Strengthening multi-cloud security with a unified approach

State and local governments and educational institutions are increasingly adopting cloud infrastructure to meet operational needs, boost agility and enhance services. However, the multi-cloud environments that enable this transformation also introduce a new set of security challenges.

Traditional security solutions, designed for on-premise data centers, fail to provide the visibility, control and coordination needed in the cloud. This means IT professionals urgently need unified cloud security strategies to protect their multi-cloud architectures effectively and ensure the seamless delivery of critical services without disruption.

The complexity of multi-cloud security

While multi-cloud environments provide flexibility by allowing agencies and institutions to leverage the best services from multiple providers, they come with a downside: siloed systems and fragmented security controls.

Shifting to a unified security approach

The rise of cloud-native applications and self-service models often leaves IT teams without full visibility, leading to unclear security ownership and an increased risk of undetected threats or misconfigurations. Security alerts across various cloud platforms frequently lack correlation, making it difficult to identify and respond to overarching risks effectively. Moreover, APIs linking these environments, if not properly managed, can do more harm than good — introducing new attack vectors and further complicating the security landscape.

To address these gaps, cloud security needs an approach that provides comprehensive visibility and streamlines security processes across all platforms.

A unified cloud native protection tool, such as Wiz’s Cloud Security Platform, can transform how state and local governments and educational institutions handle cloud security.

Cloud Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPPs) like the Wiz Cloud Security Platform provide end-to-end visibility across cloud applications, services and workloads, enabling agencies to spot risks and vulnerabilities early. By integrating all security functions into a single platform, CNAPPs break down the silos that currently hinder efficient risk management.

One of the most critical aspects of unifying cloud security is prioritizing risks. Organizations with complicated cloud deployments, including government agencies and educational institutions, often receive thousands of alerts per day but lack the tools to contextualize them effectively. Solutions like Wiz Cloud — which is FedRAMP Moderate and StateRAMP authorized — identify risks and prioritize them based on context and potential impact, allowing security teams to focus on the most critical threats first. This triage capability is essential for resource-constrained organizations that need to maximize the effectiveness of their security teams.

Other benefits of a unified approach

In addition to prioritizing risks, a unified cloud security platform provides other benefits that are hard to achieve when IT and security systems are operating independently from one another:

Enabling zero trust: A unified cloud security platform can greatly enhance the implementation of Zero-Trust architectures. CNAPPs can map out the relationships between applications, services, and data and identify potential attack paths. By continuously monitoring these connections and enforcing security policies at every level, organizations can reduce their attack surfaces.

Addressing the skills gap: Managing security across multiple cloud platforms requires specialized knowledge, which is often costly and in short supply.Unified cloud security platforms help address this challenge by simplifying security processes. For instance, Wiz’s agentless approach allows for rapid deployment, with complete visibility into a cloud environment within 24 hours. This ease of use is critical for organizations that cannot afford extended downtime or complex implementations. Furthermore, the Wiz Cloud Security Platform provides graphical interfaces and automated workflows that make it easier for non-security staff, such as developers and project managers, to understand and address security issues in their domains.

Building public trust: Security is not just about protecting data — it’s about maintaining trust. As more services move online, constituents, students and faculty need to feel confident that their personal information is safe and that systems are resilient against cyberattacks. A unified cloud security approach can help protect this trust. By ensuring that all cloud environments are secured through a single, cohesive strategy, agencies and institutions can reduce the likelihood of a breach and demonstrate that they are taking the necessary steps to protect sensitive information. This not only secures data but also enables them to continue delivering essential services without interruption​.

As state and local government and educational institutions continue their cloud journeys, they must adopt a unified approach to security. The complexity of multi-cloud environments demands a solution that provides visibility, correlates security risks and prioritizes vulnerabilities.

The time to act is now — before a fragmented approach to security leads to technical debt and a loss of confidence in an organization’s ability to protect its users.

Learn more about how Wiz can provide full-stack visibility, continuous risk reduction, and compliance reporting in the cloud.