Security remains the biggest concern for IT and business decision-makers when migrating applications and workloads to the cloud. Security was cited as a key challenge by 83% of respondents to the 2020 Flexera State of the Cloud Report, making it the single most important issue for cloud leaders.
Exclusive TechTarget research across nearly 1,000 IT buyers highlights the growing importance of cloud security in response to COVID-19. In 2021, the three top accelerated IT priorities are secure remote work enablement, cited by 95% of IT buyers; cloud, 79%; and security/risk management, 77%. The study describes secure remote work as “the new Holy Grail.”
For almost every company, migrating applications and workloads to the cloud is a journey and not an everything-at-once proposition. There are different paths to the cloud, and the process never really ends. In the cloud era, no business can remain stagnant, and there is an ongoing and continuous need to address changing business requirements, new customer and workforce demands, and advances in technology.
The one aspect that remains consistent at all steps of the cloud journey is the need for security. In fact, security is probably the single most important factor that will determine whether your organization’s cloud migration is regarded as a success or failure. Learn more about the top cloud security challenges for 2021.
The security model for basic migrations
If your organization is starting with a basic migration of moving applications and workloads from the data center to the cloud, it is important to understand that the model for security is different in the cloud than for on-premises infrastructure.
Among the key differences are the shared responsibility model of the public cloud and the new reality that there is no longer a defined perimeter to protect. Having multiple point solutions without an integrated model can be a detriment to secure cloud migrations.
Security for successful cloud migrations requires extended visibility, extensive automation, sophisticated threat intelligence, machine learning and artificial intelligence. It also requires developer-friendly tools for DevOps teams so security is built into applications and not bolted on.
The good news is that cloud security, while complex, does not have to be complicated. Your organization can achieve all of its cloud security and compliance goals working with a single vendor.
Cloud Migration: Achieve More Together with Four Security Considerations
A hybrid or multi-cloud strategy is becoming the new standard. However, while a lot of good can come from adopting cloud computing, there are risks. Read this paper for the top four security considerations to prepare your company for cloud migration.
Download NowWhat does it take to make sure your cloud migrations are secure and compliant? Key factors include:
- An all-in-one platform model that provides a unified single solution for all aspects of cloud security, from workloads to containers, applications and cloud configurations.
- Extensive use of automation to simplify deployments, centralize compliance and scale security, while ensuring that DevOps teams can shift left and build security into new and existing applications.
- Defense in depth to leverage threat intelligence, machine learning, virtual patching, integrity monitoring and other tools to proactively prevent threats and quickly detect and mitigate attacks before they can cause damage.
Throughout the articles in this Guide to Secure Cloud Migrations, we explain in greater detail how these factors come together to empower IT and security teams to migrate workloads and applications to the cloud with no gaps in security and compliance.
In addition, it provides links to helpful material that explains how a unified cloud security platform from Trend Micro enables organizations to meet and manage cloud security needs throughout the migration journey, and have a foundation in place to scale, manage and evolve security on a continuing basis for all cloud workloads and applications.
