Narrator: Cloud-based infrastructure. 2 2
Now, most organizations see their future in the cloud, 3 3
but it's actually a riskier choice 4 4
than traditional client server applications 5 5
running on a local network in most cases. 6 6
If you don't configure the cloud properly 7 7
you can have a lot of danger. 8 8
Now, you can configure your cloud 9 9
to provide just as great security 10 10
as your traditional client server applications, 11 11
but it does take some knowledge. 12 12
This is what we talk about 13 13
when we talk about cloud infrastructure. 14 14
We need to make sure that we're doing 15 15
our infrastructure management properly, 16 16
and configuring it to the same level 17 17
of security as a local solution. 18 18
Now, one of the biggest places that we have to think about 19 19
when we do this is virtual private clouds, or VPCs. 20 20
Just like you can use your virtual private networks 21 21
to connect your home users back to your corporate network 22 22
and give them those protections 23 23
underneath that corporate umbrella, 24 24
virtual private clouds can be configured 25 25
as a private network segment made available 26 26
to single cloud consumers within a public cloud. 27 27
This is a way that we give security. 28 28
VPC is considered an infrastructure as a service product. 29 29
So if you're using something like AWS, 30 30
they have a virtual private cloud service. 31 31
If you're using Azure, 32 32
they have their virtual private cloud service. 33 33
And virtual private cloud services 34 34
let you provision virtual servers and appliances 35 35
within a virtual network that's hosted on a public cloud. 36 36
So we can try to get some of that security 37 37
of a private cloud without all that extra expense. 38 38
Now, is this as secure as a private cloud? 39 39
No, because we're still using shared hardware 40 40
and there could be issues 41 41
like data remnants being left behind 42 42
on a server from being provisioned or deprovisioned, 43 43
but from a networking perspective and a privacy perspective 44 44
you can get equivalent levels of protection using VPC. 45 45
Now, as a consumer, you're responsible for configuring 46 46
the IP address space and routing within that cloud 47 47
when you do virtual private clouds. 48 48
You're going to handle all the administration 49 49
and all the security aspects of running the network 50 50
just as if it was your own. 51 51
You're going to have to do all the software installation, 52 52
all the patching, all the account management, 53 53
all the load balancing, all the disaster recovery, 54 54
all the security monitoring, all the backups. 55 55
All of that has to be configured, 56 56
because when you're doing a virtual private cloud, 57 57
it's essentially like you own these servers. 58 58
The only difference is you don't actually own the servers 59 59
and you don't have access to the physical hardware. 60 60
Instead, you're going to be able to use these different servers 61 61
and spin them up, and spin them down, whenever you need to, 62 62
meaning provisioning them or deprovisioning them. 63 63
Now, when we talk about a virtual private network 64 64
it's hosted on publicly available cloud services. 65 65
This is things like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, 66 66
Google Cloud, but you're going to be isolated 67 67
from other customers' instances using technologies 68 68
such as virtual lans or VLANs. 69 69
And you can also use other things like this 70 70
as you're building out your virtual private cloud. 71 71
Now, like I said, a virtual private cloud 72 72
doesn't give you the exact same level of security 73 73
as a private cloud, 74 74
but it doesn't come with the high cost either. 75 75
By using a virtual private cloud, 76 76
it's going to be less expensive than using a private cloud 77 77
and you're not going to have to own 78 78
and operate the entire cloud service, 79 79
or the hardware underneath it. 80 80
So you're getting some of those security benefits, 81 81
but not all those security benefits. 82 82
When we talk about a virtual private cloud 83 83
a virtual private cloud is typically going to be used 84 84
to provision internet accessible 85 85
customer facing applications, 86 86
or corporate applications that need to be accessed 87 87
from geographically remote sites. 88 88
If you're thinking of something that might be a good place 89 89
inside a DMZ, a virtual private cloud 90 90
might be a good place to put it as well. 91 91
Now, the last thing we need to think about 92 92
when we talk about cloud-based infrastructure 93 93
is cloud versus on-premise. 94 94
Now, what is the difference? 95 95
Well, when you deal with the cloud 96 96
you're putting it in somebody else's data center. 97 97
You're putting it someplace where you're just seeing it 98 98
as a virtual instance some place on the internet, 99 99
you don't actually get to go touch that thing. 100 100
You don't know if it's in Virginia, or London, 101 101
or Washington, or even really care a lot of times, 102 102
because you just care that you have access to it. 103 103
That's the benefit of having the cloud, 104 104
it's everywhere you want to be. 105 105
Now, when you deal with on-premise, 106 106
this means it's something in your own data center. 107 107
You can walk down the hall and you can touch those servers. 108 108
A lot of the places I've worked over the years 109 109
we've run our own data centers. 110 110
Now, these days, we're starting to use 111 111
more and more cloud resources, but for the last 20 years 112 112
I have spent a lot of time, 113 113
and a lot of organizations spending tons and tons of money 114 114
millions and millions and millions of dollars 115 115
building out data centers and running our own servers. 116 116
Now, there is some benefits to having cloud, 117 117
and there's some benefits of having on-premise. 118 118
When you deal with on-premise solutions, 119 119
you're going to maintain your servers locally 120 120
within your network. 121 121
That means you're going to be able to touch them. 122 122
It also means you're responsible for when they break. 123 123
That means when a server goes down, 124 124
you're going to be the one waking up 125 125
at two in the morning to go replace that hard drive. 126 126
When you're dealing with an on-premise solution 127 127
you own the entire thing from software, 128 128
all the way down to nuts and bolts of the hardware. 129 129
That is a good thing in some cases 130 130
because you can own the whole thing 131 131
and configure however you want. 132 132
It's also bad because it's a major support headache, 133 133
and a huge capital expense for your organization. 134 134
Now, a lot of security products that you have out there 135 135
can be used as either cloud-based or on-premise. 136 136
And we've already talked about 137 137
a lot of the benefits of the cloud, right? 138 138
They're infinitely expandable, 139 139
there's lots of storage out there, 140 140
there's ultimate bandwidth, 141 141
and you only pay for what you use. 142 142
Well, with a lot of these security products 143 143
you have a cloud-based version, or an on-premise version. 144 144
And you have to decide which one you want to use. 145 145
Now, which one is right? 146 146
Well, that depends on what you want to do. 147 147
Some of these have some real benefits by doing cloud-based. 148 148
They might be more cost effective, 149 149
they might be cheaper. 150 150
You don't have to have dedicated hardware, 151 151
dedicated local processing, dedicated local storage. 152 152
All of those things add cost, 153 153
and so you can offload all that to the cloud 154 154
and just basically point your things to that cloud server 155 155
and let it do all of the work for you. 156 156
Now, why might you want to use on-premise? 157 157
Well, maybe you're worried about the security of that data 158 158
and you don't want that data 159 159
being outside your corporate network. 160 160
That would be a reason for using on-premise. 161 161
Now, one of the big reason 162 162
that a lot of these security softwares 163 163
are starting to move to cloud-based solutions 164 164
is you can do better use of AI and machine learning, why? 165 165
Because AI and machine learning 166 166
takes huge amounts of processing 167 167
and huge amounts of banks of resources. 168 168
And most people don't have that 169 169
as a part of their on-premise solution. 170 170
So instead, by moving this all to the cloud 171 171
it makes it easier to integrate with artificial intelligence 172 172
and machine learning to do deeper data integration 173 173
and automated analysis. 174 174
Now, if you're going to move to the cloud, 175 175
what do you need to consider? 176 176
Well, you need to consider any compliance 177 177
and regulatory limitations. 178 178
Sometimes you're going to have limitations 179 179
of storing data in a cloud-based security system. 180 180
Depending on the rules, 181 181
you may have to have an on-premise solution. 182 182
Now, in addition to this, 183 183
there are other issues you have to consider as well. 184 184
For example, if you move to a cloud-based solution 185 185
instead of an on-premise solution, 186 186
you may be subject to vendor lock-in. 187 187
I've seen this with some companies. 188 188
They've moved to something where it's based 189 189
on the amount of terabytes that you store 190 190
inside their server. 191 191
And it can start adding up 192 192
to be really, really expensive really quickly. 193 193
And so that can now get you locked into that vendor, 194 194
because they have all your data. 195 195
And to get out, it's going to cost you 196 196
hundreds of thousands of dollars in bandwidth 197 197
and usage fees to move it from this cloud 198 198
to your on-premise, or this cloud to that cloud. 199 199
And so you can get this vendor lock-in problem 200 200
that can happen, and it's very real. 201 201
So when you're designing your cloud-based infrastructure 202 202
always think, "What's going to be best for me today? 203 203
And what's going to happen down the road?" 204 204
Because a lot of services will give you 205 205
a very low upfront cost, but then they'll get you 206 206
on the backside when you try to move to another provider.