Modernizing Your App Security with F5 on Google Cloud
Technology is advancing, networks are expanding, and IT environments are growing more complex. In parallel, application and API growth is exploding, and DevSecOps teams face familiar as well as brand new hurdles, making it difficult to monitor and maintain tight cybersecurity.
At the same time, a global cybersecurity skills gap continues and sprawling, complex toolsets further complicate these issues.
Fortunately, with F5 security solutions fortifying the Google Cloud Platform, there are ways to overcome these challenges. But here is more on just why app security modernization is so necessary.
Cybersecurity help (still) wanted
A shortage of skilled professionals is not new. ISC2 has been tracking the cybersecurity workforce gap for years, and the 2023 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study estimates the global workforce shortage at just under four million people.1 Teams aren't just short-staffed; they also suffer from skills gaps, with cloud computing security skills in the greatest demand.2
Resource and skill shortages are exacerbated by tool sprawl. As organizations deploy apps into more environments (63% are now using three or more3), they must often deal with proprietary security tools that result in duplication and fragmented visibility.
Turn fragmented to fortified application security
AI-based technologies accelerate the need to simplify and consolidate, as the desire to adopt AI exposes organizations' already cumbersome systems. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents whose organizations are currently using AI for software development said they wanted to consolidate their toolchain, compared to 57% of those who aren't using AI.4
Indeed, organizations need security solutions that offset these challenges—solutions that enable complete protection against modern cyber threats across environments and streamline workflows for time- and resource-constrained security teams.
Standardize policies for consistency
F5 provides security wherever apps are deployed. Integration with Google Cloud services, such as Google Cloud Armor, enables organizations to add additional security capabilities to protect their app deployments.
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE) offers a web application firewall that can be integrated into the development lifecycle to protect applications from the start in addition to enabling consistent security across environments.
DevSecOps teams can use F5 BIG-IP VE to define and deploy consistent security policies around traffic flows, identity and access management, and APIs. F5 BIG-IP VE helps to extend existing F5 BIG-IP on-premises security capabilities to the cloud, removes migration roadblocks, and accelerates Google Cloud adoption.
Teams can seamlessly connect F5 BIG-IP VE with Google Kubernetes Engine to apply existing security rules to their modern apps. Plus, access to consistent, easily consumable policies helps security teams avoid having to configure security ad hoc.
Using F5 BIG-IP during the development process empowers organizations to shift left by establishing consistent application security guardrails for every environment, including with virtualized, Kubernetes, and serverless apps. It helps propel efficiency in application ideation, development, and operations.
Simplify operations and deployment
With time and resources at a premium, security teams need straightforward solutions for deployment, management, and use. F5 BIG-IP enables DevSecOps teams to safeguard all their SaaS, on-premises, cloud, and virtualized applications from today's advanced and automated cyberattacks.
F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management offers a unified platform for DevSecOps teams to streamline management and operations for all their F5 BIG-IP applications with a single point of control. Tool consolidation provides single-pane-of-glass management that eliminates duplication of efforts across many point solutions, increasing security operational efficiency and visibility while reducing alert fatigue.
While Google Cloud provides a secure foundation for app modernization, F5 simplifies and modernizes application security with a host of solutions, including F5 Distributed Cloud Services, F5 NGINX, F5 BIG-IP VE, and others—available via the Google Cloud Marketplace.
Learn more about F5 on Google Cloud at f5.com/gcp.
Sources
1. ISC2, ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, Oct. 2023
2. Ibid.
3. F5, 2024 State of Application Strategy Report, Apr. 2024
4. IBM, Cost of Data Breach Report 2023, Jul. 2023