As cloud computing has become more expansive and complex, so has the world of hackers. Threats to the cloud have become even more prevalent and difficult to detect. Within just one month, during September 2019, at least 57 malware apps generated around 15 million unique installations on Google Play, according to the “Sophos 2020 Threat Report.”

“Their level of automation frankly is impressive,” said Andy Miller, senior director of global public cloud for Sophos Ltd.

The Sophos study of more than 10 workloads around the world and 10 of AWS’ most popular data centers included noteworthy security findings.

“An attempt to compromise happened in 52 seconds. The longest one was about 15 minutes,” Miller said. The threat persistence was also exceptional. “Even more scary than that, [there] was on average an attempt every 13 seconds to compromise that,” he added.

Miller spoke with John Walls (@johnwalls21), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and guest host Justin Warren (@jpwarren) at the AWS re:Invent 2019 conference at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas. They discussed why addressing new threats require new ways of thinking; shared responsibility in data security; and trendsetting advances to Sophos’ Optix platform. (* Disclosure below.)

Why is data security everyone’s responsibility?

A few years ago, many customers were distrustful of the cloud and only stored their data on-premises. Now, the attitude seems to have changed to an inherent trust in cloud, according to Miller. “[Maybe] a little too much [trust], in that they don’t realize that while the AWS platform is very secure, what you put into the cloud is your responsibility,” he said.

Very sensitive data is sometimes placed in the cloud by very well-meaning managers. However, to maintain even more security, some data sets are safest on-prem, Miller added.

For customers transitioning to cloud for the first time, deciding what to store on-prem and what to store in the cloud can be confusing. Sophos provides tools to organizations to help them fully understand data security responsibilities. And at last week’s re:Invent conference, Sophos announced advancements to the Optix platform, including new integrations with Amazon Detective, the AWS platform, and Sophos’ UTM platform. One essential practice involves “things like integrating with the identity access management solution that we gather [to] help keep customers secure,” Miller said.

As customers move to the cloud, one of the greatest challenges they face is maintaining visibility and control over their workloads. Informed cloud service providers understand and aim to meet this ongoing need. Miller shared key advancements to Optix like “the ability to automatically discover and secure assets stored in AWS and other cloud environments.” Providing additional security and integrating with Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, the Optix platform now tracks clusters and native Kubernetes deployments. Platforms like Optix show the importance of comprehensive inventory and visualization of clusters, nodes, node pools, pods, containers, and other preventive strategies to security, according to Miller.

Amongst new tools, new threats, and new understandings of responsibility, companies benefit from paying attention to cloud trends, Miller explained. And ss a keynote presenter at AWS re:Invent 2019 noted: Going forward, data security requires transformation, not just transition.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AWS re:Invent event. (*Disclosure: Sophos Ltd. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Sophos nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.) 

Photo: SiliconANGLE