Blockchain Improves Multicloud Network Management

A recent study by RightScale has reported that 81 % of now have a multi-cloud strategy, and a majority have a hybrid of private and public clouds. That’s a
significant number of companies struggling to manage complex existing
networks and multiple clouds as well as the associated security strains. 
 
Blockchain technology may still be new technology, but it has a lot of promise in exactly this kind of environment. 
 
Let’s take a look at two common challenges where blockchain has potential:
 
Making Clouds talk to each other
No matter the reason that necessitates a multi-cloud or hybrid setup, the associated networking challenges are almost always the same. Instances in each cloud provider are typically in their own private network and can’t see each other, let alone communicate, without significant routing or firewall configurations. 
 
Each instance essentially lives in a silo without any interconnection. If the instances do get bridged, it’s an entirely different challenge to make sure communication is secure and safe from attacks such as eavesdropping or “man in the middle.”
Today many businesses solve these issues, if they have sufficient resources (which is a challenge in and of itself), with NATs or VPNs to bridge each network.
 
Unfortunately, that means there’s one more service to configure and maintain and yet another point of failure. 
 
VPNs were created when more static data centers were the norm, rather than the elastic topologies that cloud-hosting enables. This doesn’t allow them to scale well. However, blockchain could help with eliminating any need for a separate, centrally managed VPN by instead using resilient peer-to-peer connections. 
 
Because of blockchain’s decentralised nature and enthusiastic open-source communities, blockchain systems are often accompanied by powerful auxiliary tools and technology, such as robust peer-to-peer networking and data-replication implementations. 
 
These characteristics provide the opportunity to bridge cloud providers into a common network where each connection point securely peers with every other point, regardless of cloud provider or container instance. The resulting peer-to-peer network can act as an agnostic overlay on top of the underlying connection points, enabling simpler and more secure data transfer. 
Cloud providers like Amazon Web Services are quickly catching on to the fact that blockchain is a flexible and increasingly common part of different enterprises’ toolkits.
 
Enabling a decentralised enterprise securely
Speaking of enabling flexible and global businesses, there are no shortages of data points to suggest that remote working is on the rise, workforces are becoming more decentralized, and the competition to attract talent is at a global scale. Successful businesses will need to embrace more flexibility, which means many will look to open remote or “branch” office locations.
 
The challenge for businesses, though, has always been to balance the need for growth against the overall cost, both operationally and from a resource perspective. And scaling a cloud-connecting, spread-out enterprise is one of the harder parts of expansion. 
 
It’s not easy to have decentralised offices and employees, connected through cloud technology, operate just as seamlessly and securely as if they were part of headquarters. 
 
This is a very common and historical challenge for businesses like restaurants or retailers, where added physical locations away from headquarters are the primary drivers of revenue growth. While the legacy solution was fiber, that proved too expensive and complex and required longer-term commitments. This meant an evolution to VPN and SD-WAN options, but what fixed one set of cost and complexity problems only brought in new ones, including expensive hardware or licenses that are more difficult to execute and maintain. As a result, some businesses opted to use multiple options, but each added option can present a security hole with even the slightest misconfiguration.
 
So now the modern enterprise is looking for its next evolution, which provides blockchain another opportunity to improve networks across locations. The flexibility of blockchain networks makes it possible to facilitate more fault-tolerant communication between connection points, even as the network changes in both expected and unexpected ways.
 
Then there’s blockchain’s redundancy. If, for example, important configurations like network topology and firewall rules were managed using on-chain state or even with smart contracts, it might be smarter to deploy and monitor modifications, as there is no central point of failure and every change is tracked with replicated chain data secured by one-way cryptographic hashes.
 
At the end of the day, businesses that want to expand locations could have a blockchain-backed network that provides:
 
• More resiliency if central network points do fail, and
• More secure endpoints with stronger identity management, given blockchain’s powerful cryptographic primitives (namely public and private keys), making it a safer option than easily crackable usernames and passwords.
 
The bottom line is that cloud requirements for the modern enterprise have forced businesses to drain resources on complex workarounds for common network-scaling problems.
 
Blockchain might be a promising, yet nascent technology that ends up being useful in some cases and not in others. However, as developers dig in deeper, it might very well be the best thing to happen to the cloud-powered enterprise since the cloud itself.
 
VentureBeat
 
You Might Also Read:
 
Scalability On Blockchain - Is There A Solution?:
 
« Going Postal: ‘We Have Sent You a Message’
Pentagon Cybersecurity is Falling Behind »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

CSI Consulting Services

CSI Consulting Services

Get Advice From The Experts: * Training * Penetration Testing * Data Governance * GDPR Compliance. Connecting you to the best in the business.

Clayden Law

Clayden Law

Clayden Law advise global businesses that buy and sell technology products and services. We are experts in information technology, data privacy and cybersecurity law.

Cyber Security Supplier Directory

Cyber Security Supplier Directory

Our Supplier Directory lists 6,000+ specialist cyber security service providers in 128 countries worldwide. IS YOUR ORGANISATION LISTED?

WEBINAR: 2024 and Beyond: Top Six Cloud Security Trends

WEBINAR: 2024 and Beyond: Top Six Cloud Security Trends

April 4, 2024 | 11:00 AM PT: Join this webinar to find out about six emerging trends dominating the cloud cybersecurity landscape.

MIRACL

MIRACL

MIRACL provides the world’s only single step Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which can replace passwords on 100% of mobiles, desktops or even Smart TVs.

Keyfactor

Keyfactor

Keyfactor is a leader in cloud-first PKI as-a-Service and crypto-agility solutions. Our Crypto-Agility Platform seamlessly orchestrates every key and certificate across the enterprise.

CS Group

CS Group

CS Group offers a complete range of security solutions from consultancy to security maintenance and from secure infrastructure design to security governance.

ClearDATA

ClearDATA

The ClearDATA Managed Cloud protects sensitive healthcare data using purpose-built DevOps automation, compliance and security safeguards, and healthcare expertise.

IoT Defense

IoT Defense

IoT Defense (IOTD) is a cybersecurity and networking company building solutions that enable the protection of networks and the ever-increasing prevalence of IoT devices.

Marcus Donald People

Marcus Donald People

Marcus Donald People is a UK IT recruitment specialist covering the following sectors: Infrastructure & Cloud, Information Security, Development, Business transformation.

Vaadata

Vaadata

Vaadata are experts in ethical hacking. We secure your web, mobile and IoT platforms.

Rezilion

Rezilion

Rezilion is a stealth mode cyber-security start-up developing a cutting edge technology that makes cloud environments self-protecting and resilient to cyber-attacks.

EYE Security

EYE Security

EYE provides enterprise-grade cyber security services and cyber insurance to SMEs in Europe, Cyber Incident Response and strategic advice in board rooms.

Protek International

Protek International

Protek International delivers world-class Digital Forensics, eDiscovery, Cyber Security, and related Advisory services.

Evina

Evina

Evina offers the most advanced cybersecurity and fraud protection for mobile payment.

Avancer Corporation

Avancer Corporation

Avancer Corporation is a multi-system integrator focusing on Identity and Access Management (IAM) Technology. Founded in 2004.

Telstra

Telstra

Telstra is one of the world's leading telecommunications and technology companies, offering a wider range of services from networks and cloud solutions to mobility and enterprise collaboration tools.

Marcum Technology

Marcum Technology

Marcum Technology consultants are focused on helping you reach your company’s full potential by exploring creative ways to integrate tomorrow’s technology into your business today.

SGTech

SGTech

SGTech is the leading trade association for Singapore's tech industry, offering focused support and development to both strategic and emerging sectors in the industry.

NorthStar

NorthStar

NorthStar provide the visibility needed to track and reduce risk through risk-based vulnerability management and vulnerability exploit prediction.

Sekur Private Data

Sekur Private Data

Sekur Private Data Ltd. is a Cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure communications and secure data management.