By Christopher Saul, Territory Sales Lead for East Africa at Red Hat
Enterprises in Kenya are modernising their IT infrastructure by adopting cloud-native technologies, transforming how they build, deploy and maintain applications and services. This includes embracing containerisation, where applications are isolated and packaged with all the files necessary to run, making them easy to move between public and private cloud environments.
That said, with the new way of working comes new security considerations. According to the 2024 edition of the State of Kubernetes Security report by Red Hat, 67% of survey respondents from around the world reported they delayed or slowed down the deployment of container-based applications due to security concerns. Furthermore, 42% of respondents said their organisations do not sufficiently invest in container security to address related threats, making them vulnerable and risking severe consequences such as project delays and lost revenue.
If Kenya is to embrace cloud-native technologies, it must ensure security is prioritised. The solution lies with the platforms that organisations utilise to build, run and manage their workloads, adapting their approach to risks in hybrid cloud environments.
Going cloud-native requires a security rethink
The use of cloud-native technologies has led to traditional models of software development to become obsolete. Monolithic application architectures, which remain largely static, give way to highly dynamic ones that move between multiple cloud platforms and are constantly changing thanks to the CI/CD pipeline and a DevOps approach to software development.
However, with this new paradigm comes new security challenges inherent to the nature of cloud-native applications. Teams cannot rely on perimeter-based firewall solutions. They can have greater difficulty diagnosing the cause of security incidents and, thanks to accelerated release cycles, keeping up provisioning and policy management processes. The result is that applications can face risks such as unsecured APIs, cloud misconfigurations, and compromised network connections, all potentially resulting in incidents such as data breaches and compliance violations.
Ensuring a secure migration process
Naturally, the question of security doesn’t just apply when your workloads are in the cloud environment. IT leaders and administrators can face significant security challenges during the migration process, everything from a lack of security expertise to compliance issues.
That is why organisations need to make security a top priority during the migration process. On top of selecting trusted and reliable platform vendors, they should also pay close attention to features such as security-by-design infrastructure and approach, backup and recovery solutions, and network segmentation.
Cloud migration is also made secure by way of several best practices. These include implementing continuous monitoring and automation from the very start, leveraging built-in cloud security solutions available from service providers, and managing user access roles with the help of identity and access management (IAM) systems.
A platform for resilience, innovation, and transformation
As Kenyan businesses start to leverage container technologies, the most prolific of which being Docker and Kubernetes, IT teams face the challenge of adopting new security solutions that match the shift in infrastructure. The first step in facing this challenge is leveraging security controls that are native to container technologies. By integrating security-focused processes and features throughout applications’ lifecycles, organisations can protect them without having to slow the pace of development or add complexity to their operations.
Organisations should also incorporate DevSecOps best practices and controls into their security platforms while leveraging the container platform to perform risk assessments and identify vulnerabilities. Additionally, cluster security solutions enable organisations to protect their container workloads across all cloud platforms, giving organisations peace of mind when it comes to shifting workloads between environments.
Cloud security may sound intimidating, but it is with the help of the right platforms and built-in features that businesses and institutions in Kenya can protect their workloads and address all security concerns.
Also Read: Red Hat and SoftBank Collaborate on AI-Driven RAN for Next-Gen Networks
