EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
SIMON HOWE , VICE PRESIDENT SALES APAC , LOGRHYTHM
The challenge of gaining visibility over cloud access is deeply entwined with the challenge of ensuring IT security . Without clear oversight of all network traffic within an organization , neither is possible . To achieve this aim , an organization needs to have in place tools that will monitor traffic and alert the security team to anomalous behavior . This could be anything from an external cyberattack to unauthorized access of a cloud resource by a staff member . Once clear visibility has been established , the team can respond in an appropriate way to each event as it occurs .
Visibility of cloud access is becoming increasingly important as the level of usage continues to grow . Indeed , more and more organizations are embracing a cloud-first strategy and steadily shifting away from on-premise IT infrastructure altogether .
Having this capability in place is particularly important when trying to manage the challenge of ‘ shadow IT ’. This occurs when staff bypass the IT department and make use of unauthorized cloud services . It might be storing corporate data in a personal account on Dropbox or diverting business email to a Google account . Staff may have no malicious intent , but the security challenges this type of cloud usage can create are significant .
Another factor that can make visibility of cloud usage challenging is the on-going prevalence of working from home . No longer tied to the corporate network , staff are instead using private Internet connections to access both centrally located applications and data stores as well as cloud resources . Having the tools in place that give visibility across this mixed environment is therefore vital .
For this reason , it ’ s highly likely that most organizations will already be making use of multiple cloud providers to fulfill different business needs . It might be Amazon Web Services for data storage , Salesforce for customer records and Microsoft Office 365 for administrative support . All will generate traffic on the organization ’ s network that needs to be monitored and managed .
A good first step in improving visibility of cloud access is the deployment of a Security Information and Event Management ( SIEM ) platform . A SIEM can provide real-time analysis of security alerts and determine which require the attention of the security team . Authorized use of cloud resources can then readily be separated from unauthorized .
The bottom line is that the providers of cloud platforms and services cannot be held responsible for inappropriate access by an organization ’ s staff . Effective steps , such as the deployment of security monitoring tools , need to be undertaken by the organization itself if effective visibility of cloud activity is to be achieved .
For organizations who are at a more advance level of security maturity , utilizing modern Machine Learning-enabled mist computing tools to enhance deep network visibility , behavior analytics and threat detection capabilities means that they will be able to collect and manipulate data more effectively and accelerate the speed of threat detection and response .
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