Cloud-delivered security is a network technology delivered via the cloud rather than installed on-premises. It provides a more cost-effective way to implement and maintain network security solutions.
A comprehensive cloud-delivered security solution combines advanced SD-WAN with a full suite of security services, including Zero Trust network access, DLP, CASB, FWaaS, and more. It offers unified management and consistent policy enforcement across all devices and locations.
Adaptability
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The SWG security in the cloud must evolve to keep pace with the changing landscape. It must incorporate various capabilities such as sandboxing, remote browser isolation, and a secure email gateway to protect against sophisticated attacks hiding in system interfaces.
Moreover, a comprehensive security platform must be capable of integrating into the agile development processes characteristic of cloud environments. Ideally, it will support continuous monitoring and scanning for open-source vulnerabilities to ensure that the components of containers and serverless functions are free from flaws before they are deployed in production.
This holistic approach to security is often referred to as security as a Service (SECaaS), and it is becoming more popular than on-premise hardware solutions. It can simplify implementation and management while reducing the upfront cost of the technology. It can also improve visibility by integrating SD-WAN, CASB, IAM, and endpoint protection technologies.
High Availability
Many industries require high availability for mission-critical systems. Each hour of system downtime costs revenue, turns away customers, and risks business data. The financial and banking sector, for example, requires 24/7/365 availability. If a bank’s online or point-of-sale system were to go down during a high volume period, it could damage its brand reputation, lead to unsatisfied customers, and ultimately customer churn.
Ideally, a comprehensive cloud security solution provides high availability by reducing single points of failure and providing reliable, dependable failover. This includes hardware redundancy and strategically durable networks and software.
This can be accomplished with advanced SD-WAN solutions like Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), SWG, FWaaS, and CASB combined with security services such as DLP, content inspection, sandboxing, and Remote Browser Isolation. This enables companies to implement a comprehensive security architecture for their cloud and on-premises environments, providing visibility, prevention, control, and compliance for every user, application, device, and location while protecting against zero-day threats.
Scalability
The ability to handle a growing workload without significant interruption is called scalability. This is often important for software systems that need to respond quickly and efficiently to changes in demand without redesigning the system itself.
A good example of scalability would be a company that can rapidly expand its business without being limited by the size of its existing facilities or available workforce. This type of scalability is essential for companies to maintain a competitive advantage and keep up with market trends.
When selecting a cloud security solution, ensure the service is scalable to support your organization’s growth. It would be best to look for a service that provides exceptional visibility to and protects all enterprise cloud applications, data, and users – regardless of where they reside in the multi-cloud landscape. This includes enforcing consistent DLP policies on information sent to cloud and web destinations and threat inspection of content downloads.
Flexibility
Cloud security provides a high level of flexibility to protect data and applications. It helps IT teams implement a robust and flexible security architecture to address the specific needs of their business. This includes enabling data sharing, file classification, and protection policies that remain attached to files wherever they go in the cloud or after sharing.
Other important aspects of cloud security include preventing direct access to hardware housed in the data center by implementing physical security like security doors, uninterrupted power supplies, alarms, air and particle filtration, and fire protection. This critical aspect helps businesses avoid data loss, identity theft, and disruption to operations.
Comprehensive cloud-delivered security provides centralized visibility and consistent policy enforcement for all applications, users, and devices. It also helps organizations reduce costs by enabling more flexible connectivity without backhauling application traffic to the data center. This allows businesses to deploy software and hardware systems much faster.
Cost-Effectiveness
When integrated with advanced SD-WAN technologies, a comprehensive cloud security solution delivers significant cost savings for enterprises, a secure cloud architecture eliminates expensive private MPLS circuits and network firewalls that force internet-destined applications to traverse to corporate data centers for security inspection and verification.
A top-tier cloud security solution should offer identity and access management capabilities and data loss prevention (DLP) to mitigate the risk of unauthorized use of cloud environments. It should also support a Zero Trust network architecture and granular security policies at the subnet gateways for increased data protection and performance.
A solid cloud security posture is critical for businesses that rely on third-party hardware, software, and services to run their business. A solid strategy combines best practices, tools, processes, and policies with strong passwords and education for staff to avoid shadow IT. It should also include backup and disaster recovery solutions consistent with industry standards.
Security
A comprehensive cloud security solution will include a variety of features. This includes identity and access management (IAM) to prevent unauthorized access to data, apps, and infrastructure shared across clouds; data loss prevention (DLP) to detect data leaving the network; and data encryption to encode data so attackers can’t read it. It will also include security information and event management (SIEM) to analyze alerts, providing visibility into the security of cloud environments.
Look for a cloud access security broker (CASB) to identify malicious or negligent insider threats and compromised accounts in your cloud environment. It will also enable you to enforce DLP policies and remain compliant with industry and governmental regulations. It will incorporate an advanced SD-WAN edge to provide secure and flexible connectivity and cloud security services such as Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), FWaaS, SWG, and Remote Browser Isolation.