Why Companies Choose Hybrid Cloud and How They Keep It Secure

According to the 2024 Cloud Security Report, 43% of organizations use a hybrid cloud. This preference is not surprising – a hybrid model enables companies to make the most of the advantages offered by both a private and public cloud. However, this kind of environment comes with its own set of challenges, such as a complex infrastructure that requires a thoughtful approach to cybersecurity. Read this article to learn more about the benefits of a hybrid cloud, its potential uses and best practices for keeping your hybrid cloud secure.

Types of cloud environments

The most common cloud set-ups include private, public and hybrid clouds. These environments come with different advantages and disadvantages – it depends on a company’s needs, goals and specific requirements which cloud type will benefit their solutions best.

Private cloud

A private cloud is an on-site environment dedicated to one organization which is responsible for building and maintaining it. It offers increased data security as information is processed within your own data center, which makes this cloud type particularly useful for meeting compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR). However, a private cloud involves higher costs of infrastructure development and maintenance (including hardware purchase and support). It also requires more effort and resources to implement security solutions, such as firewall configuration, access policies and virtual machine configuration, because these measures have to be fully set up and integrated by your team.

Public cloud

A public cloud is fully managed by an external cloud service provider. Compared to a private cloud, it offers lower infrastructure and maintenance costs, while providing access to many data centers and geographic locations. However, to benefit from the lower costs, you need to effectively manage your resources and services. Additionally, as a public cloud user, you’re fully responsible for your data.

Hybrid cloud

This environment combines private and public cloud solutions. This way companies can benefit from the availability and scalability of a public cloud, while using a private cloud to ensure strict sensitive data security and store key data within their own solution. For example, to boost resource flexibility, you can host rarely used data on a public cloud and free up resources in your private data center. This approach enables you to avoid vendor lock-in as you’re not dependent on one cloud provider. However, a hybrid solution usually requires more resources to connect and integrate private and public clouds. Additionally, according to Cisco’s 2022 Global Hybrid Cloud Trends Report, 37% of IT decision makers believe security is the biggest challenge in hybrid cloud implementation.

Multicloud

A multicloud involves the integration of several public clouds. For example, a company might use Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for data analysis, Amazon Web Services (AWS) for providing services and streaming content and Microsoft Azure to integrate with other Microsoft technologies used internally across the organization. Though using the services of various cloud providers enables you to optimize costs, designing a multicloud solution often requires a lot of effort – you’ll need to run a cost analysis of available services and regularly adjust resources once the project launches. The complex architecture of a multicloud often poses security management challenges, including establishing security measurement methods and achieving regulatory compliance across all cloud environments.

Ensuring security in a private cloud

To make sure your private cloud is fully secure, you need to implement comprehensive cybersecurity measures. Their level might depend on specific market and compliance regulations your solution should meet, but here are the most common best practices.

First, it’s important to implement an access monitoring mechanism so that you can keep track of who accessed what data and when. You’ll also need to apply back-up and restore solutions to all resources. Sensitive data should be encrypted. Additionally, you need to effectively manage your systems and their configuration. This can involve establishing traffic filtering rules, setting up a firewall and hardening your virtual machines (VMs) to minimize vulnerabilities. Your team should also develop rules for protecting your solution from external attacks like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS) and distributed denial of service (DDoS).

When creating a private cloud, you also have to take care of your cloud’s physical security, including access control and machine access management. Additionally, some companies in strategic industries need to comply with the NIS 2 Directive which defines the minimal cybersecurity level businesses have to enforce, including governance, risk-management measures and standardization. To ensure their solutions follow top security governance standards, many organizations team up with external cybersecurity experts to carry out security audits and implement improvements.

Keeping your public cloud secure

When it comes to a public cloud, your cloud service provider is responsible for protecting it from cyberattacks (e.g., by implementing a web application firewall) as well as ensuring infrastructure security and physical server safety. However, as a public cloud user, you need to manage the services you’re using, control access permissions and apply security solutions, such as component configuration, network policies and service communication rules. These security aspects are essential to make sure your solution meets your technical and compliance requirements.

How to safely connect your hybrid cloud

While there are many ways you can combine a public and private cloud, this article focuses on three leading cloud providers – AWS, Microsoft Azure and GCP – and the solutions they offer to facilitate the integration of your hybrid cloud.

Source: AWS

When integrating your private cloud with AWS, you can use the cloud service AWS Direct Connect which provides a dedicated network connection and the shortest possible route to your AWS resources. It facilitates the integration of your system’s elements with the AWS cloud. This service also improves application performance and keeps your data traffic safe.

Microsoft Azure and GCP utilize similar solutions to streamline hybrid cloud communication. The Microsoft cloud offers Azure ExpressRoute, a solution that provides a private connection between your networks and the public cloud. This connection is established through a connectivity provider and can involve an any-to-any (IP VPN) network, a point-to-point Ethernet network or a virtual cross-connection. Meanwhile, GCP users can apply Dedicated Interconnect to their hybrid set-ups. This service is a dedicated virtual local area network (VLAN) that helps you connect your network with the Google public cloud.

Microsoft Azure and GCP utilize similar solutions to streamline hybrid cloud communication. The Microsoft cloud offers Azure ExpressRoute, a solution that provides a private connection between your networks and the public cloud. This connection is established through a connectivity provider and can involve an any-to-any (IP VPN) network, a point-to-point Ethernet network or a virtual cross-connection. Meanwhile, GCP users can apply Dedicated Interconnect to their hybrid set-ups. This service is a dedicated virtual local area network (VLAN) that helps you connect your network with the Google public cloud.

Benefits of a hybrid cloud

For many organizations, it’s not possible to host all their data on a public cloud because of security concerns or regulations. A hybrid environment enables companies to stay compliant with their local laws by processing data on their private cloud, while still moving other parts of their solution to a public cloud.

By implementing a hybrid cloud, your organization can easily scale resources depending on your needs. For example, if your solution is going through a short-term period of increased traffic, a hybrid cloud provides the flexibility needed to temporarily increase the number of VMs and other resources (like storage) to handle this traffic. Once the requests dwindle back to their normal level, you can reset your hybrid cloud to its default configuration. This flexibility leads to better cost optimization, as you can adjust your resource usage to reflect your current needs.

A hybrid cloud also offers increased security. A centralized approach to infrastructure enables the implementation of encryption, automation, access control and endpoint data safety. For example, when integrating with the Microsoft cloud, you can apply the Azure AD authentication to strengthen identity and access management in your solution.

Combining private and public clouds results in higher resource availability and stable service continuity due to resource (e.g., storage) duplication and access to various data center geographic locations. When a failure occurs, a hybrid cloud makes it easier to restore services as you’ll work with decentralized data.

What makes a hybrid cloud challenging?

As with all technologies, a hybrid cloud comes with some disadvantages that should be considered when choosing the right environment for your solution.

The hybrid approach usually results in a more complex system architecture, which is needed to integrate private and public systems. It takes additional effort and resources to analyze, implement and manage a hybrid solution.

Security management is another common challenge in implementing a hybrid cloud. Hybrid solutions usually involve many platforms, and each system has its own security model and management tools. That’s why it can be difficult to maintain consistent security and control rules across different settings.

Additionally, integration of multiple solutions and systems requires an in-depth security analysis to decide what components need to be monitored and in what ways, what tools should be applied and how your team should manage incidents. By accounting for these aspects at an early stage, your team will be able to track down security incidents and mitigate their impact in the future.

While a hybrid cloud supports cost optimization, first you have to prepare your organization to effectively control costs. It’s a good idea to establish procedures for using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) resources and managing them to eliminate losses. For example, if you don’t scale your services down after a temporary period of increased traffic, your hybrid cloud will generate unnecessary costs.

When to consider implementing a hybrid cloud

The hybrid approach is usually recommended when your software needs both high flexibility and strict security to be successful and meet all requirements. This could involve:

• Solutions with swift disaster recovery and back-up

A hybrid cloud enables you to quickly restore infrastructure after failures by keeping copies in cloud storage. This is essential for customer-facing and other critical systems.

• Content delivery

Streaming services or other similar products can use a hybrid cloud to boost the speed of their content delivery as it grants them access to different locations and regions.

• Big Data analytics

In sectors such as healthcare, where monitoring and data analysis play a significant role, a hybrid solution can facilitate these processes and support effective data set comparisons.

• Application testing and implementation

The hybrid approach supports you in creating efficient infrastructure as you can use a public cloud for testing applications to identify needed resources and other parameters before migrating the solution to your private cloud. You can also use public cloud resources to handle your application’s increased traffic.

Best practices for securing your hybrid cloud

Ensuring your hybrid solution’s security is an essential step to mitigate vulnerabilities, meet compliance requirements and avoid reputational damage due to successful cyberattacks. Here are some practices you can implement to keep your hybrid cloud safe.

First, apply the zero trust security model. It involves granting least privilege access, always verifying user access and limiting potential breach impact.

Encrypt all data and verify traffic. Make sure all communication and resources within your solution are encrypted and can’t be read by people without appropriate access. It’s also important to continuously monitor incoming and outgoing traffic to detect any suspicious activity.

Monitor and audit implemented policies and rules. Regularly check if your current measures meet your solution’s needs and security requirements, then update policies accordingly.

Frequently scan your solution for vulnerabilities and weaknesses. The hybrid infrastructure is complex and involves more endpoints that could be exploited. That’s why it’s important to constantly check for any security gaps.

Deploy security fixes as fast as possible. As soon as you identify a weakness in your application or system, amend it immediately to minimize the risk of an attack.

Secure endpoints as well as mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Consider implementing an endpoint detection and response (EDR) or an extended detection and response (XDR) systems. These solutions help you effectively monitor and analyze endpoint traffic and activity for improved threat management.

Implement privileged access management (PAM). Keep track of users, processes and applications that require privileged access, monitor activities to detect suspicious behavior and automate account management. A PAM solution supports regulatory compliance and helps prevent credential theft.

Build more secure hybrid cloud solutions with cybersecurity experts

While a hybrid cloud offers more flexibility than a private solution, its complex infrastructure can pose a challenge when it comes to security. Ensuring system protection is a key concern for many organizations, yet, according to 2024 SentinelOne Cloud Security Report, for 44.8% of respondents claimed that a shortage of experienced IT security staff impedes their company’s ability to prioritize cloud security events.

To close this gap, businesses often team up with companies like Software Mind to easily access experienced cybersecurity experts and protect their systems at all stages. If you’re also looking to boost the security of your cloud solutions, reach out to us via this contact form.