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An Old Dog With New Tricks

Businessman touching lock on futuristic interface with swirling lines in data center

I’ve been in cybersecurity for over two decades, mostly with major vendors on the selling/marketing/building/evangelizing side. I was a VP at one major firewall vendor, a consultant to new startups and a network/security architect at a major US ISP.  Along the way, I’ve even garnered six patents on scaling cybersecurity and co-authored an RFC. To say I’m an old dog in this business would be an understatement.

 

So, at first, it may be surprising to hear that I just finished my first week as a new SE for Bitglass – but there’s a story to it. This all started with a simple text message a month ago from Dean, Bitglass’ SVP of Field Operations, whom I’ve worked for in one of my past lives. The text read:

“Are you bored yet?”

I can’t say that architecting multi-100G network-based security solutions across a set of data centers at a major ISP was boring, but it gave me pause when I realized that the message came across my ‘personal’ cell phone while I was on my corporate-managed ‘work’ cell phone at a desk in front of two laptops (one corporate-managed, the other running shadow IT apps not supported by corporate). This got me to start thinking that maybe there is a different way of doing things.

  • No matter how big the middlebox, you’re not going to out-scale the cloud
  • Hardware obsoletes … the cloud evolves
  • Everybody has a cell phone, but nobody likes carrying two …
  • …and carrying two laptops in a backpack is even worse
  • Productivity is about secure access to your applications and securely accessing your data
  • Security is about who you are, where you are, what you’re trying to do, and how you’re trying to do it. It’s a lot more than just an IP address, the five-tuple of a packet, or a (now usually encrypted) payload

 

The Bitglass CASB (cloud access security broker) solution hits the mark by supporting both managed and unmanaged devices, as well as securing managed and unmanaged cloud-based applications. With its capabilities, it is not limited to a small set of applications or APIs, and it doesn’t force users to install power-slurping agents or VPN clients onto their devices. The Bitglass CASB is a solution that secures sensitive data in real time for organizations that are using cloud-based tools or enabling BYOD (bring your own device). Additionally, we partner with secure web gateway, data loss prevention, and anti-malware solutions to provide a complete cybersecurity solution for the cloud.

With today’s cloud-based world, old perimeter-based defenses are no longer able to protect enterprises from data leakage and malicious threats. So, here I am, an old dog with new tricks, going back out to do what I love: being a SE and providing my customers with the solutions that they need to protect their data.

It’s been a long week, and I may be tired, but I’m not bored. I’m looking forward to going out there and rocking the CASB!

To learn about cloud access security brokers (CASBs) and how they can protect your enterprise from data leakage, malware, and more, download the Top CASB Use Cases below. 

Top CASB Use Cases

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Bitglass Blog authored by Edward Lopez. Read the original post at: https://www.bitglass.com/blog/an-old-dog-with-new-tricks