Help AG’s CTO talks about the importance of data security in the cloud

There is no doubt that the cloud is challenging many of the traditional ways we have been thinking about and addressing cybersecurity.

In the cloud, the perimeter is not defined in the same way as in a traditional data model and so it is more complex for customers to protect the major asset they bring to the cloud: data. In fact, as we move towards the cloud – whether in the form of IaaS, PaaS or SaaS – the only commodity that the organisation will have is data.

Another topic we talk to clients about is the responsibility of organisations to protect the data they are custodians for. After all, as organisations increasingly move towards Digital Transformation, data and its effective protection will be real business enablers. And extending from this, any failure to utilise or protect data will consequently be an inhibitor to business.

We see this as a huge business opportunity as the cloud will first merit and justify technical investments at a pace and scale, which we have not seen since the first wave of IT enablement in organisations. It will also require us, as channel partners, to be able to identify services and products which are relevant in the cloud age.

Being a channel partner that is fully focused on cybersecurity, we are very bullish that there will be an even greater requirement for our services and solutions. With Digital Transformation, security is an essential requirement from day zero and failing to secure can lead to, at best, disruption to business, but more often, to an actual question of existence.

There is no doubt therefore that our product and services portfolio will look different in 18 months compared to today and that increasingly, the delivery of our services will also be powered by the cloud. For this reason, Help AG has invested in a focused approach of how we secure the cloud, from the data to the identity as well as to the services that power security. Our managed security services portfolio and cybersecurity operations centre (SOC) are good examples of that, but also our recent partnerships with Okta, Mimecast and Thales are being driven by this focus.