Savings and Security: The Dual Benefits of FinOps and the Cloud

In Thales’ 2024 study, “Boom Times for the Cloud: Is Security Ready?”, 44% of respondents said their organization experienced a data breach in the previous year, with a third of the breaches caused by misconfigurations or human error. Furthermore, according to IBM, a data breach’s financial toll on an organization climbed almost 10% in 2024, reaching an average of $4.88 million.  

The demand for the cloud has not only reached new heights but generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) requires companies to consume even more. A cloud and AI survey from PwC found roughly 65% of organizations they identified as top performers had already developed GenAI-based products and services.  

As cloud usage and costs grow, so do security risks and vulnerabilities. Organizations can adopt FinOps, a cloud financial management practice promoting shared accountability among engineering, finance and operations teams to balance innovation, security and cost efficiency. FinOps helps businesses optimize spending, enhance resource management and proactively address security threats through cost transparency, governance, real-time monitoring and cross-functional collaboration — resulting in a secure, agile and fiscally responsible cloud environment. 

Controlling Spending and Security 

FinOps creates cross-departmental collaboration among business, finance, technology and engineering leaders to provide deeper visibility into, and understanding of, expenses. While the primary focus of FinOps is typically financial management, it can play a decisive role in enhancing security. By weaving such considerations into the fabric of economic decision-making, organizations can designate resources in ways that fortify security infrastructure as well. Examples include: 

• Improved resource management: Resource reviews are central to FinOps and vital for unearthing cloud resources that are overprovisioned or unused. This better controls budgets and lowers risk by reducing the potential attack surface and driving better ongoing security practices down to the individual user.   

• Greater accountability: Accountability is the underpinning of FinOps. Though usually considered from a financial perspective, its principles also apply to security. With resources allocated to specific owners, security policies are easier to monitor and enforce. Unauthorized data usage can be pinpointed to indicate a breach. Environments can also be better managed to lower the likelihood of misconfigurations that present vulnerabilities. 

• Better security culture: When engineering, finance and security collaborate, security has a voice in all decisions related to cloud architecture. When cost accountability is part of the organization’s culture, people are more likely to adhere to best practices and prevent misconfigurations, not wanting to be the weak link in the security chain.  

Right Approach, Right Tools 

FinOps isn’t a magic wand: It requires a multi-step approach to implement and embed in an organization’s culture. It starts with the creation of a cross-department base that includes all teams. This brings equal weight to what can seem like competing priorities. It also keeps decisions from being made in siloes, ensuring cost and security are both always discussed. This, again, prevents misconfigurations and the added expense of correcting them.  

Regarding tools, cost management and security monitoring technology can verify that such key readings are evaluated simultaneously, side-by-side. Utilizing resource tags can also allow the tracking of costs and the identification of security risks. Additionally, budget alerting can detect cost deviations that result from security vulnerabilities introduced by bad actors.  

Automation can further embed FinOps into daily operations. For instance, leveraging tools for policy-as-code can automate governance in security and financial oversight areas. You can limit resources and eliminate overprovisioning, too. What’s more, security leaders can set least-privilege access, mandatory encryption and nail down settings across the cloud.  

Steady as it Goes 

Finally, with FinOps and security, applying, following and optimizing practices consistently is essential. The right mindset views security as a cost and a critical investment in protecting assets, customer relations and the bottom line.  

Moving forward, integrating FinOps strategy with a security framework should be more than a consideration – it could prove essential. Still, remember that FinOps requires a steady-as-it-goes approach to achieve significant, ongoing cost and security benefits. Regular and thorough cloud usage reviews are also critical for lowering resource inefficiency, simultaneously raising security hygiene.  

Stay consistent, and you will build on your success safely and securely.