The 2024 RSA Conference was a hotbed of innovation and collaboration, with cybersecurity experts from around the world converging to tackle the most pressing challenges facing the industry. At the heart of these discussions was the critical importance of cloud security, as organizations increasingly rely on cloud technologies to drive their business forward. Orca Security was at the forefront of these conversations, engaging with customers, partners, and industry leaders to share insights and strategies for navigating the complex landscape of cloud security.
Through countless interactions on the expo floor, meetings, and events, Orca’s team of experts uncovered valuable lessons and trends that are shaping the future of cloud security. From the growing impact of artificial intelligence to the importance of governance and the need for balanced security solutions, these conversations highlighted the key challenges and opportunities facing organizations as they seek to secure their cloud environments.
In this blog post, we’ll dive into the top 5 takeaways from RSA 2024, providing actionable insights and strategies for CISOs and cloud security professionals looking to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of cloud security.
#1. The rise of AI: a double-edged sword
The increasing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in cybersecurity was a dominant theme at RSA 2024. AI-powered platforms offer the potential to revolutionize threat detection and response, leveraging machine learning to identify anomalies, detect active attacks, and calculate optimal configurations, and LLMs to generate remediation code, simplify searches, and more.
However, as organizations race to adopt AI models in their own business processes, they also present new attack surfaces that can be exploited by adversaries, which has given rise to the need for AI security.
To harness the benefits of AI while mitigating the risks, organizations must adopt a proactive and holistic approach to AI security. This includes implementing robust governance frameworks and fostering close collaboration between cybersecurity teams, data scientists, and AI experts.
At Orca, we recognize the transformative potential of AI, as well as the challenges it presents. This is why we now offer AI Security capabilities in our platform, so Orca customers can continue to leverage AI at unhindered speed, but do so safely. By offering AI security from Orca’s comprehensive platform, organizations avoid having to add yet another point security solution specific to AI security to their arsenal, reducing overhead and integrating into existing workflows.
#2. Governance takes center stage for CISOs
Another key takeaway from the conference was the growing importance of governance in cybersecurity. CISOs are increasingly focused on understanding whether their controls and processes are effective, rather than simply implementing technology solutions. This shift towards a more strategic approach to cybersecurity governance is driven by the need to provide business value that aligns with reducing risk. As organizations face an ever-expanding threat landscape, CISOs must ensure that their cybersecurity strategies are not only technically sound but also aligned with broader business objectives.
#3.Balancing platform and best-of-breed Solutions
The debate between platform and best-of-breed solutions was a hot topic at RSA 2024. As Neil Carpenter, Field CTO at Orca Security, points out, it’s not so much a question of needing one or the other, but that organizations actually need both – a platform that is best-of-breed in its space, and integrates well with other tools and best-of-breed solutions that excel in their specific areas. For instance, the Orca Cloud Security Platform offers many integrations with SOAR, SIEM, CI/CD, code repositories, ticketing systems, and other tools, which enables teams to leverage Orca’s risk findings, analysis, and remediation, without having to change their existing workflows.
#4. The biggest cloud security challenges: alert fatigue and remediation
Alert fatigue and remediation emerged as one of the most pressing challenges in cloud security at RSA 2024. As organizations adopt a growing number of security tools and technologies to protect their cloud environments, they often find themselves drowning in a sea of alerts. The sheer volume of notifications can be overwhelming, making it difficult for security teams to separate the critical threats from the ones that are just noise. Security teams need to be able to quickly identify the most significant risks and prioritize their remediation efforts accordingly. However, this is easier said than done, as alerts often lack the necessary context and correlation to determine their true impact and urgency.
Organizations should leverage cloud security platforms that can effectively prioritize risk by considering several factors (such as severity, exploitability, and potential business impact) and performing attack path analysis to calculate compound risk. Cloud security solutions should not only identify the most critical risks, but should also help teams remediate these risks as quickly as possible, offering a combination of automated and guided remediation options, including AI-generated remediation code and steps.
#5. Excitement for the Future
RSA is a great opportunity for security companies, customers, and partners to talk about industry needs and challenges, and how vendors can focus on the outcomes that are most needed by organizations. By coming together at an event like this, we can all work towards making the cloud a safer place for everyone, which is of course our ultimate goal.
For Orca, one of the most exciting takeaways from RSA 2024 was the strong alignment between us and our customers on the future direction of cloud security. As the Orca team outlined the plans for enhancing the Orca platform, expanding our capabilities, and delivering even greater value, customers responded with resounding affirmation and excitement. They recognized that our unwavering commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and tangible outcomes aligns perfectly with their own goals and challenges.
These conversations were not just about technology; they were about forging true partnerships built on trust, collaboration, and a shared mission to create a more secure cloud ecosystem. As we look to the future, here at Orca we’re greatly energized by the momentum we’ve built and are highly committed to continue to innovate to make the Orca Platform the most comprehensive and easy-to-use cloud security solution out there.
