A rigid focus on known defense techniques proves ineffective as attackers evolve novel attack tools, practices and vectors aimed squarely at the enterprise. As such, cybersecurity isn’t just about defense; it’s about constant evolution and transparency.

Cloudflare Inc. has adopted the radical transparency mindset as it secures a global network that serves 22% of internet traffic while fostering collaboration and radical transparency in a competitive, ever-changing industry, according to Grant Bourzikas (pictured), chief security officer of Cloudflare Inc.

Cloudflare’s Grant Bourzikas outlines the company’s evolving security approach as threats rise.

“We have so much interesting traffic, with huge customers that rely on us every day to run their business —  it all comes through our network,” Bourzikas said. “I think when you think about that, it’s this amazing job, this amazing technology. We use our technology that’s part of customer zero. We use our technology to defend ourselves, which also helps make our products better.”

Bourzikas spoke with theCUBE’s Dave Vellante at the NYSE CXO series, and the interview was rerun at the recent Cyber Resiliency Summit, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how Cloudflare aims to strengthen global defenses against an increasingly complex threat landscape.

Detailing the radical transparency mindset at Cloudflare

As CSO, Bourzikas is responsible for protecting Cloudflare’s edge and core networks, which form the foundation of its infrastructure. His role involves developing secure, scalable solutions using a “customer zero” approach, while also sharing security strategies and leveraging insights from Cloudforce One, Cloudflare’s dedicated threat intelligence team. The company has designed systems where changes occur solely through secure pipelines, ensuring comprehensive monitoring and risk reduction.

“The engineering team started to build this not a year ago or two years ago, but this is something that was built … 10, 15 years ago,” Bourzikas said. “If you’re going to have this amount of traffic and responsibility, you have to protect it like it is critical infrastructure. We even think of ourselves as being mission-critical infrastructure for the internet.”

Threat intelligence plays a critical role in detecting and neutralizing supply chain attacks. Observing attacker behaviors and building automation to thwart phishing and distributed attacks exemplify the company’s proactive approach. Collaboration with other platforms and sharing intelligence with customers further fortifies defenses, Bourzikas noted.

“[Attackers are] masking their entire infrastructure through three or four providers,” he said. “That’s something that I think is super interesting because before, they’ll just stand it up on Cloudflare or I’ll just stand it up on AWS or Google. Now they’re trying to distribute it.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of the Cyber Resiliency Summit: 

Photo: SiliconANGLE