MongoDB CISO weighs in on developer multicloud tools and data transformation

2022 has been a transformative year for developers. At least that’s that the opinion of Lena Smart (pictured), chief information security officer at MongoDB Inc. — a company that has created a multicloud developer data platform called MongoDB Atlas that provides services and tools for developers to quickly build applications at the scale users demand.

“We’re seeing more and more the value that developers bring to the table,” Smart said. “They’re not just code geeks anymore. They’re not just code monkeys … churning out lines and lines of code. That’s why I’m so pleased that our developer data platform is going to give these folks back time so that they can go and innovate and … do the next big thing.”

Smart spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Savannah Peterson and Dave Vellante at AWS re:Invent, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the future of developers, as well as the challenges of data security. (* Disclosure below.)

Developers will change the world

MongoDB’s services and products for developers have become very popular, according to Smart. In fact, two-thirds of companies at the recent AWS re:Invent conference use MongoDB to some capacity, showing just how wide-spread their influence has become. And the number one reason that MongoDB is so passionate about helping developers achieve their goals as quickly as possible is to help developers continue to work on the fastest-growing areas of technology.

“Automation is … the buzzword,” Smart said. “Someone has to write the code to do the automation. Give these people back time, so that they can work on ML, AI — choose your buzzword.”

Atlas extends MongoDB’s flexibility and ease-of-use to enable unified query application programming interfaces. This is the most natural way to work with data in any form, and it helps developers build full-text search, real-time analytics and event-driven experiences, according to Smart.

“By giving people things like queryable encryption, for example, you’re going to free up a whole bunch of head space,” she said. “They don’t have to worry about their data being … harvested from memory or harvested while at rest or in motion.”

Over the years as a chief information security officer, Smart has seen how security conversations around building applications and harvesting data have become more and more important. And these conversations have to start from the ground up from a developer’s perspective, she explained.

“So my job has kind of grown from … being the security geek in the back room that nobody talks to … to I’ve got a seat at the table now,” Smart stated. “We meet with the board. I can see that that’s where the developer mindset is moving towards. It’s like, ‘Give us the right tools, and we’ll change your world.’”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent:

(* Disclosure: MongoDB Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither MongoDB nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE