Adapting enterprise security approaches for evolving cloud processing and networking models

Abstract

With the advent of public cloud services, enterprise are moving to adopt the lower cost, more flexible, scalable public cloud offerings like OTC, AWS and Azure. Simultaneously they are adapting their network models to move away from centralized enterprise QoS networks (with internet break out from a single or few large enterprise gateways) in favor of lower cost, direct offloading of corporate traffic from company locations via local and distributed Internet service providers. Using this model enterprises are also accessing cloud services from multiple entry points, and this completely changes the enterprise security deployment landscape. As an additional ongoing trend, the networking of physical devices is bringing a whole new ‘operational technology’ domain to the enterprise space, and a new approach to enterprise security is therefore required. In this paper the drivers of change in approaches to security for public cloud computing are presented, considering also the responsibilities of the customer and of the cloud service provider and the component which enterprises still need to focus on. In addition, the network model for security is explained and considered, with the new distributed deployment zone for security as described. Cyber physical/IoT type systems are also then discussed as an additional security landscape over which enterprises increasingly need to take special care.