The traditional IT model is for infrastructure to be located ‘on-premise’, with access being granted to users via secure verification and secure network connectivity.
If a user wants to access services outside of the corporate environment, (i.e. via the Internet), data routes via the corporate ‘on-premise’ security services. This enables businesses to manage the security threat both inbound and outbound, private and public.
As businesses move their infrastructure either completely to the Cloud or more likely to a hybrid model (services are both ‘on-premise’ and in the ‘Cloud’), routing all data via an ‘on-premise’ gateway is both inefficient and unnecessary.
By moving Security to a Cloud service, users can work from anywhere and data routes via the ‘Cloud’ based security platform which is typically close to the main Cloud Vendors (Microsoft, Amazon, Google etc.). This enables efficient routing and appropriate security to be applied based on the application required or a user’s profile.
Specifically, a Cloud security option offers benefits including:
Scalability – Customers are a growing across the globe and as such adopting a Cloud security platform ensures a common security standard with centralised policy management. Security tools, cloud-aware security apps, and secure monitoring and management mean it’s much easier to manage and ensure a comprehensive cybersecurity solution across the business which scales infinitely.
Secure Access – The first cloud security objective should focus on limiting the possibility of authentication and authorisation threats. Cloud security provides each member of staff with a single login profile. This means that identity and access management (IAM) is streamlined. With a cloud-facilitated single sign on process, each member of staff can access what they need, when they need it across all of their cloud and on-premise applications while leaving a full audit trail. Access to required programs, data sets, and other materials can be easily limited by IT using a single interface.
Automation - Cloud-based computing makes it easy to connect staff and new sites wherever they are located, and automation of policies and services means that they are secure from the moment they are connected, without the need for human intervention. Arguably, ‘the human aspect’ to cybersecurity is the number one threat. By limiting the ‘human error’ the network is more secure and reduces the human resource required to manage a secure network.
Being Part of a Global Security Platform – By adopting a mainstream Cloud security platform, customers can benefit from billions of interactions across the globe, identifying and updating the security threats in near real-time. This ensures that as soon as a threat is identified globally, customers will be secure against it.
In addition to the above customers will also benefit from the general principles of the ‘Cloud’: flexible capacity with lower capital cost outlay, improved availability and business continuity, inter-operability, portability, network resilience, reversibility and elasticity of resource allocation on demand.
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