The authors focus on the challenges of security in the Agile deployment of big data applications in the cloud. Security issues can make or break the deployment of otherwise complete solutions in the cloud. The authors begin by introduc­ing the topic of “micro­segmentation” — which allows “public cloud-based infrastructure as a service (IaaS) providers to offer software-centric or software-only solutions.” The value of this discussion to business lies in the opportunity to quickly deploy secure models for end-user consumption.