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Cloudy Forecast: 2013 Predictions

Cyber criminals go to where the data is. More and more data is moving to the cloud, so more attacks are moving to the cloud. That’s not to say that mobile devices aren’t a great way to attack the cloud…they are. However, since more critical data is moving to the cloud, we will see a lot of developments in terms of cloud security.

Cloud backlash

As businesses become better at identifying the strengths and weaknesses of public clouds, private clouds (or just plain virtualization) will continue to be the cost-effective choice for large enterprise stable workloads, with new, variable usage, public facing apps in the public cloud.

Efficiency drives cloud security

As cloud cost management and metric tools become more capable, the efficiency of cloud security solutions will become a major factor for enterprises. No one wants a cloud solution that is secure but so expensive and inefficient that you can’t afford to run it. Cloud security offerings that wantonly waste server and network resources will be less competitive.

Multitenancy for security

Multitenant cloud security becomes a reality in 2013. We will commonly see hosted cloud security consoles running at most major cloud providers, which allow each cloud user to configure their own security settings for all their agent-based and agentless security settings, including across public and private clouds.

Disposable clouds

The era of the disposable cloud is upon us. Enterprises will start to embrace the redundant array of inexpensive clouds model, the same way that the Pirate Bay did. Surprisingly, it will make service-level agreements tied to uptime less important as a differentiator for cloud providers. It will also make policy driven security even more important.

Uber fast clouds

We will see more very high density, high performance cloud offerings for specialized uses. Some data center products (SSD, etc) that will be coming on the market may be more efficient by a factor of 10 X in 2013 and they were in 2012…and they will make high performance cloud offerings very affordable. They will also enable new levels of security analysis, but most companies won’t take advantage of those in 2013.

Track Your OpenStack

OpenStack will continue to make progress, especially with public cloud providers seeking to challenge Amazon Web Services, and with a few forward-looking enterprises who realize OpenStack is a pathway to hybrid cloud. Expect OpenStack-specific security offerings that work across OpenStack, private clouds and other public clouds.

Your Mom’s Cloud Definition

Most of the world will believe “in the cloud” simply means “not on the device sitting in front of me.” The implications for cloud security providers are huge, because mobile and endpoint security will be hopelessly intermingled with cloud security, at least when it comes to consumers.

SMB Cloud Banking Fears

SMBs will significantly reduce their use of cloud-based banking and transactional services because in 2013, there will be a series of substantial cyber criminal attacks on small businesses, which will drain bank accounts and put the victims out of business. We will hear calls for laws to reimburse small-business bank accounts for losses caused by cloud-based cybercriminals (the same way we reimburse consumer accounts today in the US), but the laws won’t be passed in 2013.

What are your thoughts on the cloud in 2013… and beyond? Let us know in the comments below!

Check out our CTO Raimund Genes’ predictions for 2013 for the entire security industry in Security Threats to Business, the Digital Lifestyle, and the Cloud.

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