It’s estimated that 80% of large businesses already deploy hybrid cloud arrangements.
The hybrid architecture combines the convenience of a cloud environment that can be ever-increased and scaled with on-premise centers that allow greater access control.
However, as organizations integrate this combined infrastructure as their data centers for the company, it raises many security concerns.
Data is interesting to cyber criminals. They can leak it, sell it to the highest bidder, use it to get into other organizations, and more.
And some companies might not even see them coming until they get a ransom note or experience a major breach.
How do you protect information within complex hybrid environments? What makes protecting a Hybrid Data Center challenging?
Let’s get over the most common difficulties that come up with hybrid data center protection.
Complex Infrastructure Seeks Simplified Security
With multi-cloud technology and hybrid data centers linked to everything from applications to endpoint devices of remote workers, it’s safe to say that modern business infrastructures are more complex than ever.
So, how do you protect data within such complex systems?
It seems counterintuitive, but as the architecture becomes more intricate, going back to basics and simplifying the security is the best way to go about protecting the company.
Normally, organizations add new security tools to protect new technology that they integrate into the existing infrastructure.
A complex cybersecurity infrastructure that consists of multiple tools means that analysts often lack a complete overview of the entire security.
Some ways that businesses can simplify their hybrid security include:
- Automation with artificial intelligence
- Unifying the versatile tools under the single dashboard
Artificial Intelligence Aids Security Analysts
The team of analysts that manage security already has a heavy workload. AI-powered tools aid them in keeping their sanity by automating incident responses where it’s possible and continually managing the security posture of the company.
The more work analysts can delegate to automation, the more time they have to dedicate to advanced threats or to automating parts of security.
More sophisticated attacks will require more of their time because such threats might bypass the radars of regular security solutions.
Behind those attacks can be a human that has been observing an organization to find its vulnerabilities for months — unlike automated malicious codes that attack any vulnerable company they can.
They are targeting specific enterprises and waiting for their opportunity to strike and obtain data.
In a nutshell, with AI, analysts can delegate repetitive tasks and focus their time on matters that require more brain power.
Unifying Security Tools
Another issue that analysts have to work with is continual alerts from different dashboards. On average, they get as many as 1000 alerts per day — depending on the size of the company.
An overwhelming number of notifications come up as companies deploy versatile security solutions from multiple vendors.
As most IT teams are well aware, the majority of said alerts don’t indicate a high-risk issue that has to be dealt with right away. Bombarded with these alerts, it’s possible to brush off things like server issues as false positives. Dangerous mistakes that can cost companies millions.
IT teams have to switch between multiple dashboards — which decreases the visibility of the attack surface and causes dashboard fatigue due to frequent changes of the environment.
Having a centralized overview of the tool the company uses to secure its assets strengthens the security all the while helping IT teams.
Therefore, increasing visibility of the security posture and tools is another important feature that companies should strive for when choosing security solutions.
Cyber Solutions Should Keep Up With a Company
Security should follow the growth and changes within the organization. Essentially, they should also be scalable without disrupting the workflow of a company.
The organizations are going to add new tools and new team members that connect to the infrastructure remotely. This might require the protection of new security points and technology the company hasn’t used before.
Therefore, it’s integral to have a security solution that keeps the ever-evolving nature of the company in mind and doesn’t create gaps in security amid the scaling of a business.
Catching Up With the Ever-changing Attack Surface
Besides the growth of the company, which can be slow and steady, security tools have to keep up with even more dynamic attack surfaces.
With people working on the premises and with newly emerging hacking methods, the attack landscape can change in minutes — enough time for threat actors to exploit a vulnerability and get to the data seemingly protected within the system.
As a result of the increased demand for remote work, more companies have been using cloud technology than ever before. This also means that more sensitive data is being stored within the premises and as the users log into the system.
Protecting information of the company, users of services, and employees – both on-premise and those working from home is a challenge because traditional security tools often can’t keep up with frequent changes within the attack surface.
For example, zero-day attacks target systems with methods that are not known to analysts.
To protect data in hybrid data centers, it’s necessary to employ security tools that are capable of in-depth traffic inspection and continual monitoring. Thorough and comprehensive solutions can mitigate unwanted activity early – even if hackers use novel attacks.
To Sum Up
What makes protecting the hybrid data centers difficult is that there are many tools on the market that can’t be integrated together and require different dashboards.
As new tools are added, analysts have less visibility and control over the increasingly complex infrastructure.
To protect the data, a strong and scalable security solution is integral for preventing incidents such as data leaks and company breaches.
For hybrid data centers, this means having security that can guard the systems that hold data both on the cloud and on-premises.
Information security specialist, currently working as risk infrastructure specialist & investigator.
15 years of experience in risk and control process, security audit support, business continuity design and support, workgroup management and information security standards.
