Five next-gen security tools to consider for your cloud-ready infrastructure

 The modern data center has truly evolved. We’re now seeing the emergence of a truly interconnected cloud platform spanning numerous heterogeneous platforms. Throughout all of this – security continues to play a major role. Take a look at the recent Heartbleed vulnerability. Numerous different cloud and data center shops utilized the OpenSSL cryptography library only to be opened up to a serious memory bug. With this vast cloud platform come some amazing benefits – as well as some serious challenges. Fortunately, as the cloud and data center adapted to new business demands – we began to see the emergence of next-generation security technologies. These tools and features are directly aimed at helping you secure your data center, as well as your cloud.

Let’s take a look at five that can really make an impact within your environment.

• Utilizing virtual security appliances. We have server virtualization – so why not at the security level? Well, we now have powerful virtual security appliances and services that can directly improve the security environment for your organization. These virtual devices can sit anywhere on the network and monitor traffic at the edge as well as intra-VM. The beauty here is that next-gen security management suites can integrate with both the logical and physical security components within your environment.
• Look for next-gen security features and services. In some cases you need to purchase a physical appliance for throughput or resource requirements. In other cases – virtual services can do amazing things. You can get standalone features like advanced DLP, IPS/IDS, application firewalls, and even DDoS protection. These services are designed to monitor traffic within your environment as well as in the cloud. This allows your security platform to scale beyond just your data center platform.
• Deploying security automation and orchestration. Manually managing complex security polices across devices and operations teams to address business requirements, as well as security and compliance mandates, has become inefficient and error-prone. Security orchestration allows your organization to deploy new infrastructure components and ensure that they’re immediately protected. Here’s the great part – once you set these automation policies in motion, you’ll be able to quickly react to changes in network infrastructure or application connectivity requirement.
• Integrate policies and compliance. Just because you’re in the cloud doesn’t mean you can’t be compliant. New policies are now allowing traditionally locked down organizations to move into a cloud model. Modifications in HIPAA and PCI-DSS have already allowed some data points to be stored in the cloud. This also means that your security solution must be compliance-ready. By integrating security policies with your compliance measures – you’re able to streamline operations and ensure compliance across your entire platform. New security management suites provide visibility into complex network and security policies across a broad range of devices and vendors, to make daily security operations easier and more effective.
• Using next-generation monitoring and controls. Visibility into your distributed environment is critical for a successful security deployment. New security controls now deliver an automated and application-centric solution for managing complex policies across firewalls and related security infrastructure to improve both security and business agility. Remember, the scalability of your cloud and business organization is only as feasible as your security solution allows it to be. This means your next-gen monitoring and control suite must bridge the gap between the network, your users, the workloads and the overall organization.

There’s no question that the data center and cloud model are going to continue to evolve. We’re going to have more devices connecting into the cloud and the Internet-of-Things is sure to make an even greater impact on the data center. Administrators will be constantly challenged with deploying powerful security solutions while still ensuring an optimal end-user experience. As you build your cloud-ready infrastructure, always look for tools and feature sets that allow you to stay agile, scalable, and most of all – secure.