Oracle Cloud IaaS security gets superhero status from Ellison
TechTarget editors discuss security updates to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and company leader Larry Ellison's vivid depiction of cloud-borne cyberthreats and bots to counter them.
Cyberthreats give IT managers constant anxiety, and Oracle Executive Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison is glad to remind them of that.
At Oracle OpenWorld 2018, Ellison argued his case for his brand of cloud computing, one based largely on the strength of the Oracle Cloud IaaS platform, which recently gained a wrapping of new capabilities that particularly address cyberthreats.
New additions to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, as the IaaS technology is formally known, include a native web application firewall said to block botnets, a cloud access security broker and a key management service to aid in data encryption. The updated Oracle Cloud IaaS offering also provides new protections to help users detect and mitigate large-scale distributed denial-of-service attacks.
If you think this is dry stuff, you didn't hear Ellison's OpenWorld keynote. The basic tools of cybersecurity become AI-infused "autonomous robots that go out and stop threats," he proclaimed, telling the story with the color and verve that comic book creators bring to their four-color superhero epics. For example, he described "impenetrable barriers" in Oracle's cloud that may evoke the image of Superman's Fortress of Solitude.
Ellison and Oracle could well be onto something, according to TechTarget reporters who got together at OpenWorld 2018 for this edition of the Talking Data podcast. They note that the isolated hackers of yesterday have been joined today by determined nation-states and organized criminal gangs, often with the intent to harm commercial interests online.
As customers move to the cloud, Ellison is asking them to entrust responsibility for their data to Oracle.
The company has a strong enterprise lineage, which Ellison is not shy to profess. And enhancements to its Oracle Cloud IaaS are an important step for the vendor, which obtained the cybersecurity tools in its 2016 acquisition of Internet backbone provider Dyn.
Security enhancements to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, along with Oracle's Autonomous Database technology, are linchpins in Oracle's efforts to gain momentum in the cloud.
While Oracle representatives may privately admit that Ellison delivered his presentations in a style akin to superhero dramas, with more than a little fear factor, they also maintain that there are real technologies behind the bravado and that these technologies will distinguish the company's cloud efforts from those of other vendors. Listen to the podcast for more insight on Oracle's plans.