Which integrators are leading the cloud security charge?
Credit: Dreamstime  Accenture, Deloitte, EY, IBM, NTT, PwC and TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) have been labelled as leaders in the cloud security services market across Asia Pacific region, according to a new study by analyst firm IDC. The IDC MarketScape: Asia/Pacific Cloud Security Services 2021 Vendor Assessment Study suggested that these cloud security services providers demonstrated leadership in the provision of a broader spectrum of cloud-related and cloud-native security capabilities, as well as proven customer cases in assisting strategies, crucial to the successful and secure transformation initiatives. DXC, KPMG, Samsung SDS, Tata Communications, Telstra, Trustwave and Wipro closely followed, labelled by IDC as the seven major players in the market, with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Microsoft and LG CNS placed among the vendors to watch. The value of engaging a cloud security services vendor provides continuous assurance and operational excellence to these mature organisations, IDC Asia Pacific associate research director for services and security Cathy Huang said. At the same time, it is also very important for organisations that just started their cloud transformation journey to have an expert view to assess, design and implement the relevant security frameworks at an early stage, and adopt the applicable cloud-native solutions.  Credit: Supplied Cathy Huang (IDC)  IDC Asia Pacific research manager for services and security James Sivalingam added that, as more organisations took their cloud strategies up a notch during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were several layers of complexities involved in secure migration to the cloud. In addition to modernising application, adhering to 'secure by design' principles, and managing workload and data across different environments, businesses continue to face run-of-the-mill security challenge, now with an added layer of cloud complexity," he said. Thus, finding the right security partner is imperative to ensure the security is foundational to the cloud journey." The report utilised an assessment framework to evaluate vendors on their ability to support customers with a range of security requirements across the breadth of business processes, IT operations and engagement experiences. The research was informed by a detailed vendor assessment across 22 different elements across a range of criteria, with information gathered from vendor responses to IDC's request for information (RFI) questionnaire, vendor briefings, customer references and IDC's other related research. In the context of the report, IDC defines cloud security services as a set of security services whose primary focus is to provide security management capabilities to ensure 24/7 operations of cloud technologies and architectures. In addition to this, the services segment also includes other "embedded" professional security services, ranging from security consulting, assessment and advisory services that are incorporated into a cloud engagement, such as cloud security assessment, cloud-driven policy and architecture review and cloud security strategy, among others.