Content area
As organizations increasingly adopt multi-cloud environments, they also face significant security challenges. Multi-cloud application developers are unable to utilize a common set of tools to address emerging security threats within multi-cloud applications, resulting in inconsistent practices, fragmented application programming interfaces, and limited visibility across platforms. This research explores how developers can overcome these challenges by identifying and implementing a unified set of security tools and frameworks. Using a qualitative exploratory approach, data were collected from 10 experienced multi-cloud developers to uncover key strategies for managing security risks. The research highlights five critical themes essential for securing multi-cloud environments: Application Security Practices, Monitoring, Visibility and Compliance, Threat Detection and Intelligence, Risk Management and Governance, and Infrastructure and Microservices Security. Findings emphasize the importance of embedding security early in the development lifecycle through Shift-Left Security, where security measures are integrated from the initial stages of development rather than being addressed later. The research also highlights the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning models in proactively detecting and mitigating threats before they can compromise systems. Additionally, adopting Zero Trust Architecture ensures that no entity is inherently trusted, strengthening access control and communication security across platforms.