Hybrid cloud gives you flexibility but also complexity. With apps and infrastructure spread across public cloud and on-prem, visibility breaks down, access controls get messy, and compliance risks pile up fast. Experts predict the hybrid cloud market will reach $480.2 billion by 2033, underscoring just how quickly organizations are adopting this model and why securing it is critical.
This guide covers the core risks of hybrid cloud security, compliance, and operational, and the eight best practices for locking them down, from Zero Trust and JIT access to unified monitoring, segmentation, and incident response.
Hybrid Cloud Security Challenges
A hybrid cloud environment can bring the following risks:
Security risks
- An expanded attack surface when using multiple environments
- Inconsistent security controls between cloud providers and on-prem infrastructure
- Issues with identity sprawl and access management
- Growing insider threats and shadow IT
Compliance risks
- Complications with compliance and audits
- Difficulty enforcing GDPR, HIPAA, and other regulations
- Potential fines for non-compliance
Operational risks
- Latency problems
- Complexity in managing workflows
- Tool sprawl
8 Best Practices for Core Hybrid Cloud Security
Hybrid cloud gives you the best of both worlds. You get the scalability of the cloud and the control that comes with on-premises infrastructure. However, mixing cloud and on-prem environments can open up security blind spots that sometimes leave your business vulnerable. To reduce potential risks, here are eight best practices you should follow:
1. Establish strong identity and access management
Managing identities and access in a hybrid cloud is tricky. That's especially true when on-prem systems and public cloud platforms have different sets of credentials and security policies. You increase the odds of security gaps in your setup, potentially leading to a data breach or other event.
Consider the following:
- Centralizing identity and access management (IAM) across different environments to provide a level of consistency and control across your cloud infrastructure. Aim to create a single system for all your identity and access policies rather than managing separate configurations.
- Adopting Zero Trust principles. These enable you to authorize and authenticate every access request, regardless of its origin. Sixty-three percent of organizations are now using a Zero Trust strategy.
- Pairing Zero Trust with least privilege access and role-based access control (RBAC). This means users have only the permissions necessary to perform their jobs, reducing the risk of unauthorized access to your resources.
💡Make it easy: StrongDM can enhance your organization's IAM by providing secure, centralized access across hybrid environments, eliminating the need for shared credentials.
2. Encrypt data in transit and at rest
When data moves between on-prem systems and different cloud platforms, it might create points of exposure that cybercriminals can sometimes exploit. To prevent this, it's best to use strong encryption, such as:
- TLS/SSL for data in transit
- AES 256 for data at rest
- Secure VPNs to protect network traffic between cloud and on-prem systems
Proper key management is also essential. You should rotate encryption keys regularly and audit them for compliance. For extra protection, keep keys separate from the data they are trying to protect.
💡Make it easy: StrongDM provides end-to-end encryption for all sessions, no matter your environment. This means every interaction is secure.
3. Unify visibility and monitoring
You need visibility into both cloud platforms and on-prem equipment to detect potential threats and improve compliance. This is where a single pane of glass comes in. It's a centralized dashboard that pulls data from all the different security tools and systems used within your organization. As a result, you can monitor operations and generate insights from a single location.
Other tips for unifying visibility and monitoring include collecting logs from all your environments to detect anomalies. You can also deploy SIEM/SOAR tools to improve incident response and detection times. Finally, enable session recording. It provides an audit trail for compliance and forensics, making it easier to investigate incidents.
💡Make it easy: StrongDMcaptures session logs and monitors activity across hybrid cloud resources. This provides a comprehensive view of different environments without the complexity.
4. Automate compliance and continuous auditing
Failing to adhere to GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and other compliance frameworks can potentially damage your hard-earned reputation and result in costly penalties from the government. You'll want to automate this process in your hybrid cloud as much as possible. This might involve using:
- Logs
- Audit trails
- Other evidence collection and reporting tools
As a result, you can ensure that all your data is accurate, up to date, and compliant at all times.
💡Make it easy: Continuous compliance is more reliable than point-in-time audits, which happen at specified intervals. StrongDM supports this approach with automatic logging, audit trails, and compliance-ready reports for ongoing regulatory assurance.
5. Implement network security and segmentation
Protecting east-west traffic across hybrid networks is crucial for preventing the lateral movement of threats and safeguarding your data as it transfers from one location to another. Some of the best ways to do this include:
- Using microsegmentation and software-defined perimeters (SDP). These isolate sensitive resources and help you enforce your security policies.
- Securing APIs and interconnections to ensure nobody can intercept your data as it travels between environments.
- Adopting Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to verify every connection.
💡Make it easy: StrongDM simplifies segmentation, Zero Trust policies, and other network security measures by providing identity-based access that replaces traditional VPNs and firewalls. This way, you can make hybrid networks more secure.
6. Secure remote and third-party access
Contractors, partners, and remote workers may require access to systems in a hybrid cloud environment. However, this can be difficult to manage. Relying on multiple VPNs and shared credentials might increase risk, so you'll want to take the necessary safety precautions.
Provision and deprovision of access ensure that the right users can access the systems they need. You can also prevent unauthorized individuals from gaining entry. This approach improves hybrid cloud data protection and prevents insider threats.
💡Make it easy: StrongDM provides just-in-time, auditable access to resources without requiring the use of VPNs or shared passwords.
7. Embrace cloud-native security tools
Cloud providers in a hybrid setup have their own native security tools, such as:
- AWS' GuardDuty
- Azure's Security Center
- Google Cloud's Security Command Center
Utilizing these tools enables you to leverage the latest security features and mitigate risks across all the platforms you use.
Integrating security tools from cloud providers with centralized policies and monitoring is even more effective, ensuring security controls stay consistent across your hybrid environment.
That said, you should avoid tool sprawl, which happens when you deploy too many security platforms with overlapping features. Consolidate your tools where possible to reduce complexity in your workflows.
8. Build a resilient incident response plan
Less than half of all companies have a cybersecurity response plan and run regular tests on it. Don't be one of them. Consider creating a unified playbook that helps you respond to incidents involving on-premise systems and the cloud. This minimizes downtime and improves business continuity.
Gaining visibility into all your infrastructure is also essential, as it allows you to understand the impact of an incident. Forensic analysis, in particular, can be useful for identifying the root cause of an adverse event. You can also automate detection and containment processes to minimize potential damage to your business.
💡Make it easy: StrongDM provides centralized monitoring for the hybrid cloud, enabling your team to act quickly in response to an event.
Emerging Trends in Hybrid Cloud Security
As well as implementing the hybrid cloud security best practices above, you should know about the latest trends that can help you protect your hybrid environment:
- AI-driven threat detection: AI and machine learning can quickly identify threats in hybrid clouds by analyzing large volumes of data in real-time. These technologies enable you to respond more rapidly to security incidents, enhancing the security of your business.
- Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) adoption: SASE combines security and networking functions as a service, providing ongoing protection for a hybrid cloud environment.
- Convergence of IAM, ZTNA, and PAM: Integrating IAM, ZTNA, and privileged access management (PAM) gives you even more control over who can access your data and systems and when.
- Growing need for continuous compliance: As mentioned earlier, point-in-time audits are no longer reliable for companies that need to comply with data regulations. Instead, use continuous compliance solutions that provide ongoing monitoring and reporting.
How StrongDM Helps Secure Hybrid Cloud Environments
Hybrid cloud introduces complexity because organizations must stitch together on-prem systems, multiple cloud providers, and varied security models. StrongDM simplifies and secures this landscape with a unified, identity- and protocol-aware access platform.
- Centralized, Identity-Based Access: Instead of juggling VPNs, bastions, or per-system accounts, StrongDM unifies access across data centers and cloud platforms. Users authenticate through your identity provider (SSO/SCIM), and StrongDM enforces consistent, role-based access everywhere.
- Dynamic, Context-Aware Controls: The policy engine evaluates real-time signals like device health, location, or time before granting access. You can require MFA, approvals, or justifications for sensitive operations, eliminating standing privileges and reducing risk.
- Just-in-Time Access & Credential Security: Engineers, contractors, or partners get temporary access only when needed. Credentials are never exposed; StrongDM injects them just-in-time from your secret stores (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, etc.), preventing leakage and shadow IT.
- End-to-End Session Logging & Compliance: Every query, command, and login is captured in fine detail. Logs can stream directly to your SIEM, enabling continuous compliance with frameworks like SOC 2, HIPAA, or PCI DSS.
- Resilient, Zero Trust Architecture: Gateways and relays deployed in both cloud and on-prem act as policy enforcement points. They eliminate lateral movement by ensuring access is tied to identity and protocol, not networks. High-availability deployment options and mesh routing keep hybrid environments performant and reliable.
The result: hybrid cloud environments become as governable and auditable as a single system. Teams gain the flexibility of a hybrid infrastructure without inheriting its unmanaged risk.
Want to eliminate hybrid cloud blind spots? Book a StrongDM demo and secure your infrastructure without slowing anyone down.
