Cloud native invasion! An interview with Datadog’s Marc Tremsal in Public Cloud Security Series #4

Security Voices

As longstanding cybersecurity companies lumber their way into the public cloud and "born in the cloud" startups fight for attention, cloud observability titan Datadog entered the security market in 2020 with two new products. This is far from the first time a company has used an adjacent market to make the cybersecurity leap. Oftentimes it fails, but Splunk immediately comes to mind as a crossover success. Jack and Dave interview Datadog’s Marc Tremsal in this episode to provide a view into what cybersecurity looks like from the lens of a company steeped in the world of cloud infrastructure.
Datadog did not break down the doors of the industry, but rather was invited to enter by their customers whose needs were not being met by cybersecurity companies. Marc explains the mistakes that incumbents have made that have left a considerable opening for others— they have very little to do with technology and a lot to do with marketing and sales. From selling to CISOs rather than the people doing the work to overheated marketing claims, cybersecurity companies have alienated would-be cloud customers who openly wonder why they can’t buy protection the same way they purchase the rest of their infrastructure.
Marc talks through the challenges of staffing a cloud security product team— how much do you value deep domain expertise? Do you shrug it off and simply hire the best developers? We explain how the hottest talent on the market will be cybersecurity veterans who take the time to retool for the public cloud as they will hit the “goldilocks” spot for a growing throng of potential employers.
We wrap up a surprisingly optimistic conversation with a glance ahead to 2021 where Marc reckons consolidation of providers will be a key trend alongside a hard look at just how immutable some of our infrastructure truly is.