Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Organizations are migrating an increasing amount of their infrastructure into the cloud. The cloud provides organizations with a number of benefits like greater scalability, improved reliability and faster time to value. However, these potential benefits can be offset if security is an afterthought.

A popular Android app Barcode Scanner was recently found to be infected with adware. After an update in late 2020, it started pushing advertising to users without warning. The QR code scanning app has been on the Google Play Store for years with over 10 million downloads and a high rating from users. So what happened? This actually happens pretty often.

Cloud-native threats have multiple implications. We are used to seeing legitimate cloud applications exploited within sophisticated kill chains, and we forget the basics: such as the risks posed by Shadow IT, like when personal email accounts are used to improperly handle corporate data. This is a very real risk right now, when users are working almost completely from home and the line between the professional and personal use of work devices is blurred.

In the last several years, companies have accelerated their cloud adoption and have invested time and resources to lift and shift their content, development and applications to public and private clouds. The onset of the global health crisis has further accelerated even the more traditional brick-and-mortar companies to invest in cloud technologies. Yet, we still see customers hosting content on on-premises repositories in spite of inexpensive per-GB cloud storage. Why is that?

Do you remember all the apprehension about cloud migration in the early days of cloud computing? Some of the concerns ran the full paranoia gamut from unreliability to massive overcharging for cloud services. Some concerns, such as the lack of security of the entire cloud infrastructure, rose to the level of conspiracy theories. It is nice to know that those myths are all behind us. Or are they? It seems that many of the earlier misconceptions have been replaced with new notions about the cloud.

As we address a number of anniversaries related to the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re likely reminded of a lot of the uncertainty you were feeling coming into an indefinite work from home scenario. I know I certainly am.