EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
ASIF SAVVAS , SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT , PRODUCT AND OFFERINGS AT SIMEIO
nsuring clear visibility
E into cloud applications and data is a priority for every IT leader . Yet , many are still unable to properly monitor and manage user access across multiple cloud environments .
Enterprises require seamless and robust visibility over their diverse cloud environments , to protect users , data and applications . Whether on-premises , in the cloud or within a hybrid environment , all user credentials must be secured from those who might use them for untoward purposes .
Visibility starts with controlling access and allowing permissions . However , this presents a challenge when every cloud provider has its own dashboard , access controls and processes . It becomes an arduous task of coalescing access records from multiple cloud providers . It ’ s nearly impossible to have the visibility and context needed to quickly identify and analyse attacks .
The complexities extend much further than access management . Working with multi-cloud providers requires federated single sign-on , onboarding and off-boarding users , authentication , authorisation and privileged account management . Additionally , automated controls with policy-based and centralised
orchestration are needed to govern identity across multi-clouds .
Visibility across an organisation ’ s entire ecosystem of on-prem , multi-clouds and hybrid environments must apply to all users . This includes business users accessing SaaS , like Salesforce and Office 365 . It applies to privileged users and DevOps team members building and working with apps within IaaS and PaaS environments , like AWS , Azure and Google Cloud , where access is typically accomplished through PAM or native DevOps management systems .
These independent cloud platforms represent different siloed access solutions , each with their own unique login methods .
Multi-cloud visibility requires a unifying identity fabric
Securing data is difficult to accomplish with inefficient visibility across complex multi-cloud and hybrid environments . The problems associated with siloed access to multi-clouds are many , including potential data breaches from hackers and insider threats . Misconfigurations and insufficient change controls , insecure interfaces and APIs and inadequate credential and key management , undermine security .
Seamless and robust visibility into multiclouds requires a single identity platform
THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH SILOED ACCESS TO MULTI-CLOUDS ARE MANY .
with an orchestration layer that unifies access to all cloud services . This would include management and control of access , authentication , authorisation and governance for business users , privileged users and DevOps secrets .
IT leaders seeking simplified and actionable cloud visibility require a common identity fabric that abstracts siloed cloud access services . This provides a single , yet ubiquitous view of multi-cloud platforms , on-premises infrastructure and identities of business , privileged and DevOps users , all within a single pane of glass .
Apply corporate policies once and enforce them consistently and automatically across all cloud environments . This is how enterprise IT and DevOps teams can ensure all of their user identities , applications and systems are protected . www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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