Prevention is the Only Cloud Security Strategy That Works 

**Executive Summary:** This whitepaper advocates a prevention-first strategy for protecting sensitive cloud-based workflows by shifting security left to embed controls, visibility, and governance before workflows process data. It recommends four core actions—map and classify workflows, apply identity and privilege segmentation, embed preventive guardrails at each workflow stage, and monitor with automated adaptive responses—to reduce breach impact, support operational continuity, and enable safer innovation.