What to expect for cloud technology in 2024 (Guest blog from Gigamon)

Author: Mark Coates, VP EMEA, Gigamon

As organisations continue to digitalise their infrastructure at a rapid pace, complexity becomes an inevitability. Cloud computing has witnessed this for many years, with expanded workforces, heightened security measures, and hybrid cloud environments contributing to ever more intricate networks. The integration of AI solutions further adds to this, leading to two main challenges in the coming years – cloud spending and security risks.

The first challenge revolves around the impact of AI adoption on cloud spend. The demand for AI technology as a catalyst for operational efficiency significantly affects compute power. Hybrid cloud organisations face higher workloads, resulting in increasingly complex environments. Without increased investment in monitoring tools, there is a looming risk of infrastructure overwhelm, impacting the reliability and speed of services. Spiralling cloud costs, driven by the need for highly scalable environments, energy expenses, and subscriptions, are already a reality for businesses rapidly adopting AI.

Another challenge lies in the security risks posed by these complex environments. Maintaining security and basic network communications requires an understanding of sprawling network traffic. Some AI applications introduce additional risks, such as insecure code through AI DevOps. Addressing these challenges often involves increased investment in network tooling, placing a strain on resources. In the coming year, cloud providers will face mounting pressure to enhance security and network management capabilities, supporting businesses in streamlining traffic, reducing the signal-to-noise ratio, and achieving the accuracy of their AI technologies by minimising false positives.

Looking ahead for 2024

Security and compliance will be pivotal in defining the cloud computing industry in 2024. The focus on cloud-native technologies like containers and container orchestrations will continue to rise, with widespread adoption expected. Similarly, the prevalence of serverless computing will increase due to its scalability and cost-effectiveness.

However, with the adoption of these technologies, security becomes an even greater priority. They bring about an expanded attack surface and complicate network visibility. This is where security will have to become even more of a priority: these technologies bring about an expanded attack surface for organisations and complicate network visibility. Encrypted traffic – employed to maintain data confidentiality in the event of a breach - only compounds the problem. Research shows that 93 percent of malware hides behind encryption and yet, a 2023 survey found only 30 percent of UK IT and Security leaders have sufficient visibility into encrypted traffic. Containerisation adds to the challenges around capturing encrypted traffic, so without careful controls this malware risk can increase drastically. Improving visibility across hybrid cloud infrastructures will therefore be a big challenge in 2024, and one that cloud computing providers will need to tackle to remain competitive.

Fortunately, Zero Trust has become prevalent across enterprises, with 85% of UK IT and Security leaders reporting its discussion at the board level in 2023. The convergence of security and network teams will be a defining feature of 2024, as organisations respond to the pressures of still-remote workforces, evolving cloud environments, and AI integration.

AIOps will take the spotlight

AIOps, the application of AI to IT operations and infrastructure, will see significant growth in 2024. The improved efficiency and resiliency offered by AIOps will result in a far superior user experience for end users. This capacity will be a defining factor in competitive industries, driving an inevitable increase in demand.

However, this surge in AIOps adoption will impact security strategies. Embracing automation and AIOps in network and cloud security will enable seamless operations, allowing IT and security teams to be more proactive. Balancing these benefits with the potential malicious use of AI technology by cybercriminals becomes a critical consideration. The challenge for the IT/Security industry will be leveraging these technologies to secure and operationalise defence patterns across security environments, while remaining vigilant against unique and creative ways that malicious actors may exploit security defences with fewer resources in real time.