We Need Serverless, Decentralized Clouds — Now

Human error and phishing may be the top vector of cyberattacks, but centralized cloud environments are the Achilles’ heel of governments, businesses, and organizations, around the world.

As the July 19 CrowdStrike global outage proved, countless models depend on centralized clouds, and when disaster strikes, the consequences can be devastating.

In a recent report, Thales Group found that cloud resources have become the biggest target for attackers. While cloud security spending reaches an all-time high level, security incidents continue to escalate as on-premises digital infrastructure — that offer more security — becomes a thing of the past.

The vulnerability of cloud environments is nothing new. In 2023, IBM found that 82% of breaches involved data stored in the cloud. Cloud misconfigurations, disabled multi-factor authentications (MFAs), and social engineering have been blamed for the global wave of attacks on cloud environments.

But is there something else going on in the background? Technology experts believe there is. The problem? Cloud itself.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Understanding the Nightmare of Centralized Clouds
3. Inside the Rise of Decentralized Serverless Clouds
4. Web Experiences Without Web Servers, Data Processing Without Databases
5. Full Stack Decentralization on Sovereign Networks
6. Decentralized Node Security & GenAI: A Never-Seen-Before New Kind of Compute
7. The Bottom Line
8. FAQs
9. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Understanding the Nightmare of Centralized Clouds
3. Inside the Rise of Decentralized Serverless Clouds
Show Full Guide
4. Web Experiences Without Web Servers, Data Processing Without Databases
5. Full Stack Decentralization on Sovereign Networks
6. Decentralized Node Security & GenAI: A Never-Seen-Before New Kind of Compute
7. The Bottom Line
8. FAQs
9. References

Understanding the Nightmare of Centralized Clouds

Centralized clouds, despite their convenience, are security nightmares. They create a single point of entry for attackers. A successful breach on a central server can expose a massive amount of data for countless users. Additionally, human errors like misconfigurations and social engineering can be exploited more easily due to the concentrated nature of resources.

In search for a global solution, a new technology and concept is emerging. Decentralized serverless clouds are a next-generation approach. They leverage artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and distributed nodes to address vulnerabilities.

Spreading data across multiple locations makes it significantly more difficult for attackers to gain access to a large amount of data in one go. This decentralized architecture makes serverless cloud significantly more resistant to cyberattacks, offering a more secure future for cloud users.

Inside the Rise of Decentralized Serverless Clouds

Dominic Williams, the pioneering Founder and Chief Scientist of the DFINITY Foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) blockchain project, is considered one of the most influential voices in Decentralized AI (DeAI), Web3, and AI. Willians has helped develop serverless cloud infrastructure in an effort to reinvent compute.

Speaking to Techopedia, Williams addressed the differences between traditional cloud environments and serverless.

“Our current IT was not built for today’s growing cybersecurity challenges.

“Essentially, we build infrastructures that are insecure, even with security configurations, and then try to keep them secure by protecting them using cybersecurity technology.”

Williams explained that companies deploy infrastructure behind firewalls, monitor networks for intrusion, and use anti-malware to prevent software from running malicious code.

“The problem is that cybersecurity can only patch holes, and there are always holes we don’t know about, and sometimes people make mistakes, allowing hackers to bypass cybersecurity.”

Intrusion often results in systems being brought down by things like ransomware, and the mass exfiltration of data. AI now threatens to make this situation much worse by enabling hackers on an unprecedented scale. Meanwhile, global cybercrime is already predicted to pass 10 trillion dollars in 2025.

“In fact, cybersecurity is the problem, not the solution.”

Williams said that the solution is found in how our infrastructures are built. From web applications built using stacks of platform software that run directly on silicon (i.e. on computers), to operating systems on the machinery, added web servers, application servers, memory caching systems, databases, backups, failover, and cybersecurity frameworks…

In short, Williams argues that cloud infrastructures have become ‘Rube Goldberg machines’ — designed to perform a simple task in an incredibly indirect and overly complicated way.

These complexities make cloud environments incredibly challenging to protect. Modern decentralized serverless clouds are designed to solve these problems.

Web Experiences Without Web Servers, Data Processing Without Databases

Williams explained that by using decentralized serverless clouds, businesses can serve customers with web experiences without ever involving a web server. Businesses can also store and process data without a database.

“The simplification provided is epic, which can drive enormous IT productivity gains. Web applications are boiled down to their essential business logic and data,” Williams said.

“Meanwhile, platform software such as web servers and database servers does not have to be installed, configured, maintained and orchestrated.”

Consistent backup snapshots can also be taken in serverless decentralized environments. These snapshots are instantly replicated across nodes (and thus data centers and locations). “The tasks of both developers and systems administrators, are vastly simplified,” Williams added.

“It’s not possible for a bad software update to escape and install ransomware. Nor is it possible for a flaw in serverless software to allow a hacker to escape (the entire cloud runs inside a virtual execution environment, in much the same way web browsers run the JavaScript inside web pages inside virtual machines to prevent it escaping onto the user’s computer).”

Lisa McStay, COO of Continuity2, an enterprise continuity software provider, also spoke to Techopedia about the emerging trend.

“The idea of serverless private clouds with blockchain is super exciting and could really help solve the massive $10 trillion cybersecurity problem.

“In my opinion, it’s especially a game-changer for sectors like defense and finance, because it can make your data way more secure by decentralizing it, making it harder for hackers to pin down.”

McStay explained that serverless private clouds can keep data safe and untouchable, and also be cost-effective for scaling business security.”With serverless private clouds, you also get complete control which is one of the most important security factors for any business, especially regarding data leaks,” McStay said.

Full Stack Decentralization on Sovereign Networks

The Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) allows compute on the blockchain, so that ‘everything can be on-chain‘, including HTTP, data, compute, AI, and Web3 social networks.

ICP is an open and secure blockchain-based network that can host programs and data in the form of smart contracts, perform computations on smart contracts in a secure and trustworthy way, and scale infinitely.

In simple words, full stack decentralization on a sovereign network that extends the internet.

Working in this field, the company Utopia is a private sovereign serverless cloud technology provider. Williams walked us through how Utopia’s decentralized serverless infrastructures are designed.

“A number of compute nodes that run the Utopia software are created. These are powered by ICP technology,” Williams said.

“These compute nodes talk to each other using a mathematically secure network protocol, and create a serverless cloud instance where applications can be installed and run,” Williams said.

Companies can also use Utopia software on cloud instances provided by services such as AWS, Google, Azure and IBM.

“A government wishing to create a sovereign serverless cloud, which allows them to precisely control the locations and jurisdictions where data resides, might install the Utopia on machinery such as traditional server machines that they have installed in local data centers.”

Decentralized Node Security & GenAI: A Never-Seen-Before New Kind of Compute

Decentralized blockchain serverless clouds can also withstand the complete failure of a subset of its nodes, without the applications it hosts suffering interruption or the loss or corruption of their data.

“This applies even if an all-powerful hacker gains physical access to a subset of its nodes, and can arbitrarily corrupt their data, computations, and how they interact with other nodes,” Williams said.

“The resilience is thus unprecedented within the field of IT infrastructure.”

The concept and technologies also allow organizations to run AI models that are built using standard frameworks and easily integrate them with other serverless business logic.

Because serverless cloud models combine web, business logic, and data, it’s possible to use generative AI to create new applications simply by issuing verbal instructions to the AI, which can then be directly installed in the cloud, further accelerating IT productivity. Williams said this type of compute is completely new.

“This represents a completely new kind of compute platform that has not been seen before.”

The Bottom Line

The current state of cloud security is alarming. Centralized cloud environments, while convenient, create a single point of entry for attackers and are vulnerable to human error. This has resulted in a global wave of cyberattacks causing significant financial damage. Traditional cybersecurity measures are like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound.

Decentralized serverless clouds offer a big opportunity in cloud security. By using AI, blockchain, and distributed nodes, they eliminate the single point of entry and make data breaches significantly harder — and a new path towards a more secure future for cloud users.

Can it curb the $10 trillion global cybercrime problem.

FAQs