What Does the Future Hold for Cloud Security?

Cloud security is something that every business needs to take seriously. Unfortunately, few take the time to truly explore what it is and why it matters. But that will no longer be an option in the coming years. In fact, ignoring cloud security could prove to be a fatal move for many organizations.

During the height of the pandemic, it was the cloud that ultimately held the world’s economy and global supply chains in place. Without the cloud, it would have been nearly impossible (and certainly very unsafe) for businesses to continue operating as they did.

Prior to the pandemic, Gartner forecasted that public cloud services would grow by 17 percent in 2020. And while it’s not clear how much growth actually occurred last year, it certainly dwarfed that figure. In the months and years ahead, cloud computing will continue to underpin business, commerce, and communication like never before. There are, however, some concerns over where things go from here.

“As companies move more data and applications to the cloud, IT professionals remain concerned about security, governance, and compliance issues when their content is stored in the cloud,” Box explains. “They worry that highly sensitive business information and intellectual property may be exposed through accidental leaks or due to increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.”

The good news is that rapid innovation in the cloud security portion of the industry is closing the gap. For businesses that know what to look for in advanced cloud tools, there are some exciting trends to be aware of. This includes:

One of the biggest developments in the cloud security arena over the past few years has been the implementation of continuous monitoring, which is designed to follow a logical process of:

With a continuous monitoring approach, businesses are able to collect security-related insights around the clock, which can be used to facilitate better updates on the back end. It means they don’t have to wait for a loophole to be exposed before it’s addressed. They can keep their finger on the pulse of what’s happening and get the upper hand.

There are two types of security technologies. There are those that detect an attack and respond. These are known as reactive security features. Then, there are those that can actually predict a compromising event before it occurs and jump in to prevent it from happening. These are known as predictive security features. Predictive security is the way of the future.

“This technology collects and analyses unfiltered endpoint data, using the power of the cloud, to make predictions about, and protect against future and as-yet-unknown attacks,” security strategist Eric O’Neill writes for Technology Magazine.

Predictive security is proactive rather than passive. It essentially allows you to hunt down threats before the attacker hunts you. It creates a much more even playing field for security teams and removes much of the “surprise” element that attackers rely on so much.

Underscoring predictive security is a sophisticated web of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology. As one security expert describes it, humans/businesses are the tortoises while threats are the hares. It may be impossible to keep up with the rapid onslaught and sheer volume of hostile attacks that hit networks, but AI and ML are making it possible to identify them earlier and initiate response strategies that neutralize threats at scale.

Another benefit of new AI cybersecurity models is their contextual understanding, which reduces the volume of false positives that eat up a security professional’s time and cause undue pressure and frustration throughout large organizations. In this sense, AI allows for greater efficiency and maximization of resources.

Thanks to advanced security technology and innovation, cloud computing has staying power (even in a hostile world where hackers are constantly hurling attacks at key systems and sensitive data). It’s now up to individual businesses and organizations to fully leverage the right cloud tools so that they stay protected.