solely on Windows endpoints but additionally on Linux, on condition that cloud workloads function on each Windows and Linux working programs. Be conscious that some options might lack function parity and efficiency on Linux in comparison with Windows.
Container safety assurance: In addition to strong efficiency on Linux endpoints, verify that your chosen endpoint safety options present an agent for Kubernetes clusters to safe your cloud containers as properly.