Cloud Initiatives Key Driver In Network Security Operations

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Report addresses evolving security challenges that accompany migration to the cloud.

Experts promise 2015 will be a year of increased security threats and data breaches for healthcare, with some experts predicting that the costs of healthcare data breaches reaching some $5.6 billion.

Now, a Tufin/ESG study suggests hybrid cloud adoption is one of the factors making network security operations more difficult. In fact, enterprises are struggling to keep up with network security operations at a time when data breaches and cyberattacks are occurring at an alarming rate.

The healthcare industry’s openness in moving to virtualization and the Cloud with the increased popularity of EMRs and wearable devices means the entire industry is widening its attack surface area and, in turn, raising the potential risk for security threats. A recent report by Dell found 96 percent of all mid-sized healthcare organizations are now using the cloud.

The Tufin/ESG report examines evolving security challenges, including those impacting the healthcare industry, with the introduction of cloud infrastructures. This is highlighted by the fact that the growing popularity of cloud adoption has been identified as one of the key reasons the majority (57 percent) IT and security professionals find securing their networks more difficult today than two years ago.

The study further found 38 percent of IT and security professionals indicate cloud initiatives as the primary driver of their organizations’ network security strategy, and 52 percent stated they had between 51 and 150 firewalls deployed across their networks. Only 13 percent of respondents characterized their organizations’ existing network security strategy as “ideal.”

Respondents who believe network security operations have become more difficult over the last two years indicated factors making network security operations more difficult today include the increase of network-connected devices (66 percent), more network traffic (56 percent), new application deployments (51 percent), and the rise of security technologies associated with security operations (47 percent).

“The data from our conversations with IT and security professionals paints a concerning picture of network security operations challenges, confusion and missteps. As innovations like hybrid cloud environments, business applications and security products have created benefits for organizations, they have also created a complex environment for security teams,” said Reuven Harrison, CTO, Tufin. “It’s critical that organizations create strong security policies and use automation in order to reduce the errors associated with today’s complicated IT environments, helping to reduce the likelihood of successful cyberattacks and business down time.”

Nine out of ten survey respondents said that automation is either “critical” or “very important” to the success of their network security operations, while 59 percent currently using public cloud computing services and/or private cloud infrastructure said they do not have the appropriate level of automation needed for secure cloud computing. These statistics reveal there is not only a need for change in their organizations’ network security strategy, but also a desire to further strengthen network security controls and efficiently address the constant changes within them.

“The study was conducted to obtain to a more comprehensive understanding of how IT and security professionals view the efficacy of their organizations’ network security operations strategies,” said Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst at ESG. “A majority of survey respondents indicated that their organizations are struggling to combat unprecedented security risk and keep up with the growing network security workload. The research also suggests that organizations want to automate network security operations and strengthen network security.”