Legacy infrastructure issues are driving organisations to consider virtual, cloud-based network software. But many businesses aren’t sure whether they can access the benefits of cloud working securely. A hybrid approach – part cloud/part on-premise IT − could work for them. They’re unclear about what security measures they need to support an effective hybrid workforce. They want to increase network flexibility and save costs with software-defined networking while protecting the business from risk.

Businesses face the challenge of implementing flexible and dynamic security to control global networks. They need to allow people to work from anywhere on mobile devices but protect them from identity misuse and endpoint threat.

User authentication is especially important for Lundbeck, a pharmaceutical company specialising in brain diseases.

“We’re trying to make sure that we have a consistent multi-factor authentication policy across all cloud solutions,” says Torben Olsen, Lundbeck’s head of cyber security.

Finding workers with the right cloud security skills can be a challenge, he adds. “There is a skills gap when an organisation is trying to operate a cloud platform between many people who have been trained and used to an on-premise solution. Cloud technology works differently. You need different skills to build cloud applications and manage them.”