Black Hat 2024: How to Up Your Cloud Security Game with 3 Easy Metrics

It's no secret that you want to control access to your cloud computing resources… and should a trespasser get in, you want them out ASAP. Suresh Vasudevan, CEO of Sysdig, adds some sobering context to these management tenets when he stops by the Dark Reading News Desk during Black Hat USA. And what Sysdig's threat research teams have seen is that once an attacker breaks into the cloud, they need only 10 minutes or less to conduct reconnaissance, do lateral movement, and get to an exploit, which is where the 555 Benchmark comes in. "It's really articulating a standard for what detection and response in the cloud should aim for, which is you really have five seconds in which to detect a breach that's underway," Vasudevan says. "Then five minutes to triage what's happening as you see the symptoms of an attack, and five minutes to respond. That's a daunting challenge for today's SOC teams."

Vasudevan cites two major approaches to cloud security. One focuses more on prevention and risk reduction; the other prioritizes detection and how to respond when an attacker does break in. But this isn't an either-or sort of choice. "I don't think of these as two separate aspects as much as they are complementary," he says. "You need both."

But Vasudevan raises another discomfiting data point from Sysdig's research team. "Dwell time in the cloud is measured in minutes, whereas dwell time on-premises is measured in days," he notes. Detection and the ability to respond quickly to cloud attacks isn't just nice to have, it's essential to prioritize.

Suresh Vasudevan has served as CEO at Sysdig since February 2018. Prior to joining Sysdig, he was the president and CEO of Nimble Storage, until its acquisition by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) in May 2017. During his time at the company, he led Nimble from a startup, through a successful IPO, and on to be a provider of next-generation flash storage systems and a pioneer in leveraging predictive analytics for infrastructure management. He was also CEO of Omneon (acquired by Harmonic), and previously served as a member of the executive team at NetApp, overseeing all product operations. During a decade-long career at NetApp, Suresh led the company's product strategy and product development and was the architect of the expansion of NetApp's product portfolio into new markets. He also worked at McKinsey & Co. in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Chicago as a senior engagement manager. He holds a B.E. degree in electrical engineering (with honors) from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) in Pilani, India, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Calcutta, India.