Why Security Took Centre Stage at Google Cloud NEXT '26

This is a submission for the Google Cloud NEXT Writing Challenge Why Security Took Center Stage at Google Cloud NEXT '26 At Google Cloud NEXT '26, most discussions focused on AI and faster development. But one area that stood out to me was security. As cloud systems grow more complex, security is no longer just a backend concern. It is becoming a core part of how applications are designed from the start. What I Explored One clear theme across multiple announcements was improving the default secu