In recent times, many companies are opting for multiple cloud providers to run customized cloud-based applications. This causes a situation where different teams find their own solutions to migrate from legacy systems to pockets of different cloud deployments, which in turn creates less security visibility among teams. Hence, standardizing multi-cloud operations and streamlining multi-cloud deployments can help mitigate cyber-attacks in such situations.
Keeping this in mind, F5 Inc., a provider in application delivery controllers, announced a key expansion of its application security and delivery portfolio with F5 Distributed Cloud Services that provide security, multi-cloud networking, and edge-based computing solutions on a unified software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. The new solution is a result of several acquisitions of f5, including Volterra and Shape Security.
Speaking on the new announcement, Dhananjay Ganjoo, Managing Director for India and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at F5, told CXOToday, “Many organizations are now depending upon web applications for the daily management of confidential data while transitioning to a complete remote or hybrid work model. With this shift in workplaces, cybersecurity experts have been highlighting newer security risks, as hybrid workplaces need hybrid infrastructures to balance cloud-based applications with workplace operations. As web applications can be accessed 24/7, organizations need to manage and secure networks and multiple endpoints round the clock.”
According to Ganjoo, the new cloud-based service for web application and API protection (F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP) can be deployed across multi-cloud, on-premise, and edge locations. The service provides best-of-breed capabilities for web application firewall (WAF), distributed denial of service (DDoS), bot, and API protection as a service, now offers a comprehensive solution for securing web applications and APIs.
Ganjoo also explained the cloud security challenges companies are facing at present and how companies can mitigate such cyber threats.
“Today, as businesses are increasingly using applications to be their touchpoints, security plays an important role in winning customers’ trust,” said Ganjoo, adding that with applications becoming the lifeline of businesses, application architectures are evolving to be API-first, microservices-based, and heavily reliant on automation and orchestration. Cyber attackers are exploiting this fast-changing application landscape with new attack methods.
“Unlike earlier security threats, these new categories of attacks are highly organized and financially motivated. These sophisticated attacks can bypass well-established security controls, such as firewalls, web application firewalls, etc. Timely detection of such attacks requires large amount of contextual information and its correlation in near real time to mitigate the threat. In such a scenario, AI/ML algorithms and big data can be used to convert data into insights and detect anomalous activity in and around applications, as well as cloud environments. These insights can help strengthen application security and reduce the threat’s impact using advanced analytics technique,” he said.
Ganjoo noted, “One of the most common complexities of application security is a secure migration to a multi-cloud environment. Eliminating such complexities requires a dedicated vision of transformation. Through our Adaptive Applications vision, F5 brings intelligence and real-time changes to the world of application deployments. By offering a suite of security services that help rapidly detect and neutralize security threats, improve performance resilience, speed up new application deployments, we are enabling businesses to safely migrate to multi-cloud environments.
“Modern applications have evolved rapidly. They are more complex, leverage APIs extensively, and are far more distributed. As a result, application security solutions need to be more flexible and deployable wherever those application workloads reside,” said Bob Laliberte, Principal Analyst, ESG.
He added, “To ensure flexibility, a SaaS-based model capable of distributing cloud services anywhere with consistent visibility and control is required. F5 has created its innovative Distributed Cloud Services to provide organizations the ability to easily deploy services where and when they are required.”
Talking about the company’s roadmap, Ganjoo said, “With our new F5 Distributed Cloud Services and our latest investments in expanding our Points of Presence (PoP) in the region this year, we are doubling down on our commitment to enable businesses to deliver and secure extraordinary digital experiences at scale. The new regional Points of Presence will offer improved application performance and reduced latency for our customers across the regions.”
F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP delivers end-to-end observability and uniform policy enforcement across an entire deployment without the use of integration or automation tools. F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP is globally available from F5 now and will launch in the Azure Marketplace by the end of February.
