The future will be multicloud….or it won’t be. This seems to be the message that more and more technology companies and ICT analysts insist on. And it’s normal. No company wants to risk falling victim to the dreaded “vendor-lock in” or end up paying an excessive bill for processing workloads for which you would get a better price in the “competitive” cloud. To this is added that despite the fact that the business data center has reduced its size, the most critical processes and the most confidential data continue to be on premises. In the short and medium term, this is not going to change.
But of course, we find that while this is happening, computer threats skyrocket. Securing a multicloud environment is challenging due to the complexity and variety of systems, applications, and data that are hosted in different public, private, and hybrid clouds. The CIO, or the CISO that has to deal with the protection of these environments is really facing something of a perfect storm. Does this mean that there is nothing you can do? If we continue with the naval simile, of course you can take the helm and try to “surf” rough waves, cross your fingers and hope that…is everything alright?
Or what is undoubtedly smarter, you can prepare before leaving the port. And for that, there are some actions that you can carry out from the beginning on different fronts. For example…
- In the area of identity and access: You must implement an Identity and Access Management (IAM) system that allows you to control who has access to what resources and applications in the multicloud environment.
- Information Privacy: A good idea is to encrypt all the data that is stored and transferred in the multicloud environment to protect it against data theft and information interception.
- Network security: Here come the thickest caliber guns. You must have and implement network security measures, such as firewalls, VPNs, and even intrusion detection and prevention solutions (IDP/IPS) to protect resources in the multicloud environment against external attacks.
- Threat monitoring and detection: Protecting the perimeter of the multicloud environment while it is certainly important, it is not enough. In addition, having a threat monitoring and detection system that allows respond quickly to any suspicious activity.
- Backups: A basic that we can never neglect. In the worst case scenario, we must trust that we have a backup system for the data and applications that are hosted in the environment.
- Supplier management: Also of course, before trusting any cloud provider, the cloud service providers used must be properly evaluated and managed, ensuring that they meet security and compliance standards.
All this also means that the company must have the necessary equipment to implement all these measures (which is not easy) and offer its employees the necessary security training to move adequately in a multicloud environment. However, protecting these environments does not have to be so complex if we have the right partner.
This is what VMware tells us in “Securing Multi-Cloud”a document in which the multinational explains to companies what are the three main keys that they have to take into account to protect themselves effectively in multicloud environments, always keeping in mind that the responsibility for security in the cloud is a shared effort between cloud providers (who must offer security tools and services to its customers and the company to which the data belongs.
Securing Multicloud: how to protect your environment effectively
As we have seen, the obstacles to security in a multicloud environment are many and varied. That is why this document describes four key areas in depth, endpoint security, workload security, network security, and cloud security posture. If you download it, you will soon learn…
- To determine who is responsible for each aspect of cloud security, instead of assuming that the cloud provider will take care of everything.
- Understand how cloud architecture works to help prevent security holes due to misconfiguration.
- Apply the principle of least privilege. Understand how to assign the proper permissions, disable unused ports, and kill unnecessary services, processes, and instances.
- Plus, you’ll discover how VMware’s offering can help you take that approach that improves your security posture in a multicloud environment.
In short, if your company has either taken or is thinking of taking the leap into “mulitcloud territory”, this guide is presented as one of those documents that you cannot ignore. Do not miss it!
