We live in a world where an increasing share of our social and professional lives are present online. The internet is used in almost everything we do. This has led to remarkable advances in the realm of connectivity. However, this connectivity comes with a price.  

Sensitive data gathered and stored by social and online business platforms remain vulnerable to cyber-security threats, while data breaches often result in private information being accessed by insidious third-party actors. 

According to the Cyber Security & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), "Cyber security is the art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information."

Cyber-attacks have increased manifold in the past two decades, with high-profile data breaches occurring each year. Such attacks result in a loss of billions of dollars to organizations. Such organizations are also at risk of being fined by regulatory authorities and suffering reputational damage. 

In recent years there have been several high-profile data breaches, accounting for the loss of sensitive data linked to hundreds of millions of users. 

In April 2019, it was revealed that two datasets from Facebook (News - Alert) apps had been exposed to the public internet. The information related to more than 530 million Facebook users and included phone numbers, account names, and Facebook IDs. In another case, Sina Weibo (A Chinese company) announced in March 2020, that an attacker obtained part of its database, impacting 538 million Weibo users and their details including real names, site usernames, gender, location, and phone numbers. The attacker is reported to have then only sold the database on the dark web for $250 because it didn’t include passwords.

During the last decade, there has also been a rise in public cloud computing platforms. Cloud computing is the supply of computing services—via the Internet ("the cloud") to provide faster innovation, more flexible resources, and economies of scale. You generally only pay for the cloud services you use, which helps reduce operational expenses, manage infrastructure more effectively, and achieve growth as a company evolves.

Cloud security is a branch of cyber security that focuses on safeguarding cloud computing platforms. This involves maintaining data privacy and security across internet infrastructure, apps, and platforms. The efforts of cloud providers and the clients that utilize them, whether an individual, small or medium corporation, or enterprise, are required to secure these systems.

If you have data on the cloud and run an e-commerce firm, one must take cybersecurity seriously. Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure and other Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers are among the cloud services that organizations may use to better their day-to-day operations. These services have enabled firms to develop and grow. However, while AWS, Azure and GCP excel at assisting organizations in the deployment of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) offerings, they may not provide enough safety for data kept in the cloud.

Organizations and companies now require a holistic approach to deal with the increasing risk of cybercrime. Several companies provide solutions to ensure protection against cybercrime, with important names from the industry regularly joining hands in creating top-notch solutions. 

Amer Deeba is one such visionary who continues to be at the forefront of organizations leading the way in providing effective cybersecurity as well as cloud security solutions. Deeba is a Lebanese entrepreneur, executive, and programmer based in San Francisco, CA (News - Alert), who began his early days as a software developer, working on software such as Acrobat Reader. A valley veteran, he has the insight that can only come from hard work and experience with the most demanding and successful firms.

Deeba has spent nearly two decades in management positions in the cyber-security space, with 17 of those years at Qualys (News - Alert), a leading information security and compliance cloud solutions provider. At Qualys (NASDAQ: QLYS), he led all aspects of marketing, business development, strategic alliances, and global enterprise accounts. He also played an instrumental role in taking the company public in 2012. 

The Qualys Cloud Platform and its integrated apps have helped businesses simplify security operations and save compliance costs by delivering vital security intelligence on demand and automating the entire spectrum of auditing, compliance, and protection for IT systems and online applications.

Amer Deeba believes that cloud computing is the future. He is also cognizant of the challenges faced by organizations, which are transferring large amounts of data from legacy on-premises systems to remote databases such as the Azure, AWS, and GCP. This migration has led Chief Security Officers to revisit cyber-security questions such as:

• Where is the sensitive data?
• Who has access to the data?
• Are there any shadow databases that have been copied by development teams as they transfer data, which might have been forgotten?
• How do you resolve compliance and regulatory issues?

Traditional tools, data discovery, data classification, and data access governance are what organizations rely on to address these questions. However, operating these tools individually can be expensive, as they require a large number of people and resources. 

Amer Deeba has often advocated for a holistic approach to unravel the problems at hand, especially when organizations have data held simultaneously across multiple cloud platforms. Such an approach would require an all-purpose platform that provides a complete range of simple tools for data discovery, data classification, data access management, and compliance in one product. 

At present, Deeba is the CEO and co-founder of a new cybersecurity startup that is focused on solving the cloud data security problem at scale and across all public clouds. The company is called Normalyze and just closed its Series A round of financing led by Battery Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.