Why Zero Trust Networking Is Critical For Cloud Security?
With the rise of cloud-based infrastructures, today organizations recognize the critical need for stringent security measures that mitigate risks associated with API-based access and network vulnerabilities. Companies like Oracle, has prioritized security as a key differentiator for OCI (Oracle Cloud Infrastructure) since its inception. With its Gen 2 architecture, the focus has been on securing networking infrastructure from the ground up. Unlike traditional on-premises environments that require multiple steps to expose data externally, cloud environments can be compromised with a single misconfiguration.
In a recent interaction with M R Yuvatha, Senior Correspondent at siliconindia, Pradeep Vincent, Senior Vice President & Chief Technical Architect , Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), shared his insights on ’ Why Zero Trust Networking is Critical for Cloud Security?’.
What are the security strategies that corporations are developing to safeguard their data and the customer data?
Certainly! Corporations today are increasingly prioritizing advanced security strategies to safeguard their data and customer information. It’s a good start. Recognizing this, Oracle is a step ahead and has developed security primitives that empower enterprise security teams to enforce stringent controls, independent of internal settings. This led to the introduction of secure zones and later, Zipper, a solution designed to simplify network security through a single API call.
By decoupling security from networking, Oracle ensures customers can lock down entire tenancies or compartments without relying on network settings. The approach has resonated with CISOs, as it introduces a fundamentally new way of thinking about cloud security. Oracle is now extending this model beyond networking to applications, allowing security teams to enforce policies that prevent object store buckets and other resources from being exposed regardless of administrator settings.
Balancing security, transparency, and usability is challenging, but Oracle’s approach offers both flexibility and protection. Networking was originally built on trusted nodes communicating, a model dating back to DARPA’s early internet projects. However, modern threats demand a more skeptical approach. Zipper rethinks security from this perspective, and through collaboration with Applied Inventions, Oracle is working to standardize this model across cloud and on-prem environments to ensure consistent protection.
What are the most common core technologies anyone must deploy to have a flawless zero-trust security system?
In ensuring a flawless zero-trust security system, a CISO must address application-level threats through proactive measures like penetration testing and defensive strategies such as alerts and log analysis. While security remains the customer’s responsibility, the platform simplifies enforcement without compromising privacy. It provides security constructs for easy implementation and allows seamless integration of preferred security tools. With auditing capabilities compatible with various analytics solutions, customers can efficiently analyze logs. By collaborating with partners, the platform enhances usability, enabling enterprises to tailor security strategies while maintaining full oversight of their
How is Oracle, along with other industry players like you, ensuring security in remote operations?
There are various ways to approach security in remote operations, and physical locality can often be mitigated with the right connectivity and security constructs. Many players in the industry offer products designed for secure remote environments, including hardened devices used in defense-related operations. These devices can function independently when disconnected and reconnect to a central system for remote security analysis and enforcement. Through technologies like edge computing, edge devices, and secure network communication, organizations can maintain robust security even in remote settings.
When it comes to traditional cloud security models, what are the key challenges that can be addressed with Zero Trust?
The zero trust mechanism strengthens traditional cloud security by addressing existing challenges without introducing entirely new concepts. Customers prioritize data privacy, security, and controlled access, ensuring data is used appropriately and, when necessary, protected through tokenization. Ransomware remains a key concern, and Zipper’s zero trust model simplifies security implementation by making it inherently secure and easy to maintain. Oracle, trusted by government entities, applies the same principles internally to uphold cloud security, reinforcing its longstanding commitment to robust protection.
A strong security culture is vital, as security cannot be just a product but must be ingrained within an organization. Despite advanced technologies, human errors pose risks, making security-first decision-making crucial. OCI exemplifies this by prioritizing security over high-revenue features, opting for thorough engineering efforts rather than compromising protection. This approach ensures security remains paramount, even if it demands more resources or delays implementation, reinforcing the foundation of a secure cloud platform.
If you had to advise Indian enterprises on a cloud-first strategy, what would be your key recommendations?
For new companies, the recommendation would be different based on the type of industry, their focus, and how new they are. Rather than providing a recommendation, it is more relevant to share the trends. Startups and small tech companies prioritize agility, as they need to move quickly to gain a competitive edge and attract customers. A major focus observed is low cost, as companies in India aim to accomplish more with minimal expenses, which is an effective approach. Cloud adoption is already ingrained in their mindset, eliminating concerns about its necessity. Larger companies, however, demonstrate varying levels of willingness to adopt rapid changes, often influenced by leadership decisions, risk profiles, and other factors. The recommendation is to experiment and explore possibilities, even if traditional cloud providers do not have an ideal solution. Persistence is key, as continuous innovation is taking place, and cloud providers are actively developing advanced solutions to support businesses.
How are companies like Oracle addressing the growing demand for hybrid and multi-cloud architectures in India?
Well, to answer this, regarding multi-cloud adoption, many Indian enterprises have workloads spread across different cloud providers such as Oracle, Azure, AWS, or GCP, sometimes utilizing multiple providers simultaneously due to financial reasons or contractual obligations. Oracle’s strategy, while not exclusive to India, fits the country’s landscape effectively by promoting the use of multiple clouds. Unlike other cloud providers, Oracle actively encourages multi-cloud adoption and aims to enable it.
For instance, if a customer prefers to use compute services on Azure while leveraging Oracle’s database services on OCI, Oracle ensures that this integration is possible. This commitment to multi-cloud support is the driving force behind its partnership with Microsoft, which facilitates the development of modular OCI mini-regions within Azure data centers. By adopting this strategy, Oracle effectively addresses complex challenges faced by enterprise customers in India.
Pradeep Vincent, Senior Vice President & Chief Technical Architect, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
Pradeep Vincent, Senior Vice President & Chief Technical Architect, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), is a founding member of OCI and a key figure in its architectural evolution. With over two decades of experience in cloud computing, he has played a pivotal role in shaping OCI’s foundational technologies, including compute, security, and network virtualization. Before joining Oracle, he spent nine years at AWS as a Principal Software Engineer, contributing to EC2, Virtual Networking (VPC), and storage services like AWS EFS. He began his career at IBM as a Software Engineer. Known for driving cross-organizational engineering initiatives, he also leads the OCI First Principles Blog, which showcases innovations that power OCI’s cloud platform.
In a recent interaction with M R Yuvatha, Senior Correspondent at siliconindia, Pradeep Vincent, Senior Vice President & Chief Technical Architect , Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), shared his insights on ’ Why Zero Trust Networking is Critical for Cloud Security?’.
What are the security strategies that corporations are developing to safeguard their data and the customer data?
Certainly! Corporations today are increasingly prioritizing advanced security strategies to safeguard their data and customer information. It’s a good start. Recognizing this, Oracle is a step ahead and has developed security primitives that empower enterprise security teams to enforce stringent controls, independent of internal settings. This led to the introduction of secure zones and later, Zipper, a solution designed to simplify network security through a single API call.
By decoupling security from networking, Oracle ensures customers can lock down entire tenancies or compartments without relying on network settings. The approach has resonated with CISOs, as it introduces a fundamentally new way of thinking about cloud security. Oracle is now extending this model beyond networking to applications, allowing security teams to enforce policies that prevent object store buckets and other resources from being exposed regardless of administrator settings.
Balancing security, transparency, and usability is challenging, but Oracle’s approach offers both flexibility and protection. Networking was originally built on trusted nodes communicating, a model dating back to DARPA’s early internet projects. However, modern threats demand a more skeptical approach. Zipper rethinks security from this perspective, and through collaboration with Applied Inventions, Oracle is working to standardize this model across cloud and on-prem environments to ensure consistent protection.
What are the most common core technologies anyone must deploy to have a flawless zero-trust security system?
In ensuring a flawless zero-trust security system, a CISO must address application-level threats through proactive measures like penetration testing and defensive strategies such as alerts and log analysis. While security remains the customer’s responsibility, the platform simplifies enforcement without compromising privacy. It provides security constructs for easy implementation and allows seamless integration of preferred security tools. With auditing capabilities compatible with various analytics solutions, customers can efficiently analyze logs. By collaborating with partners, the platform enhances usability, enabling enterprises to tailor security strategies while maintaining full oversight of their
How is Oracle, along with other industry players like you, ensuring security in remote operations?
There are various ways to approach security in remote operations, and physical locality can often be mitigated with the right connectivity and security constructs. Many players in the industry offer products designed for secure remote environments, including hardened devices used in defense-related operations. These devices can function independently when disconnected and reconnect to a central system for remote security analysis and enforcement. Through technologies like edge computing, edge devices, and secure network communication, organizations can maintain robust security even in remote settings.
When it comes to traditional cloud security models, what are the key challenges that can be addressed with Zero Trust?
The zero trust mechanism strengthens traditional cloud security by addressing existing challenges without introducing entirely new concepts. Customers prioritize data privacy, security, and controlled access, ensuring data is used appropriately and, when necessary, protected through tokenization. Ransomware remains a key concern, and Zipper’s zero trust model simplifies security implementation by making it inherently secure and easy to maintain. Oracle, trusted by government entities, applies the same principles internally to uphold cloud security, reinforcing its longstanding commitment to robust protection.
A strong security culture is vital, as security cannot be just a product but must be ingrained within an organization. Despite advanced technologies, human errors pose risks, making security-first decision-making crucial. OCI exemplifies this by prioritizing security over high-revenue features, opting for thorough engineering efforts rather than compromising protection. This approach ensures security remains paramount, even if it demands more resources or delays implementation, reinforcing the foundation of a secure cloud platform.
If you had to advise Indian enterprises on a cloud-first strategy, what would be your key recommendations?
For new companies, the recommendation would be different based on the type of industry, their focus, and how new they are. Rather than providing a recommendation, it is more relevant to share the trends. Startups and small tech companies prioritize agility, as they need to move quickly to gain a competitive edge and attract customers. A major focus observed is low cost, as companies in India aim to accomplish more with minimal expenses, which is an effective approach. Cloud adoption is already ingrained in their mindset, eliminating concerns about its necessity. Larger companies, however, demonstrate varying levels of willingness to adopt rapid changes, often influenced by leadership decisions, risk profiles, and other factors. The recommendation is to experiment and explore possibilities, even if traditional cloud providers do not have an ideal solution. Persistence is key, as continuous innovation is taking place, and cloud providers are actively developing advanced solutions to support businesses.
How are companies like Oracle addressing the growing demand for hybrid and multi-cloud architectures in India?
Well, to answer this, regarding multi-cloud adoption, many Indian enterprises have workloads spread across different cloud providers such as Oracle, Azure, AWS, or GCP, sometimes utilizing multiple providers simultaneously due to financial reasons or contractual obligations. Oracle’s strategy, while not exclusive to India, fits the country’s landscape effectively by promoting the use of multiple clouds. Unlike other cloud providers, Oracle actively encourages multi-cloud adoption and aims to enable it.
For instance, if a customer prefers to use compute services on Azure while leveraging Oracle’s database services on OCI, Oracle ensures that this integration is possible. This commitment to multi-cloud support is the driving force behind its partnership with Microsoft, which facilitates the development of modular OCI mini-regions within Azure data centers. By adopting this strategy, Oracle effectively addresses complex challenges faced by enterprise customers in India.
Pradeep Vincent, Senior Vice President & Chief Technical Architect, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
Pradeep Vincent, Senior Vice President & Chief Technical Architect, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), is a founding member of OCI and a key figure in its architectural evolution. With over two decades of experience in cloud computing, he has played a pivotal role in shaping OCI’s foundational technologies, including compute, security, and network virtualization. Before joining Oracle, he spent nine years at AWS as a Principal Software Engineer, contributing to EC2, Virtual Networking (VPC), and storage services like AWS EFS. He began his career at IBM as a Software Engineer. Known for driving cross-organizational engineering initiatives, he also leads the OCI First Principles Blog, which showcases innovations that power OCI’s cloud platform.
