Traditional perimeter-based security worked when data and apps resided in on-premises data centers, and employees worked on-site. But with the rise of hybrid work and cloud adoption, this model is now outdated. Modern organizations often use multiple cloud providers (e.g., AWS, Microsoft Azure), giving attackers multiple entry points to exploit as data moves across environments.
Cloud enclaving solves this by dividing cloud environments into secure zones with strict controls, limiting the risk of lateral movement. Tailored zero trust policies—often enforced with tools like microsegmentation—restrict traffic to only what is explicitly allowed. This approach is a more effective way to protect workloads and data in today’s decentralized, cloud native environments.
Network Segmentation vs. Cloud Enclaving
Network segmentation handles traffic within and between subnets at the network level, using VLANs, firewalls, and access lists. Cloud enclaving, on the other hand, adds layered, granular identity-based and contextual controls, securing traffic at the workload or application level. Let's examine both approaches in more detail.
Network Segmentation
Network segmentation divides a network into subnets, applying security and compliance rules to each. Traffic between segments is usually separated by VLANs and firewalls. While more detailed than perimeter-based security, segmentation relies on static IP addresses, ports, and protocols, which identify where requests came from but not who or what made the requests.
These static controls trust entities inside segments, even if they’re malicious actors. This “flat” network design allows lateral movement, leaving attackers pathways to spread across workloads and compromise your environment. Managing segmentation with legacy tools like firewalls and virtual machines (VMs) also comes with high costs, complexity, and time requirements, often outweighing its benefits.
Cloud Enclaving
Cloud enclaving creates isolated zones in cloud environments, tailored to sensitive workloads, apps, or compliance needs. Unlike network segmentation, enclaving uses tools like microsegmentation to reduce attack surfaces by controlling east-west traffic at the workload level. Enclaving also authenticates requests based on identity and context, adding deeper security beyond static IP controls.
With least-privileged access and limited lateral movement within zones, enclaving reduces risks from insider and external threats. Even if one workload is breached, the rest of the environment stays secure.
