Establishing a Clear View: Cloud Security vs. Traditional Security
- Clair Finkenbinder
- Oct 3
- 5 min read
Understanding Data Risks & the Capabilities of Your Architecture
In today’s digital landscape, data is the lifeblood of every organization. If you’re considering cloud security vs. traditional security, this blog is intended to prepare you (or other leadership) for that conversation.
Whether it's stored in the cloud vs. on-premise, the environment your data resides in plays a critical role in how it's protected—and how vulnerable it may be. Assessing the risks and capabilities of each environment is not just a best practice; it's a necessity.
Comparing Traditional Environments vs. Cloud Environments
It’s easy up front to focus directly on the costs associated when looking at cloud vs. on-premise security. But when discussing the matter, especially with those outside the IT department, it’s key that everyone understands the long-term impact, too. You need to consider the full picture of the business, beyond costs and IT needs, and find a partner who can help you understand those risks.
The ultimate question is how much each area of risk costs you, and which ones is your company prepared to be responsible for? And while both paths have different risks, which ones are you more comfortable owning?
With traditional network security, the risks for a business are:
Sole Control: Sole responsibility for data management and failures.
Single-point Failure: If your environment has an outage or critical event, restoration is all on your team.
Dated Equipment: Because of rigid hardware contracts, you’re more exposed to hardware failure or vulnerabilities if you’re not routinely updating equipment.
Technical Talent: Team staffing and retention play a role in how you can meet demand.
Less Flexibility: Meeting business growth goals quickly is directly impacted by staffing and physical resources.
With Cloud security, the risks for a business are:
Shared Control: Responsibility is split with your organization and Cloud provider, but you must be diligent in the pieces that still fall under your team.
Requirement: Dependency on internet connectivity.
Data Management: Data storage policies and jurisdiction need to follow stringent regulations, especially if you’re in healthcare or financial services.
Slow Time to Launch: Not understanding how IT isn’t only a department but can be a business partner.
How ROI Factors Into the Picture of Risks & Capabilities
Like any business decision, ROI plays a heavy role in deciding between cloud vs. on-premises security. It’s probably already come up as a question for others involved.
Hardware and management are the easiest factors to pinpoint initially when exploring Cloud solutions. But other aspects will impact ROI beyond hardware.
Other factors that will impact your ROI include:
Time to deployment and getting the environment running on time. (Plus, the ROI yielded from a faster timeline.)
Hiring and retaining a full team with the technical skills and experience.
Knowledge loss risks if technical players implementing the environment leave. (Particularly for traditional environments.)
Managing ongoing maintenance and contingency planning.
The potential scale of expenses incurred by system failures or downtime.
Delays in scaling based on hardware contracts.
The costs associated with being a sole owner of all risk.
Shifting Perspectives on Network Security vs. Cloud Security
Traditional network security maintenance has long relied on physical infrastructure, such as firewalls, routers, and switches, as the first line of defense.
These devices are tangible, often housed within your own data centers, and managed by your internal teams. The security model is built around perimeter defense, assuming that threats come from outside and that internal systems are inherently trustworthy.
Cloud security, however, is no less secure; it’s simply different. It operates in a more abstracted realm, where the same trusted vendors offer virtualized versions of their solutions.
These “devices” are now applications—scalable, automated, and deeply integrated into cloud platforms. Logging, monitoring, and orchestration play a much larger role in delivering security services. The cloud shifts the focus from perimeter defense to identity, access control, and continuous visibility.
Experience Matters—But So Does Vigilance
I often joke that even if I won a trillion dollars and built my own hyperscaler, I couldn’t match the decades of experience and hard-earned lessons that Microsoft, AWS, and Google bring to the table. They have embedded security into every layer of their platforms, from hardware to software, from operations to compliance.
But that doesn’t mean blind trust is warranted.
Security is a shared responsibility. While cloud providers offer robust security capabilities, it's up to each organization to understand the risks and potential impact of a breach, regardless of where the data resides. The cloud offers powerful tools, but they must be configured, monitored, and maintained with the same rigor as any on-premises solution.
Learning from Breaches
When breaches make headlines, I invest time in understanding the architectures involved. Unfortunately, many incidents are downplayed or not disclosed unless regulations require it. This lack of transparency makes it even more important to stay informed and proactive.
The truth is, most cloud security breaches stem from simple oversight, such as missed patches, misconfigured permissions, or neglected alerts. These are preventable issues, but they require diligence, process, and a culture of accountability.
Awareness is Your Strongest Defense
Security isn’t just about tools; it’s about understanding. Knowing the capabilities and limitations of your environment allows you to make informed decisions, mitigate risks, and respond effectively when things go wrong.
Whether your data lives in a server room or across multiple cloud regions, the core principles remain the same:
Assess risk.
Understand impact.
Continue learning.
Cloud security is not a compromise; it’s an evolution. And with the right mindset, it can be just as secure, if not more so, than traditional security maintenance approaches.
Build A Secure Cloud Environment with Veritium
Weighing cloud security vs. traditional security to determine which environment is the better fit? With our cloud services, maintaining a secure cloud environment doesn’t have to be complicated.
Unlike the traditional MSP model with up-front fees and lock-in contracts, our goal is to add value because your success is our success. So we removed the front-loaded costs that prevent companies from moving to and using the cloud. We also make sure you only pay for what you use.
Plus, our team has an extensive background in IT and financial services, so we truly understand what running a secure environment requires.
Hi, I'm Clair.
Founder & CRO at Veritium
I'm glad you're here reading. With decades of experience in IT leadership and systems engineering from companies like Dell EMC and Centric Bank, I'm passionate about leveraging technology to help businesses grow, particularly in their Cloud environments. The IT Department isn't a cost center. It's a strategic partner, and my goal is to help you empower IT to fuel your success.