Mid-sized enterprises increasingly find themselves in need of a CNAPP, as their cloud adoption matures. But how should they go about selecting the right one? What questions should they ask and what criteria should they use? Here we unpack six key considerations that’ll help them evaluate their options and make an informed decision.

As cloud security technologies evolve, mid-sized enterprises face unique challenges when selecting a cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP). With limited resources and a need for robust protection, they must understand the critical capabilities that define the effectiveness and value of a CNAPP. Here are some of the most important considerations for mid-sized organizations.

Key criteria for selecting a CNAPP 

#1 Seamless integration vs. disparate technologies

In today’s increasingly complex cloud environments, CNAPPs must provide seamless integration across their features to avoid operational and risk silos. Platforms that organically develop features deliver a smoother user experience. With integrated data flows, these platforms allow telemetry to be collated effectively. Disparate technologies with poor integration often lead to gaps in security and inefficiencies in workflows, increasing costs and management overhead.

#2 Identity as the foundation of cloud security

A strong focus on identity and access management is fundamental for securing complex cloud workloads. Cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM) is particularly crucial, as it helps enterprises govern and enforce least-privilege across multi-cloud environments. By addressing identity-related risks, strong CIEM capabilities enable enterprises to prevent lateral movement, privilege escalation and unauthorized access, which continue to be the most significant threats in cloud security along with misconfigurations.

#3 Modular pricing and future-proofing investments

Mid-sized enterprises often operate on tight budgets, making modular pricing an attractive option. A flexible pricing structure allows companies to start small and add capabilities as needed. Choosing a CNAPP that integrates with a broader exposure management platform ensures future-proofing for hybrid, multi-cloud, and even on-premises workloads. This approach not only minimizes initial costs but also provides scalability to meet evolving business and security requirements.

#4 Regulatory pressures and on-premises repatriation

As regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and the EU AI Act introduce increasingly strict penalties for non-compliance, many organizations are reconsidering public cloud deployments in favor of on-premises or hybrid environments. Mid-sized organizations should prioritize CNAPPs that support this shift by offering native integrations with platforms that secure both cloud and on-premises workloads. AI regulations, in particular, may necessitate local data processing, making on-prem integration a critical requirement.

#5 Data security posture management (DSPM) and AI security

Data security is fundamental to the safety of AI systems. DSPM capabilities in a CNAPP allow enterprises to discover, classify, and label sensitive data, helping ensure compliance with security and privacy regulations. DSPM prevents sensitive information from leaking through AI models or cloud native applications by identifying unauthorized access and data flows. This is particularly important as AI systems increasingly rely on large datasets for training and inference purposes.

#6 Ease of rollout and deployment

For mid-sized enterprises, resource constraints can be significant hurdles to adopting new security technologies. A CNAPP that is quick to deploy and easy to configure is crucial to ensuring a smooth implementation process without overwhelming IT and security teams.

Platforms designed with ease of rollout in mind reduce operational overhead by offering:

• Intuitive user interfaces: Simplified dashboards and workflows that minimize the learning curve for administrators.
• Out-of-the-box integrations: Pre-built connectors for major cloud providers, on-premises security technologies and existing security tools cut down deployment time and customization efforts.
• Automated discovery and configuration: Features such as automated asset discovery, policy enforcement, and the establishment of a baseline configuration model reduce the need for manual setup.
• Minimal downtime: Deployment with minimal disruption to existing workloads and infrastructure ensures business continuity during the rollout.

CNAPPs with these key factors allow mid-sized enterprises to achieve faster time-to-value, enabling security teams to focus on strategic activities rather than troubleshooting implementation issues.

The move toward exposure management

Modern threats require enterprises to adopt a unified approach to managing risks across cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments. CNAPPs should integrate seamlessly into a broader exposure management strategy, enabling centralized visibility and response to vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and threats.

Why Tenable Cloud Security and Tenable One are ideal for mid-sized enterprises

Tenable Cloud Security and the Tenable One Exposure Management Platform address these challenges head-on by providing:

• Ease of rollout and deployment: A focus on deployment efficiency and ease of use.
• Integrated functionality: Seamless feature development and integration for a streamlined user experience.
• CIEM strength: Robust identity-focused capabilities to minimize access-related risks.
• Flexibility and scalability: Modular pricing that adapts to your business needs and scales with your growth.
• Support for hybrid and on-prem environments: Secure workloads wherever they reside, addressing regulatory and operational needs.
• Comprehensive exposure management: Centralized visibility and management across all environments.
• Advanced DSPM for AI security: Comprehensive data classification and monitoring to protect sensitive information in AI workflows.

Tenable offers a future-ready platform tailored to the needs of mid-sized enterprises, providing the tools and confidence to tackle today’s cloud security challenges regardless of where you are in your cloud security journey. 

Learn more about Tenable Cloud Security and Tenable One.