Cloud vs. On-Premises Security Solutions

Moving business applications and processes to the cloud has been an ongoing trend in recent years for a good number of reasons. If they haven’t already, CISOs need to make decisions about whether a cloud-based deployment or an on-premises solution makes more sense for cyber security.

The key benefits of a cloud-based security solution are similar to those that attract an organization to any other cloud offering: ease of deployment, ease of maintenance, scalability, performance and more. These apply for cloud security solutions, along with the ability to rapidly scale or even deploy additional features or protection levels as business needs change. Likewise, cloud security can provide organizations with cost flexibility since many cloud offerings have significantly lower up-front and ongoing expenses associated with them.

Cloud security isn’t for every organization, though. Comfort level, as well as internal and external policies can come into play when organizations are making the cloud vs. on-premises decision. For example, on-premises may be the best choice if certain compliance issues are at stake. It’s not necessarily because the cloud fails to offer a compliant solution, but in some data-sensitive industries the confidence level may be higher when the CISO has physical access to mission critical security.

For most, the best answer is to leverage a mixture of cloud and on-premises. In these instances, CISOs should strongly consider vendors with a diverse offering that provides the organization with the flexibility to make shifts when necessary. For instance, if new business initiatives surface that require a quickly scalable solution, it may mean an organization that currently leverages only on-premises will suddenly need the agility afforded to them through a cloud-based solution.

The key is to find a security solution that provides the same experience and access to continuous monitoring results whether or not the offering is in the cloud or on-premises.