A hybrid cloud is the sweet spot between on-premise infrastructure and cloud services in terms of costs, scalability and accessibility. While it is a great storage solution, it also breeds a new wave of security risks. IT professionals must face these hurdles to protect their hybrid cloud ecosystem.
Here are the biggest cybersecurity challenges and how to overcome them.
1. Visibility Gaps
Visibility remains the top cloud security issue that companies face when migrating their workload to the cloud. Monitoring in-house infrastructure and cloud environments often requires different tools and providers, making it difficult to gain a comprehensive view of your entire system. These visibility gaps create blind spots, increasing the risk of noncompliance and undetected breaches.
A centralized monitoring tool that works across both on-premises and cloud systems can help bridge this gap. AI-powered security information and event management platforms can further enhance your defenses by gathering data from multiple sources across your IT infrastructure, including internet-based and in-situ computing. This unified approach enables real-time threat detection and sends automatic alerts when suspicious activity is detected.
2. Misconfigurations
A mistake as simple as accidentally granting public access to a data bucket can expose sensitive information to the entire Internet. These errors often occur either unintentionally or because it’s easier than setting up proper access controls. Regardless, negligence contributes to 98% of breaches.
One report found that 98.6% of organizations have misconfiguration issues that seriously risk their data and infrastructure. To address this, businesses must implement tools that automatically detect and remediate misconfigurations before they escalate into critical vulnerabilities.
Tools like Cloud Security Posture Management continuously scan your cloud environment for cybersecurity gaps and provide actionable guidance for fixing them. For public buckets, set up permission safeguards and define data retention rules that specify how long objects should be stored before automatic deletion. Google Cloud’s BucketLock feature allows users to set up data retention policies. These proactive steps can greatly reduce the risk of accidental exposure.
3. Inconsistent Security Policies
50% of companies rely on public cloud providers to store business records because they offer robust, built-in security measures. 89% even use multiple vendors. The problem is that these tools don’t automatically integrate with your local servers. This uneven protection widens the attack surface.
You can set up standardized policies and use unified controls that enforce the same rules and configurations across all platforms. This reduces security drift, where changes in one environment leave it misaligned with others.
4. Network Integration
A multi-cloud strategy may be ideal to avoid relying on a single provider and optimize costs by combining best-of-breed services from different vendors. However, when multiple clouds and on-premises systems are connected, the data that travels between them may lack secure pathways. This opens the door to interception and information leaks.
To address this, use a combination of virtual private networks and direct cloud connections to ensure that tunnels are secure and encrypted. You should also segment your network to isolate sensitive data and always encrypt information in transit.
5. Identity and Access Management
Hybrid clouds often have too many access doors but not enough locks to secure them. It’s difficult to block unauthorized entry when there are too many gateways. Imagine if each employee had to remember separate passwords for every application they use. This greatly increases the risk of errors and inefficiencies, especially in a large organization.
To strengthen your defense, implement single sign-on and multi-factor authentication so employees don’t have to handle separate credentials for each system. Centralizing access simplifies the login process and enhances security by eliminating weak points in entry management. Additionally, role-based access controls ensure that users can only retrieve what they need and nothing more.
6. Compliance and Governance
Different regions and industries have their own privacy and security laws. A hybrid cloud might store digital assets in multiple locations, making it difficult to stay compliant. In Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) restricts transferring personal data outside EU soil. If your cloud setup violates that, it could mean hefty fines.
Use data classification tools to clearly label sensitive information, such as customer details, financial records or health records. These solutions help you set rules about where these files can be stored or shared.
You can also set up automated compliance checks that constantly monitor your system to ensure these rules are followed. In addition, regular audits with tools that support data residency controls help you stay compliant with important regulations like GDPR, HIPAA and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.
7. Cloud Skills Gap
Technology often evolves faster than people can adapt. As a result, many companies adopt hybrid cloud setups without training their staff on how to secure them. In fact, research shows that 27% of organizations identify IT technicians as the biggest skill gaps in their teams. Most security incidents in hybrid environments are caused not by faulty applications but by a lack of expertise or proper training.
Companies should invest in ongoing training programs and build cross-functional teams to address this. Security professionals must be well-versed in both on-premises systems and cloud architecture. Encourage employees to earn industry certifications and keep skills up to date through regular upskilling. In tech, what’s standard today might be outdated tomorrow.
Mastering Hybrid Cloud Security
Each advancement in tech comes with risks, and the cloud ecosystem is no exception. To stay secure, teams must adopt technologies that effectively mitigate these threats. It’s also important to remember that cloud security is a shared responsibility. While cloud providers are responsible for safeguarding the underlying infrastructure, your team is accountable for protecting what you deploy on it.
