Google Cloud is majorly upping its security game

As more organizations move their workloads from on-premises data centers to the cloud, cloud security has become increasingly important which is why Google Cloud has hired its first Chief Information Security Officer.

After working at some of the world's largest banks including Barclays, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs where he served as CISO for 20 years, Phil Venables is joining the search giant's cloud computing business as the company's first security boss.

With Venables behind the reins, Google Cloud may now be able to close the gap and finally catch up to its biggest rivals in the space, Microsoft Azure and AWS.

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Google Cloud's first CISO

As part of his new role as VP at Google and CISO at Google Cloud, Venables will not only deal with internal security but will also help solve customer challenges. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Venables likened the cloud to a digital immune system that helps protect customers from cyber threats, saying:

“Cloud becomes almost like a digital immune system, in that it’s detecting issues and then rapidly providing support for all of their customers to help defend themselves.”

Venables will also continue to work on best practices for cloud migration and security standards as part of his role as Google Cloud's CISO.

We'll likely hear more updates from Venables himself once he settles into his new position and begins coming up with ways for organizations to better protect their data in the cloud.