Cloud computing is revolutionizing the business and technology landscape. Cloud computing is used for multiple purposes in corporate environments from storing data in services like box to accessing productivity tools through Microsoft Office 365 and deploying IT infrastructure in Amazon Web Services (AWS). Today, at least 90% of organizations use different cloud services in their working system. This shows that cloud technology is already in the mainstream. Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services, including server, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence over the internet to offer faster innovation, flexible resource, and economic scale. However, cloud security is also important for the business. Security and technology should go hand in hand with each other in order to protect manipulations. An increasing amount of cloud security measures are being taken over the years to encrypt the system. Analytics Insight brings you a list of best practices which will help achieve effective cloud security.
Understanding how the cloud functions and who gets access to it plays a pivotal role in security. Data classification engines are used to classify data on the priority format. It will give you an insight into which data is extremely important. Henceforth, sensitive data can be held securely in the cloud, but you have to monitor who accesses it and where it goes. User behavior analytics (UBA) can be availed to monitor anomalies and mitigate both internal and external data loss.
The first thing that cloud users should be aware of is that everyone using the cloud is responsible for its security. It involves both the cloud vendor and the normal user. Henceforth, when you sign an agreement with a cloud vendor, make sure that you part your responsibilities. This will prevent random intervention and blaming each other for abnormalities.
Picking the right cloud vendor is very important. A lot of cloud vendors offer similar services. But the hidden truth is that some provide better security compared to the one which in-house staff maintains. However, some may claim to have the best protection as a marketing tag while in the real sense, they have poor security schemes. Henceforth, while choosing a cloud vendor, organizations should use various factors to access their security capabilities. Such include evaluating their levels of compliance with various information compliance standards.
One of the major threats that cause security breach in cloud service is unauthorized access. A survey conducted by CloudPassage reflects that two biggest security issues to public clouds were unauthorized access with 53% and the hijacking of accounts with 44%. This can be mitigated by implying a high-quality identity and access management (IAM) solution. Organizations availing IAM should have role-based permission capabilities and multi-factor authentications.
Staff are the primary defence in secure cloud computing. Their way of using the cloud will either encrypt the technology or open its door for cyber attacks. For better outcomes from cloud users, start training them at the initial stage. Everyone including staff, stakeholders and anyone who accesses the cloud should ensure that they follow secure practices.
Classifying the cloud location comes first in the line to protect it from breaches. A public cloud is when resources like servers and storage are owned and operated by a third-party provided over the internet. A private cloud is when only a single organization utilizes the computing resources, this cloud type can be located on-site by your organization, or it can be hosted by a third-part holder. A hybrid cloud is when private cloud computing infrastructure is combined with the public cloud so advantages of both can be obtained.
Currently, a lot of people are working in remote mode. A company's employees are spread across the globe and are located in various geographical regions. They access cloud resources through various devices from their end. This gives an open opportunity for hackers to get into cloud systems. Henceforth, organizations should continuously revisit and upgrade their user endpoints by implementing and updating firewalls, anti-malware, intrusion detection, access control and other measures.
Cloud services need either automated or guided response on a regular basis to keep a check on security issues. If a user is accessing sensitive data in a cloud service from a new device, it should automatically ask for two-factor authentication. Organizations should have technologies to automatically update web access policies such as those enforced by a secure web gateway, with information about the risk profile of a cloud service to block access or present a warning message.
Security gaps are constant and usual. But the important task for users is to identify these security gaps and ensure that it gets closed. If the security gaps are left open, it means, your organization is leaving the door open for security threats to enter the cloud deployment. Henceforth, organizations do penetration tests to search for these gaps and fill them as soon as possible.
Employees are offered to use the cloud for the company's benefit. However, it doesn't go right always. Some employees often use the organizational cloud for their personal gains which could put the company at risk. Henceforth, a business should develop and maintain a safe list for all the services employees can access through their cloud accounts.
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