In many ways, the public cloud is more secure than a traditional data center. Asset management, inventory, audit logging, two-factor access controls, connectivity redundancy and firewalls are built into the cloud provider platform. Servers are easier to patch and won’t become outdated within a few years; there aren’t any forgotten boxes sitting in a dark corner with a note reading, “DO NOT TURN OFF.”

The public cloud addresses many historical security operations pain points, but it also introduces new ones that require security practitioners to adapt. In addition to meeting previous security challenges—out-of date software, proper firewall configuration, effective authorization policies and procedures—the public cloud adds multiple tasks to security teams, such as developing new skills, tracking ephemeral assets, managing decentralized accounts (“shadow IT”), protecting data stored using cloud provider platform services instead of servers, and verifying that all platform activity is tracked and authorized.

 

Discover how you can tackle cybersecurity challenges by downloading our whitepaper: The FireEye Approach to Effective Cloud Security