Organizations have embraced the cloud as a means of expanding the value of their business, adding speed and scale to the process, something that has been accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. What is lacking in many organizations, however, is an understanding of the need for speed and security together.
As companies solidify their cloud security strategies, they need to ensure that they are considering where they are now, including essential items such as the governance required and the metrics to follow.
Speed vs. safety?
The focus on what defines the value of technical teams has changed constantly over the years, from a focus on infrastructure to one directed at software development and now a concentration on delivering digital products. Printed copies of a compliance report, for example, are now being transferred digitally.
Meanwhile, the cloud allows companies to scale their infrastructures and platforms quickly. It has helped to standardize developer toolkits and commoditize infrastructure and development platforms. The challenge that remains, however, is that many people are only focused on speed. And that's a big problem.
We've seen this before - with managed services, for example, where people went ahead without considering the impact on security. But now, with high-profile, damaging and expensive data breaches regularly making headlines, security is a board-level issue that can't be ignored or put on the back burner.
IT and operations departments must provide a level of assurance that cloud adoption will also be secure. This includes having a clear operational plan.
Building a cloud security strategy
For companies that are migrating to the cloud or are in the cloud looking to expand, some important steps are necessary to ensure that security is an essential part of the process.
Where is your company today?
The first step in developing a cloud security strategy is to understand the current state of the organization and what its future state in the cloud will look like.
This leads to the development of a strategic governance model, which helps define the necessary competencies. Examples include tool automation capabilities, understanding compliance, risk and the ability to integrate the cloud with platforms.
Organizations also need to take stock of their current tools and skill sets because they will need to implement training programs, change management, migrations and other steps. They need to think about specific system integrations in a hybrid cloud environment.
An organization must think through all these steps methodically.
A governance structure
Once an organization has mapped out what to do, it needs to define the respective roles of the CIO, chief risk officer, developers, security engineers and others who will work to enable security in the cloud.
These functions feed into a security framework that establishes how all these teams connect in their day-to-day processes - for example, how a threat modeler's recommendation becomes a must for a system designer - with the shared goals of speed, security and regulatory compliance.
Metrics
Finally, a company needs to implement metrics focused on measuring two things: which processes are getting the job done quickly - speed to market - and how well security is working.
This involves the convergence of what used to be two largely independent groups: the technology deployment delivery teams and the risk security compliance teams.
Companies, at least at the moment, are thinking about it, and some are already doing so. But most have yet to put it into practice.
It's a complete process and there are currently no standards to help guide or define examples for organizations. But these steps are necessary to protect the data and systems that are the lifeblood of companies today.
A company that can do this well will weather the storm.
About Conversys
Conversys IT Solutions is a provider of Information and Communication Technology services and solutions operating throughout Brazil.
With a highly qualified technical and commercial team and a network of partners that includes the main global technology manufacturers, Conversys IT Solutions is able to deliver customized IT and Telecom Infrastructure solutions to clients.
We invest in our employees and partners and strive for a long-lasting relationship with our clients, because we believe that this is how we gain the skills and knowledge we need to innovate and generate value for the businesses in which we operate.
