Hybrid cloud complexity, rush to adopt pose security risks,…

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Organizations rushing to adopt hosted cloud infrastructure alongside on-premises systems might not fully understand or address potential security threats.
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As enterprises race to adopt cloud technology, they also encounter a combination of new possible threats from the rapid and frequently unorganized deployment of different cloud-based technologies. Particular concerns surround the adoption of so-called hybrid cloud technologies, Sean Metcalf, founder of cloud security advisory company Trimarc told the attendees of DEF CON Safe Mode last week.

The hybrid cloud is a blend of on-premises infrastructure combined with cloud-hosted infrastructure (infrastructure-as-a-service, or IaaS) and services (software-as-a-service, or SaaS). The IaaS providers are usually giants such as Amazon’s AWS, Microsoft’s Azure or Google’s Cloud Platform. Extending on-premises data centers into the cloud basically means the cloud is effectively operating as a virtualization host like VMware or Microsoft Hyper V, Metcalf said.

Because of this effective virtualization, any attacks that are associated with those cloud data center elements are similar to how you would attack VMware and Hyper V “but with the additional overhead of ‘well, it’s hosted by Microsoft or it’s hosted by Amazon, or it’s hosted Google,’” Metcalf tells CSO.

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