In a multi-cloud environment, organisations dare not leave cloud security to the risks of human error.
Automation must be a core part of any cloud-security strategy, write Parikshit Moitra, delivery centre head and regional partner director at TCS South Africa and rest of Africa, and Raghvendra Singh, global head: cloud security practice at TCS.
Today, South Africa is considered the leading cloud market in Sub-Saharan Africa, with surging demand for data storage, and concomitant growth in data-centre investment. This boom in cloud adoption comes with an urgent need for cloud security. Automation is the way to provide this security – effectively and efficiently.
The sheer complexity and heterogeneous nature of the hybrid, multi-cloud environment make it challenging to avoid inadvertent human errors in configuring security policies. There are plenty of downsides — security blind spots, risk of data theft, and ransomware attacks.
Major market, major risks
With the cloud computing market in South Africa expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 26%, and to reach R113 billion by 2028, more businesses are looking to secure their networks.
In looking to do so, there are major efficiency risks to businesses if they do not adopt cloud security automation – or if they do not do it fast enough. They also risk losing their competitive edge.
At the same time, data breaches have soared in recent years, with cyber-attacks increasing by 76% in businesses across South Africa in 2023. Thus, with the increased adoption of cloud solutions, there is a need for layered, stronger, automated cloud security, to prevent, detect and combat cyber-risks.
During the cloud-adoption phase, some local organisations have tried to take the easy route, by lifting and shifting apps and data, and frequently using manually configured security policies.
However, automating security processes and policies is an invaluable, and far more reliable approach, helping organisations detect potential threats early, reduce cloud waste, and go to market faster.
Material advantages
Cloud security automation provides material business advantages. It allows organisations to secure their cloud data, their applications, and their infrastructure.
At the same time, automation reduces application development timeframes and enables better encryption processes for higher security. It also supports better threat-intelligence gathering and smart security alerts, in order to minimise and address security risks.
Automating cloud security configurations and policies helps security teams focus their time on proactive security rather than reacting to an incident. Automation can be task-based, policy-driven, or cognitive.
- Task-based automation eliminates the need for manual security assessment and reporting. Organisations can create data classification policies without errors, with rapid quick turnaround times.
- Policy-driven automation helps organisations define, share, and enforce enterprise-wide security policies. This allows enterprises to overcome human errors in granting access and ensures proper reporting of incidents.
Cognitive threat management helps enterprises leverage machine-learning algorithms to flag anomalies, detect risky user behaviour, classify potential security incidents, and perform remediation automatically if breaches do occur.
Major opportunities, major risks
CIOs and senior execs are unanimous on the importance of cloud as an integral part of their business processes. The question, for many of them, is how to secure their environment in a hybrid, multi-cloud scenario. Automation has to be a core part of doing this.
Ensuring that your servers and networks are protected when sensitive information is being transferred to the company cloud, is an important aspect of any company’s operations. Cloud security automation should also be a critical part of this process.
Cloud security automation should involve data encryptions, data-address security, identity access management, as well as privileged access management.
Cloud security automation will be able to manage multiple access layers through measures such as two-step authentication, to ensure that there are guardrails at each level. This protects an organisation’s applications, its data, its servers, its OS, and its entire environment.
The interconnected, cloud-based nature of modern business has enabled a plethora of data-driven opportunities and efficiencies. AI, machine learning and automation are key to leveraging these efficiencies.
However, because of the risks that this environment also presents, it’s critical that you secure your networks using similar technology-driven approaches. Automated cloud security is key for any organisation looking to optimise for the future.