Hello, everyone. Welcome to Con 42, DevOps 2025 conference. I am Sandeep Bajju, and I bring over a decade of experience in building and securing cloud and hybrid platforms. One of the most pressing topics in tech today is the cloud infrastructure security, how it's transforming industries and the unique security challenges it brings. I'm excited to share some of the innovative Cloud security strategies that tackle these challenges and help secure the cloud. Let's dive in and make the most of this exciting session. Just a disclaimer, the presentation slides information I shared today represent my own personal views and speaking for myself and not on behalf of my employer. So now let's talk about the cloud driven future. By 2025, 75 percent of the enterprise data will be created and processed in the cloud, enabling the real time insights and accelerating digital transformation across the industries. As the cloud adoption is increasing, 94 percent of the enterprises are already leveraging cloud services, such as driving, Cost optimization, scalability, and business agility. So, the cloud adoption is becoming a core pillar for competitive advantage and operational resiliencies. So, as adoption increases, so as the cyber attacks. So, organizations face thousands of cyber attacks on average daily. So the strengthening of cloud security and implementing the advanced threat detection are critical for protecting the sensitive data. What exactly is the Zero Trust architecture? You know, Zero Trust assumes all users and devices are untrusted by default. So, the continuous verification and contextual access control ensures security at every point of access, whether it's internal or external. Some of the important models are, trust nothing, verify everything. So, if we take the multi factor authentication, or Risk, real time risk analysis, or identity access management. All these systems continuously verify every access request, ensuring that only authorized entities gain access. Next is the continuous authentication, which is an ongoing process based on user behavior, device health, location, which is like adapting in real time to changes. This is like a dynamic approach which prevents unauthorized access post login. We can talk about the micro segmentation which is more like isolating the systems into the smaller segments using techniques like VLANs, Software Defined Networks, Network Access Controls, ensuring that least privileged principle and granular control over data flows, and reducing the, you know, lateral movement in the event of a breach or attack vector. When we talk about the advanced IAM methods, This is nothing but an identity access management methods. There are multiple authentication methods out there which are like single sign on, certificate based authentication, passwordless authentication, token based authentication, hardware tokens. And some of the commonly used mechanisms are Biometric authentication, which leverages the unique physical traits like fingerprints, facial recognitions to enhance the security. You know, combined with encryption and machine learning algorithms, the biometrics offer a high level of fraud resistance and accuracy. Next is the multi factor authentication, which requires multiple forms of verification like password. One time code, you know, which provides a multi layer defense, making it harder for attackers to access accounts and move laterally within systems. Next is the adaptive access policy, which is like a real time context aware policies which dynamically adjust authentication requirements based on, you know, user behavior, device security, and location. optimizing the security, you know, without compromising the usability of the systems. Next is how we can leverage the AI and ML in the cloud security, which is by using AI driven threat detection, which can process millions of security events per second, you know, which enables the identification of some of the important or attacks like zero day vulnerabilities. ransomware attacks, you know, which helps in responding 50 times faster than traditional methods. Next, for the behavior analytics, you know, we can leverage the machine learning, which can continuously monitor user activities, which helps in creating that baseline behavior profiles. so, which helps in, identifying the anomalies like, accessing the sensitive data from unusual locations, you know, trigger instant alerts to prevent insider threats and account takeovers. We can also use the AI based security tools, which can reduce false positives up to 50 percent as compared to the traditional signature based security systems. which allows, you know, security teams to focus on the real threats, improving the response time and also the operational efficiency. And, you know, we, how, next we talk about like how we can leverage some of the quantum resistant encryption methods. Yeah, you know, like pulse quantum algorithms, which counter the potential of quantum computers breaking the classical cryptographies like RSA, ECC, post quantum algorithms which leverages problems that quantum systems can't solve easily, such as like lattice based cryptography, multivariate quadratic equations. So if you are looking at an NIST approved algorithms, which ensures the robust quantum resistant encryption, which provides, future proof protection against the quantum threats, which is more powerful than current systems. We can also look at the hybrid cryptography method, which is like integrating the traditional RSA or ECC methods with lattice based cryptography. which creates a dual layer encryption model. So this approach provides the backward compatibility with existing systems while preparing organizations for the quantum era. So the hybrid cryptography facilitates a smooth transition without disrupting the legacy encryption. We can also use the key management method Which is like leveraging the advanced hardware security models, you know, like HSMs, which are basically a cryptographic key, which were like basically a cryptographic keys are stored securely with 256 bit entropies for robust randomness. Automated key rotations and zero knowledge proofs, you know, which provides the additional layer of security, ensuring that data remains protected even in the face of quantum computing advances. Cryptographic agility, which is basically like allowing the quick adaption. to evolving threats by enabling rapid updates to the encryption algorithms. So this agility ensures that even as quantum computing grows, organizations can transition seamlessly to the, seamlessly to post quantum algorithms without system downtime or security risks. Next, we can talk about like how we can leverage. or how we can integrate blockchain into the cloud security. One is using the immutable logging, which uses blockchain's distributed ledger, ensures that, you know, the security logs are tamper proof, providing immutable, verifiable records for all the cloud activities. Once a data is Once a data is stored, you know, it cannot be altered, you know, ensuring a transparent audit trail for detecting and investigating security incidents. Next is the smart contracts. So, smart contracts can automate security policy enforcement, which includes the access control, encryption standards, and data sharing rules. So they verify conditions like, you know, device health, locations, credentials before granting or denying access. So if these are executed on a blockchain, they ensure the policies are transparent and tamper resistant. Next, we can look at the decentralized identity, which puts users in control of the personal data. where the data is stored in a secured, distributed ledger. So, which is like cryptographically verified identities, which ensures only authorized parties can access this sensitive information, reducing the centralized data breach risk and also prevents the identity theft. So some of the micro segmentation strategies are network mapping, which helps organization gain a comprehensive understanding of their infrastructure. By identifying and categorizing these assets and traffic flows, network mapping ensures that security vulnerabilities are identified, threats are mitigated, and performance is optimized. We can also look at the policy creation which helps defining the granular security rules for each segment. Policies like least privileged access ensures that users, devices, and applications only have access to essential resources like securing sensitive data and ensuring the regulatory compliance. We can look at the segmentation implementation, which divides networks into smaller and isolated zones, so ensuring the data is protected even if an attack will compromise one of the segments like VLAN and software defined networks or network access controls, which enforce strict communication policies between these segments, so preventing the lateral movement and reducing the attack surface. We can also implement continuous monitoring, which ensures that all segments are secure and compliant. This will help systems detect suspicious activities and potential breaches, providing continuous feedback to adjust segmentations and also improve security posture as new threats emerge. Next is the serverless architecture, which offers scalability and cost efficiency, while it represents a unique challenge in securing dynamic FML, you know, securing dynamic FML components like functions, APIs, and even triggers. So securing these components involves creating a model that address the absence of underlying infrastructure. So making the traditional security approaches difficult to apply. If you are looking at the functional level security, which is composed of stateless, isolated functions, which gets triggered by events. So securing them involves applying granular IAM policies, least privilege access, and also the RPAC to restrict resource access. So the best practices such as like input validation, output encoding, and also the, you know, function isolation, minimizing the risk like injection attacks. Okay, so for multifunction environment, ensure that breaches in one function don't lead to that, that important lateral movement. Next is the API Gateway production. So the API gateway is like an entry point to the serverless functions. You know, securing it requires strong authentications, like AU or API, keys and, and authorization to control access. So we can also do additionally like rate looting or throttling, which prevents the DDoS attacks while integrating a WAF, which is like a web application firewall, which protects against vulnerabilities such as SQL injections. So the monitoring the API traffic, which helps in enabling the quick detection of suspicious, suspicious patterns and also the unauthorized access attempts. Next is the event driven, which are triggered by actions like HTTP request or, you know, file uploads or database changes. You know, the security involves like applying policies that responds to these event driven activities in real time, such as like logging, data encryption, or, you know, alleging on abnormal behavior. Anomaly detection can be done using the machine learning, which can identify the patterns of the potential attacks like You know, function triggered by the unrecognized source. You know, events can be monitored and also the policy thresholds can be set to block the malicious activity before execution. Next is the, you know, these serverless functions often rely on external libraries or services which can introduce vulnerabilities, which is nothing but a third party dependency scanning. So we can do the continuous scanning of these dependencies, ensuring that vulnerabilities are detected and patched. Like tools like Static Analysis or Dependency Scanners, which automatically assess the health of the third party code and identifying the outdated or insecure libraries and also preventing vulnerabilities from being incorporated into your serverless ecosystem. Next is how we can use the continuous compliance automation. So, automating the compliance ensures that organizations consistency, I mean like consistently adhere to all the regulatory frameworks without relying on manual audits. So, by leveraging the automated tools and cloud native services, we Organizations can maintain compliance at scale and also in real time, by reducing the manual errors and also the audit overhead. So the automated compliance, which is nothing but like starts with defining the policies which align with the specific regulations of the organization or industry. You know, these policies are translated into machine readable rules. which can be integrated into infrastructure as a code templates and also the cloud configurations, you know, compliance parameters include like data encryption, access controls, system configurations. So, so up by automating all this policy enforcement eliminates the human error and also ensures the consistent adherence to the security. and also to the regulatory requirements. We can also use the real time compliance monitoring which scans systems for policy violations or deviations from regulatory standards. So using the AI driven analytics and cloud native monitoring tools, organizations can track, you know, changes in system configuration, user access. data patterns, you know, this enables the immediate detection of issues like unencrypted data, unauthorized access or vulnerable systems, you know, which ensures a proactive approach to the compliance. And also the automated remediation, which helps in detecting a compliance violation or You know, also automated remediation systems, you know, initiate the corrective actions such as reversing the configurations or applying patches or restoring the access control settings. You know, if you are integrating this with your CI, CDE, Workflows or pipelines, right? Which enables the continuous compliance during the development, testing, and production cycles. This also helps in reducing the response times and ensures that violations are addressed before they escalate, minimizing the risk of penalties or data breaches. Automated tools can generate real time compliance reports that provide detailed, accurate overview of the security configurations, patching it, history, and also the, policy adherence. So these reports are like the audit ready and which can be generated on demand to simplify the regulatory assessment. So they offer pretty much like a transparency and provide a comprehensive record of actions which can be taken to achieve and maintain compliance. So that's streamlining the audit process and also reducing the workload of the compliance issues. So some of the key initiatives are like embracing the Zero Trust architecture. You know, in Zero Trust model, as we said earlier, no entity is trusted by default, whether it's inside or outside of the network. So the identity centric approach, which ensures that all requests, whether from users, devices, or applications, right, are Everything is authenticated, authorized, and continuously verified. So the principle of least privilege access, which ensures that only necessary resources are granted, you know, minimizing the attack surface. So to implement Zero Trust Organizations must apply some of the strategies like multi factor authentication. Role-based access controls, microsegmentation and continuous monitoring that ensures every in interaction is validated and locked. Next is leveraging the AI and ML capabilities. So AI and machine listening are, you know, rev revolutionizing the security by enabling the predictive threat detections. You know, by analyzing the, the large data sets in real time. So these technologies can identify anomalous patterns or potential threats even before they occur. So the behavior analytics powered by AI can spot insider threats. You know, it also detect deviations from normal user behavior. improving the detection rates and also reducing the false positive. The ML model also assists in some of these machine learning models, right? It also assists in automating, vulnerability identification and also the incident response, which helps security teams to stay one step ahead of all these attackers. And Nexus, you know, preparing for quantum computing threats, you know. It's like future proof your infrastructure, guys, by implementing the quantum resistant encryption protocols and also maintaining, the crypto isolity in your security frameworks. Also, automate the compliance process. We have to streamline the security operations by implementing the continuous compliance automations, which helps in reducing the human errors and also ensures that, you know, in real time, it adheres to all the regulatory requirements. So with this, I would like to reiterate, I would like to Retreat and conclude that some of the key takeaways to off, you know, it's more like offering a road map to help your organization stay ahead of evolving security threats, you know, is to fall and also the compliance challenges, right? is to follow all this emerging technologies like quantum computing and also by taking proactive steps. Where you can build a more resilient, adaptive, and future proof security infrastructure. Everyone, you know, thanks for your time for attending this presentation.