Cloud Resilience and Security: A Growing Concern
As companies increasingly adopt cloud-native architectures, a significant resilience gap has emerged. Recent findings from a survey involving 500 global IT and security executives highlight that cloud-native applications now account for nearly half of all development projects, with 83% categorized as business-critical. Despite this rapid transition, organizations are facing fundamental challenges in securing and recovering these environments, particularly due to the prevalent issue of configuration drift. This discrepancy between live production states and backup configurations creates substantial risks, potentially undermining recovery efforts in times of crisis.
Commvault, in collaboration with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), has raised critical questions for business leaders regarding the implications of cloud outages. Such outages can disrupt operations, trigger revenue loss, and lead to deteriorating customer experiences. The financial toll of cloud resilience efforts and application rebuilds reveals hidden costs that often go unnoticed until it is too late.
On average, organizations report experiencing 21 cloud outages each year. Alarmingly, nearly two-fifths of these incidents necessitate complete application rebuilds, consuming an average of 41 person-days for recovery. This data underscores a pressing need for businesses to reassess their cloud strategies to avoid draining resources and mitigate risks associated with potential service disruptions.
The survey findings indicate that while cloud-native systems promise enhanced flexibility and scalability, they also present new security challenges. With configuration drift as a predominant concern, organizations must adopt proactive measures to ensure integrity between production and backup environments. Recognizing the common tactics outlined in the MITRE ATT&CK framework—such as initial access through misconfigurations or privilege escalation due to inadequate security protocols—can aid businesses in fortifying their defenses.
Organizations are urged to develop actionable strategies that not only enhance digital resilience but also streamline backup and recovery processes. Collaborative efforts between security teams and cloud architects are essential to build a robust security posture that preemptively addresses vulnerabilities.
The current cybersecurity landscape necessitates a shift in mindset. Business leaders must prioritize a comprehensive understanding of the hidden costs related to cloud resilience, paired with practical solutions to minimize risks. By engaging with experts and leveraging resources like those provided by Commvault and ESG, organizations can fortify their defenses against the evolving challenges of cloud security, ensuring sustained operational integrity in a digital-first world.
