Bridging the Gap: Empowering CISOs to Secure the Cloud with Automation

Gartner forecasts that by 2027, 99% of cloud security compromises will result from user misconfigurations and account issues [1]—not from cloud provider failures. However, a critical misalignment exists between CISO priorities and the day-to-day operational realities of platform engineering teams.

While CISOs' organizations aren't directly responsible for managing cloud infrastructure resources, applications, or data stores—that's the primary responsibility of platform engineering and applications teams—the stakes are high for CISOs as they face mounting pressure to secure the cloud environment. The Thales Cloud Security Study [2] found that 65% of CISOs rank cloud security as their top priority and 33% as their highest priority.

Yet, this fundamental misalignment between stakeholders creates significant risks, with industry reports showing that misconfigurations and human errors already account for 31% of all cloud security compromises.

The Path Forward: Security Automation with Policy-as-Code

CISOs and their security teams don't need to become cloud platform experts to address these challenges. Instead, they can require platform engineering to leverage security automation tools that enforce comprehensive security policies across cloud infrastructures. This automation covers key security aspects, including:

• Admission controls to prevent misconfigurations at the source.

• Policy-as-Code frameworks to ensure consistent application of security best practices across CI/CD and IaC pipelines, clusters, and cloud services

• Unified governance and compliance management, providing 95% alert reduction for cleaner production environments.

These capabilities enable CISOs to collaborate effectively with platform engineering teams, ensuring proactive security enforcement without requiring deep cloud expertise. Cloud admission controllers, like Nirmata's Kyverno, a CNCF policy engine, enable security policies to be defined and managed in plain English—bridging the knowledge gap between CISOs and cloud practitioners.

Policy as Code solutions like Kyverno also address challenges with “Shift Left Security”, as developers get visibility, remediation, and exception management in native tools.

Real Impact: Trusted by Industry Leaders

Security automation with policy enforcement through cloud admission controls, has been a game-changer for organizations navigating cloud-native security. With over 3.2B downloads, Nirmata’s Kyverno is widely adopted across verticals like banking, financial services, healthcare, retail, and Federal agencies. Top use cases include:

• Preventing misconfigurations and human error

• Just-In-Time (JIT) provisioning for secure defaults

• Container vulnerability scanning and verification

• User access and workload policy enforcement

• Multi-tenancy and Micro-segmentation

• Resource optimization

By combining preventive solutions like Kyverno with CNAPP detection tools and CDR incident response workflows, CISOs can focus on key security priorities—like addressing zero-day threats—while keeping strong governance intact.

Call to Action

Cloud security need not be a constant struggle. Modern security automation tools now enable CISOs to streamline security processes, collaborate effectively with platform engineering teams, and maintain control over cloud security—all without requiring deep cloud platform expertise.

Let’s prioritize smarter, automated solutions to bridge the gap between CISOs and cloud operations teams. What challenges have you faced in securing your cloud infrastructure? Share your experiences in the comments!

#2024CloudSecurityStudy #CloudSecurity #ProactiveSecurity #SecurityAutomation #PolicyAsCode #CISO #PlatformEngineering #DevOps #DevSecOps

References:

[1] Outcome-Driven Metrics You Can Use to Evaluate Cloud Security Controls - Gartner Report cited in CloudFlare’s Press Release

[2] 2024 Thales Cloud Security Study

[3] S&P Global Market Intelligence, 451’s Research’s Cloud Security Study 2024

Disclaimer:

As a Partner at Dreamit Ventures, I disclose that Dreamit is an investor in Nirmata. I share these personal insights with my network of CISO partners and cybersecurity professionals to help them address security and governance challenges in their organizations.