3 ways to streamline cloud adoption and cloud security

In today’s cloud-first world, speed and agility are the currency of innovation. Organizations are under pressure to deliver applications faster, more securely, and across increasingly distributed cloud environments. As a result, your developers are being asked to ship code at a rapid pace, often on a weekly or even daily basis. At the same time, your infrastructure and cloud security teams struggle to keep up with the sprawling resources deployed across your multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments.

Code velocity often introduces complexity, security risk, and operational overhead. Too many tools. Too many silos. Too many manual steps. To DevSecOps, security slows down code production, while code velocity risks introducing new vulnerabilities. But you need both: security and velocity. Your development teams need the freedom to innovate. And your security operations (SecOps) teams need visibility and control. To meet both, organizations must adopt a shared platform that supports end-to-end visibility and integration across the entire application life cycle.

That’s why simplifying the journey for cloud-native applications is essential. Below are three key strategies to help you streamline development, reduce cloud risk, and embed cloud security and DevSecOps best practices into every phase of your application pipeline.

1. Unify security across the cloud-native stack

The way we build and run applications has undergone a fundamental change. Monoliths have been replaced by containers, microservices, and serverless functions—all loosely connected through APIs and deployed dynamically via continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. But each layer introduces new risks, new attack surfaces, and new operational challenges.

Attempting to mitigate these risks with isolated security tools at each stage—one for container security, another for API protection, and a third for runtime security—leads to fractured workflows and blind spots. And when your development cycles are measured in hours, not weeks, security needs to keep pace without slowing innovation.

That’s where platform convergence matters. An effective unified cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) strategy brings together previously siloed capabilities, such as cloud workload protection, cloud infrastructure entitlement management, and API security, into a single, integrated solution.

With full-stack visibility from code to cloud, teams can:

• Detect and remediate vulnerabilities before deployment
• Monitor runtime activity for suspicious behavior
• Secure APIs and data flows across services
• Apply consistent security policy across multi-cloud environments

Fortinet’s approach: Lacework FortiCNAPP, Fortinet’s cloud-native application protection solution, a core component of our broader cloud security platform and Fortinet Security Fabric, delivers full life-cycle security for modern applications across build, deployment, and runtime. By integrating Lacework FortiCNAPP directly into your DevOps pipelines and major cloud platforms, your teams gain real-time visibility and control, enabling them to move faster without compromising security.

2. Automate cloud security posture management (CSPM)

Cloud misconfigurations remain one of the leading causes of security breaches. As cloud infrastructure scales, manual configuration checks can’t keep up. Security teams need continuous visibility into resource settings, role permissions, network access, and compliance status.

That’s where CSPM comes in. CSPM solutions monitor configurations across cloud assets and enforce best practices automatically, in real time. But not all CSPM tools are created equal. The most effective ones do more than surface alerts. They:

• Prioritize risk based on exploitability, severity, and exposure
• Map misconfigurations to common compliance standards like CIS Benchmarks, NIST, and PCI DSS
• Auto-remediate low-risk issues and guide resolution for higher-risk ones
• Reduce noise and alert fatigue for SecOps teams

By automating posture management, organizations reduce operational overhead and improve cloud compliance while staying ahead of threats in dynamic environments.

Fortinet’s approach: Lacework FortiCNAPP integrated posture management tools are purpose-built for cloud security teams operating in rapidly evolving environments. With contextual risk scoring and intelligent automation, it reduces friction, streamlines compliance, and helps enforce a secure cloud foundation.

3. Shift security left in the DevSecOps workflow

DevSecOps has become a common goal for high-performing development teams. But the shift left must be done carefully. Developers can’t be expected to become security experts overnight—and security tools that interrupt the software development life cycle often get ignored or removed.

Successful DevSecOps programs embed application security checks early in the pipeline, using the tools developers already rely on. And to be effective, these integrations must be lightweight, intuitive, and scalable. The best implementations:

• Integrate into IDEs, Git repositories, and CI/CD tools
• Provide immediate feedback on vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and license issues
• Deliver Security-as-Code templates and guardrails that encourage secure design from the start
• Empower developers to take ownership of security without slowing delivery

When security is an integrated part of the development process, issues get resolved sooner, releases ship faster, and security posture improves.

Fortinet’s approach: Lacework FortiCNAPP brings real-time security and compliance feedback directly into your development pipeline. It also embeds continuous security and compliance checks early in the CI/CD pipeline, ensuring vulnerabilities are identified and remediated before deployment. From static application security testing (SAST) to container image scanning, Fortinet enables security to move at the speed of modern software development.

Why cloud security and simplification go hand in hand

Simplifying the cloud application journey isn’t just a technical concern; it’s a strategic priority. Every new tool, manual handoff, or misconfiguration adds risk. And without convergence, visibility, and automation, that risk can multiply fast.

Organizations that lead in cloud adoption and secure digital transformation are the ones that are:

• Breaking down the silos between development, security, and operations
• Embedding security across the application life cycle from code to cloud
• Prioritizing automation, posture management, and platform convergence
• Using unified security platforms that reduce friction, not just add features

At Fortinet, we believe that security should enable innovation, not obstruct it. By simplifying the way applications are secured, managed, and monitored, organizations can accelerate cloud adoption, reduce operational costs, and minimize risk—all through a single, integrated security framework.

It’s how you keep up with the pace of innovation without leaving security behind.

Discover how Lacework FortiCNAPP can transform your cloud security strategy.