The Key to Securing Hybrid Cloud Environments is Zero-Trust
Hybrid cloud environments are today’s network standard for businesses that are looking to retain agility as they expand and grow. Allied Market Research found that the cloud-native applications market is expected to grow from $5.3 million in 2022 to $48.7 million by 2032. Additionally, 89% of the organizations used more than one cloud for storage and workloads, with just 9% using a single public cloud and 2% using a single private cloud solution.
To meet these demands, applications are now developed specifically to run in cloud environments, taking advantage of the cloud’s speed, scalability, flexibility and resilience. Applications use microservice architecture to group individual services together via APIs, allowing them to be tweaked and upgraded without impacting service delivery. The ability to orchestrate and monitor applications, alongside segmentation and configuration, has become a vital part of network security. Historically, security strategies relied on the concept of a secure perimeter, but this approach can’t protect against today’s distributed landscape. The rise of remote work, mobile devices and the proliferation of sophisticated cyberattacks mean that perimeter-based defenses aren’t enough anymore.
To combat this, zero-trust architecture (ZTA) offers a framework designed to address modern network complexities. Unlike traditional models that grant implicit trust based on network location, ZTA assumes that no entity should be trusted by default. This approach emphasizes the importance of ‘least privilege’ access, ensuring that users and devices are granted only necessary permissions. Real-time monitoring of network assets allows businesses to spot anomalies and potential threats as they occur, and micro-segmentation divides the network into smaller, isolated segments, reducing the potential impact of any security breach and providing a fundamental shift in security for hybrid cloud.
Securing Hybrid Environments
The diversity of hybrid environments leads to inconsistent security policies and fragmented visibility, making it difficult to maintain a unified security posture. Each platform comes with its own set of tools and configurations, which can create gaps in defenses that cybercriminals are quick to exploit. Managing a wide array of endpoints, each with varying levels of security and often operating from different locations, further complicates the task and increases the risk of unauthorized access.
The dramatic shift to remote working over the past few years has amplified these challenges. According to one report, vulnerable attack surface areas grew by 600% in 2023 as businesses added more cyber assets to their organizations. Employees accessing company resources from various locations and devices make perimeter-based security models practically obsolete. There is now an increased need for a more adaptable, comprehensive security approach — one that continuously verifies and controls access instead of just ‘guarding the gates’.
One critical element for securing hybrid environments is segmentation. However, research suggests that 75% of surveyed organizations struggle to enforce network segmentation. Many businesses make the mistake of focusing solely on implementing micro-segmentation at the individual device or application level without considering the broader macro-level segmentation strategy, which can lead to inconsistencies in segmentation policies and ineffective isolation of network segments. Macro-segmentation creates boundaries that segment different parts of the network and ensures sensitive areas like production servers are isolated and not exposed to less secure zones.
Zero-Trust is Essential for Applications
Hybrid environments often rely on microservices, containers and APIs, each of which can become potential entry points for attackers if not secured properly. It is a double-edged sword: The fluidity and scalability that make hybrid environments so powerful also create a situation where vulnerabilities can spread quickly and go largely unnoticed.
ZTA addresses these risks by ensuring that every interaction within the system is verified and offers macro-segmentation based on business application isolation. This isolation reviews workloads to limit the lateral movement of threats, as well as robust identity and access management to enforce the least privilege principles. Continuous verification processes also monitor all traffic, ensuring that any deviation from normal behavior is detected and addressed. By integrating zero-trust into hybrid cloud environments, organizations can maintain high level of security and still reap the benefits of cloud agility and scalability.
The boundaries of trust are constantly shifting. By continuously verifying every user, device and application, zero-trust minimizes the risk of unauthorized access, reducing the likelihood of security incidents. This level of control is crucial for businesses that want to continue to ‘guard the perimeter’ when their perimeters are virtually impossible to define. The scalability and flexibility of zero-trust allow organizations to adapt their security measures as their hybrid cloud environments evolve. This adaptability ensures that as business needs change, security remains a priority, providing a sustainable framework for long-term protection.
