Crafting Robust Architectures for a Resilient Future • Eleanor Saitta & Jez Humble
Oct 13, 2023
auto_awesome
In this podcast, security expert Eleanor Saitta and technology thought leader Jez Humble discuss the critical role of architectural clarity in ensuring robust security and resilience. They highlight the challenges faced in adapting to changing ecosystems and shed light on potential risks associated with Windows and Office usage. They also emphasize the significance of architectural awareness and basic IT hygiene in safeguarding organizations against security threats. Topics covered include building secure infrastructures with continuous delivery, challenges and solutions in software tools and security, setting up and deploying startups, and the importance of taking action and security certifications.
Building secure infrastructures requires declarative and ephemeral systems heavily reliant on infrastructure as code.
Balancing cloud architectures and legacy systems requires clear architectural plans and gradual modernization to minimize complexity and improve security.
Deep dives
The Overlap Between Continuous Delivery and Building Secure Infrastructures
In the podcast episode, the speakers discussed the strong connection between continuous delivery and building secure infrastructures. They highlighted the importance of building systems that are declarative, ephemeral, and heavily reliant on infrastructure as code. By implementing these practices, such as using containers and regularly verifying the system's state, organizations can achieve not only reliability and observability but also enhanced security. The speakers emphasized that security, reliability, and resilience are interconnected and should be integrated into the development process from the start.
Applying Continuous Delivery Principles on Bare Metal Environments
The podcast delved into applying continuous delivery principles in bare metal environments, which presents additional challenges compared to cloud-based systems. While cloud systems have become more common, the expertise in managing bare metal infrastructure has dwindled. However, the speakers emphasized that the goal remains the same, which includes sandboxing workloads, using efficient deployment methods, and ensuring rapid refreshing of systems. Although it may require more customization and manual efforts, building on bare metal also offers opportunities to flatten the stack architecture and optimize security measures.
Balancing Cloud Architectures and Legacy Systems
The podcast touched upon the challenge of balancing cloud architectures and legacy systems in organizations. It was noted that while cloud systems bring benefits like scalability and flexibility, some companies still rely on a mixture of traditional on-premises systems and cloud deployments. Smaller companies often face the dilemma of migrating from legacy systems while keeping up with new features and evolving infrastructure. The speakers highlighted the importance of having clear architectural plans, gradually modernizing the ecosystem, and structuring control planes to minimize complexity, which subsequently improves both security and performance.
Initial Steps for Ensuring Security in Startups
The speakers provided valuable advice for startups on establishing strong security foundations from the beginning. They recommended implementing infrastructure automation, such as using tools like Terraform, to ensure consistent and scalable deployment processes. They emphasized the need for containerization from the start and suggested outsourcing authentication and log centralization initially if it is not a core competency. Additionally, they highlighted the significance of documentation and orienting documentation as a way to onboard new team members efficiently and enhance equity in the company. Lastly, the speakers stressed the importance of not delaying security measures and prioritizing basic hygiene practices such as choosing secure tooling, having tested backups, and implementing strong authorization and authentication mechanisms.
DESCRIPTION Whether you're building a new system with an established team, trying to tame a legacy ecosystem, or starting from scratch, how you think about security and reliability has a big impact on how hard they are for you to achieve.
In a candid conversation between security expert Eleanor Saitta and technology thought leader Jez Humble, the critical role of architectural clarity in ensuring robust security and resilience comes to the forefront. Saitta emphasizes the necessity of understanding and intentionally designing your architecture, highlighting the challenges faced by organizations in adapting to changing ecosystems. They discuss the dual aspects of security – external services and internal IT operations – shedding light on the potential risks associated with Windows and Office usage. Hear in this GOTO Unscripted talk about the significance of architectural awareness and basic IT hygiene in safeguarding organizations against security threats.