The cloud is redefining the role of the firewall, and an overwhelming 83% of IT professionals in a recent survey have concerns about deploying traditional firewalls in nontraditional topographies.
According to Barracuda Networks’ Firewalls and the Cloud survey of 600 global IT professionals, challenges include pricing and licensing not being appropriate for the cloud (39%) and a lack of integration that prevents cloud automation (34%).
Still, respondents found value in cloud-specific security capabilities. Three-quarters (74%) of respondents cited integration with cloud management, monitoring and automation capabilities as the most beneficial aspect of firewalls, and 59% cited “easy to deploy and configure by cloud developers” as the second most beneficial capability.
Meanwhile, the report uncovered that DevOps teams also benefit from security automation. Of the organizations that have adopted DevOps, DevSecOps or continuous integration and continuous deployment, 93% have faced challenges integrating security into those practices.
“A few points really stand out based on the information presented from this survey,” said Tim Jefferson, VP of public cloud, Barracuda. “We’re continuing to see questions and concerns around how organizations should be approaching security with their cloud deployments, especially from larger companies. There are a number of reasons for this, but for organizations that are used to operating under traditional data center architecture, moving to the cloud will require a new way of thinking when they approach security. Using security tools specifically designed for the public cloud can actually make a business more secure than they were when they operated purely on-premises.”