The Great Cloud Security Debate: CSP vs. Third-Party Security Tools

Do I go to my Cloud Service Provider (CSP) for cloud security tooling or to a third party vendor?

Who will secure my cloud use, a CSP or a focused specialty vendor?

Who is my primary cloud security tools provider?

This question asked in many ways has haunted me since my analyst days, and I’ve been itching for a good, fiery debate on this. So, we did this on our Cloud Security Podcast by Google where the co-hosts divided the positions, researched the arguments in advance of the debate and then just … WENT AT EACH OTHER 🙂

The results were so fun and interesting that this blog was born!

The Case for Third-Party Vendor Tooling

These arguments hinge on three primary concerns: trust, consistency, and innovation.

Some observers also highlight the theoretical conflict of interest when a CSP is responsible for both building and securing the cloud (no idea why people say this, as IMHO there is no conflict here). This side also stressed the importance of consistency across multi-cloud environments and argued that dedicated security vendors are more likely to innovate more rapidly. They also may address client needs faster, especially narrow vertical needs.