Cyren CEO: Pure Cloud Vendors Are The Future Of Cyber Security

Cyber security companies come in many shapes and sizes these days but, as the world is continuing to embrace the power of cloud computing, so to must the security industry.

That’s according to Cyren CEO Lior Samuleson, who believes that cloud-native vendors will ultimately be the ones who survive in a world where attacks are rapidly increasing in prevalence and sophistication.

To counter these developments, speed and transparency are absolutely essential, both of which the cloud is able to provide.

Cloud or nothing

“Appliances can no longer provide detection for lots of reasons,” said Samuleson, speaking to Silicon at InfoSecurity Europe 2017. “Attacks are getting more sophisticated and faster, so security has got to go in the cloud.”

“Today’s attacks are really rapid, it’s not like the old days. If you look at some of the malware vendors they’ll say ‘we update every 24 hours, or we update every six hours’,” he added. 

“Our view is, if you even use the term ‘update’ that means you’re already history because you’ve got to catch things right as they come up and update in seconds.”

This point is key. Much has been written about the focus of security moving from prevention to detection, which hinges on the ability to constantly analyse networks and respond in real time so that attacks are automatically blocked before they ever reach their target.

This means businesses that can’t afford to employ huge security teams are still able to get the same level of protection as everyone else.

WannaCry provides a prime example. Despite the ransomware attack continuing to cause havoc, Cyren’s platform caught and blocked it without anyone even knowing, meaning all of its customers were instantly protected.

But the only way the speed required can be truly achieved is through the use of cloud which, along with the mobility and cost saving benefits, is why Samuleson is so certain about its future role in cyber security.

“The cloud has a set of advantages that are so fundamental that, in a few years I think the appliances will decline significantly,” he said, suggesting that vendors soon won’t be able to afford to not be in the cloud.

“The size of the security market continues to increase and the share of appliances is going to decrease. It’s bound to happen, but there are still not many pure cloud vendors, they just don’t exist.

“I think the change will be gradual, but you will see a whole bunch of people going out of business,” he added. “Some of the people [at InfoSec] this year will not be here next year because they won’t survive.”

It’s certainly a bold prediction, but isn’t out of the question given recent developments in the cyber threat landscape.

Organisations have started to realise that constant monitoring and analysis are now essential components of security and, for vendors, that means its cloud or nothing.

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