Security Best Practices for Hybrid Cloud Architectures on GCP

Most companies don’t move everyone to the cloud overnight. The Hybrid Cloud state (where your apps are split between your own data centres and the public cloud) is a reality for many years. This connection is often the weak point in your security. Securing the traffic and data across this bridge is critical.

1. Secure Connectivity: Beyond VPN

How do you connect your office to the Cloud?

• Dedicated Interconnect: For high-speed connections, we set up a physical fibre link between your data centre and Google’s network. This guarantees privacy and speed.
• Cloud VPN: For smaller needs, an encrypted VPN tunnel works well.
• Private Google Access: This ensures your servers can reach Google services (like BigQuery) privately, without ever touching the public internet.

2. Zero Trust Identity

The old model of “anything inside the network is safe” is dead. We adopt Google’s BeyondCorp (Zero Trust) model.

• Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP): Instead of needing a VPN to access internal tools, IAP checks who you are and where you’re coming from (e.g. is your laptop secure?) before every single request.
• Context-Aware Access: You can set rules like “Only allow access to Production from corporate laptops in the UK.”

3. Preventing Data Leaks

One of GCP’s best security features is VPC Service Controls. It lets you draw a security circle around your cloud services.

• Scenario: A rogue employee tries to copy a sensitive database table to their personal Gmail account.
• Defense: VPC Service Controls blocks this immediately because the destination is outside the trusted circle.

Security isn’t something you add on at the end; it’s a mindset. At Alps Agility, we bake compliance and security into every line of code we write, ensuring you are secure by default.

Are you secure in the cloud? Don’t rely on hope. Schedule a Security Architecture Review with our certified specialists.