Page 64 - Cyber Defense eMagazine June 2020 Edition

Ditch Legacy Approaches – Reimagine Cloud Security

Based on Virtualization

By Avi Shua, CEO and co-founder, Orca Security; former chief technologist at Check Point
Software Technologies

Abstract: Humans are used to thinking in metaphors. While convenient, this limits our ability to innovate.
Most cloud security solutions suffer from the same problem because they carry biases from the physical
world. For cloud security to truly succeed, we need to stop iterating on tools designed for on-prem
environments.

Look at your keyboard. That odd QWERTY layout dates back to the invention of the manual typewriter
over 150 years ago. The keys were positioned in such a way to prevent the type bars from jamming on
their way to striking the paper.

As technology advanced to computers, tablets, and smartphones, manufacturers continued to use the
QWERTY keyboard layout. It’s crazy to think that 21st-century devices still carry the vestiges of a design
from the mid-1800s.

The problem is that we tend to think in metaphors (e.g., “the PC is the new typewriter”). This limits the
ability to truly innovate and leverage new capabilities as technology evolves. It happens all the time.

Unfortunately, the limitations of old tools can influence and constrain how we approach new problems.
For software, this can lead to biased and suboptimal solutions for security, architecture, and performance.
The consequences can be especially harsh when it comes to cybersecurity.

Cyber Defense eMagazine –June 2020 Edition 64
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