Sol Cates | Principal Technologist, Data Protection
Do you recall when the phrase “Digital Transformation” seemed like just the latest technology buzzword, and it seemed so far off in the future as to be one of those projects for another day? The pandemic that swept the globe changed all of those distant plans, not only propelling digital transformation to the top of everyone’s project list, but also accelerating all its challenges.
In the latest episode of the Thales Security Sessions podcast, The Challenges of Digital Transformation, Neira Jones asked me to join CJ Cullen, Google Cloud Tech Lead, to share some best practices. Both CJ and I hold customer-facing roles, so we have a close understanding of what you may be experiencing in your journey towards digital transformation.
Two main challenges involve application modernization and cloud migration. Both of these hold interesting approaches, but the main purpose of any transformation is in the value derived from the change from legacy technologies. Along with these evolutionary changes in behavior and process, the security component of digital transformation presents new challenges.
The rapid and extreme amount of change can be jarring to an organization. Entire technology roadmaps must be redrawn. Digital transformation involves entire infrastructure and architectural modifications. This requires an organizational and cultural shift in a company. Change is never easy, and when it involves technology, it adds a new mystery and uncertainty for many people.
Often, when we think of change, we think of the end-user struggle. However, with digital transformation, some of the greatest changes are experienced by the sysadmins, development, and security teams. For example, APIs are no longer a single-entry point, protected behind a firewall. The distributed design of cloud APIs creates a new learning curve in order to be implemented securely. Unlike user identification, application identification is more complex than simply enabling multi-factor authentication.
Are there some “best practices” that can be employed to succeed under these new environments? As we discussed in Security Sessions podcast #3, “Do You Know Who I am? The Digital identity Challenge”, Zero Trust is only one aspect of the dynamic nature of digital transformation. In this new podcast, CJ and I expand the discussion and offer more insight into digital transformation, and our “new normal”.
Tune in to hear the full discussion in The Challenges of Digital Transformation. Enjoy it!