Today’s IT landscape has evolved dramatically. With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and hybrid cloud infrastructures, IT teams and system administrators no longer have the same direct control over every aspect of their environments. As a result, it’s understandable that many organizations equate the loss of physical control with a perceived loss of security ownership when thinking about the cloud.
Security within today’s dynamic hybrid cloud infrastructure is often seen as a significant challenge due to the complexity and ever-evolving threat landscape. Hybrid cloud environments integrate workloads across both public and private clouds, encompassing services like Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Managing and securing access to these systems for employees, partners, vendors, and customers — across multiple device types and from diverse networks — can be daunting. As organizations adopt hybrid cloud strategies, their security posture must address both cloud-based and traditional on-premises infrastructure.
Embracing the Shared Responsibility Model for Hybrid Cloud
A key challenge for cloud customers is understanding the shared responsibility model between themselves and their cloud service provider. While providers handle the security of foundational services such as computing, storage, databases, and network resources, customers are responsible for securing everything within their own environments, including applications, data, and access controls. Without clear delineation of responsibilities, gaps in security can arise, making it critical for organizations to implement robust strategies that complement their cloud provider’s security measures.
Key Considerations for Securing a Hybrid Cloud
Cloud customers want to take advantages of the benefits of the cloud versus on-premises, like the easy scalability and capacity to deploy and decommission new cloud systems in real-time. Cloud systems can be pre-configured with security features already enabled (as part of a pre-set image) and deployed within a specific security zone by design. In order to take advantage of this, organizations should integrate the native cloud security features built-in by their provider. This includes built-in security groups for access control, tags (or labels) to organize and group assets in order to create security processes and technology commensurate with those assets. A virtual private cloud (VPC) can be designed as a network segmentation solution, so each VPC can be managed and monitored in accordance with their level of data sensitivity.
The Role of Continuous Monitoring
With the rapid evolution of cloud technologies, organizations now have access to a wide range of advanced security solutions. These include encryption, antivirus software, file integrity monitoring, identity and access management (IAM), vulnerability assessments, email encryption, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection, anomaly detection, virtual private networks (VPNs), host-based and web application firewalls (WAFs), as well as log management and analysis tools. However, it’s not just about having the right tools — it’s equally important to have dedicated personnel and well-defined processes in place to continuously manage, monitor, and optimize these technologies.
Two of the most frequent attack vectors in the cloud and on-prem are application attacks and account username and password attacks. Web applications vulnerabilities are well known. Once an attacker has exploited web application code, the next objective is to gain access to accounts on the system. Therefore, no matter where you are hosting web application code, it is imperative to have security at the web application layer along with a well-managed and robust account management strategy.
Securing a hybrid cloud infrastructure today is less about the inherent security features of the cloud and more about dedicating resources to learning and managing new tools. Organizations often need to upskill their security teams to effectively configure and oversee these tools. Additionally, it’s critical to establish clear processes tailored to both personnel and technology, ensuring full visibility into the cloud environment.
While fundamental security solutions are included with most cloud platforms, their implementation varies across providers, often requiring extra effort during migration. Many cloud providers also partner with security vendors offering managed or professional services. For organizations lacking in-house expertise, using managed security services to monitor hybrid cloud security is highly recommended. This allows internal teams to focus on the business aspects of cloud migration, while security experts ensure 24/7 protection and peace of mind.
