The future of cybersecurity depends on a platform approach

HUZEFA MOTIWALA SE Director, India & SAARC, Palo Alto Networks

CLOUD TECHNOLOGY & WFH

As cloud-related workloads have increased, so have the number of enterprise security incidents. The quick transition to a remote model has created huge challenges for the IT team to ensure secure remote access. The rapid growth of the cloud has created another serious concern. The overnight shift to remote working has encouraged many enterprise users to use Shadow IT, SaaS-based applications that are used by employees. The wider move to the cloud beyond light-touch functions, such as email, will see more work being virtualized and force many companies to review the security of their existing cloud environments. Doing so will likely see rethinking the security architecture and cybersecurity teams being redesigned to align with an overall emphasis on building a more resilient cloud environment.

ADOPTION OF HYBRID MULTICLOUD AS OPERATING MODELS

Complexities within the cloud environment have grown extensively as organizations add more cloud providers, users, applications, and resources. Most security solutions lack end-toend visibility needed to accurately assess risks and alert security teams of advanced attacks, leaving them to deal with both unsecured cloud resources and the cacophony of false-positive alerts. Looking at the year ahead and beyond, we will begin to see the rise of cloud-native security platforms (CNSPs). These platforms will enable security teams to manage all their security across public, private, and hybrid clouds from a single console.

TECHNOLOGY COMPLEMENTING INDUSTRY NEEDS

Our technology combines network, endpoint, and cloud security with threat intelligence and accurate analytics to help streamline routine tasks, automate protection, and prevent cyber breaches. In January 2021, we announced further enhancements to Prisma Cloud, which now has the industry's most accurate web application firewall (WAF) capabilities. When securing cloud-native applications, Prisma Cloud ensures scalability, automated protection, and integrated protection for defense in depth. In March 2021, we completed the acquisition of Bridgecrew, a pioneer in ‘shift left’, to enable Prisma Cloud to provide developers with security assessment and enforcement capabilities throughout the DevOps process. In April 2021 we announced the industry’s first cloud-native attack dashboard that expands the MITRE ATT&CK framework and the Unmanaged Cloud integration for Prisma Cloud and Cortex Xpanse. With Cortex Xpanse, organizations can recognize their unknown cloud assets more accurately, allowing stronger cloud security overall.

INCREASE IN ENTERPRISE SPEND IN 2021

Worldwide IT spending is projected to reach $3.9 trillion in 2021, an increase of 6.2% from 2020, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. In 2020, CIOs prioritized spending on technology and services that were deemed “mission-critical” during the initial stages of the pandemic. As we continue in our journey in 2021, the future of cybersecurity depends on a platform approach, which will allow cybersecurity teams to focus on security rather than integrating solutions from different vendors. It allows them to keep up with digital transformation.