It’s no secret that cloud offers more accessibility and control over data than on-premise solutions. The cloud’s environmental impact is also significantly smaller. But there’s a catch. You must incorporate reliable cloud security solutions to reap this technology’s benefits.
Let’s look at why you need to secure your environment first thing after migrating to the cloud. We will also talk about how cloud security assessment mitigates the risks of unauthorized access. In addition to that, we’re going to look at some security solutions you can implement to improve your cloud security right now.
We provide companies with senior tech talent and product development expertise to build world-class software. Let's talk about how we can help you.
Contact usTable of Contents
More businesses are moving their workloads from on-premise into the cloud. Unfortunately, hackers aren’t falling behind. Small and medium-sized companies remain the major targets for malware and ransomware attacks. In most cases, these breaches happen due to lackluster cyber-protection and irregular cloud security assessments.
So, what dangers await organizations that don’t implement proper cloud security measures?
Most companies with cloud in their workflow understand these risks. But why are so many of them not putting enough effort into securing their data? Well, implementing proper security measures isn’t easy.
Most cloud infrastructures are quite complex and have built-in security solutions in place. But let’s not forget that even the most protected systems are not immune to user errors. When hackers fail, harmful working practices can do the work and expose critical data. As a result, the company will suffer from unauthorized access.
What are the most frequent challenges administrators face during cloud management?
Unsecured cloud storage buckets are regular sources for stolen data. For instance, Amazon S3 service caused over 36 thousand records about US’s dispensary customers to leak in 2020. Hackers have a broad pool of utilities to exploit misconfigured cloud environments. However, proper access management enhances cloud security and helps prevent data leakage.
Most companies are still plagued with poor management issues. The most widespread problems include a lot of distributed workforce and administrator accounts. In addition to that, many organizations forget to revoke access permissions from former employees. As a result, companies get a whole lot of inactive user accounts with too many privileges. All of them create potential cloud security vulnerabilities.
Insecure APIs are frequently exploited to target sensitive information. Nevertheless, about 70% of enterprises open their APIs to the public. Why? Because it helps business partners and third-party developers to embed various cloud solutions.
Unfortunately, companies often neglect to create sufficient authentication controls in APIs. Consequently, hackers can access back-end and enterprise data via the open Internet channels.
Private clouds offer limited capabilities for visibility and control. Therefore, you must verify how much security control you have over the cloud environment before adding it to the company’s workflow. Otherwise, it will affect your ability to analyze information about access patterns.
Сloud environments have long become a target for DDoS attacks. If you don’t want your servers to get disrupted by hackers, a regular cloud security assessment should be mandatory. See how to hire a site reliability engineer.
Employees can pose even more of a danger to cloud security than outside attackers. Over 68% of CTOs and CIOs consider their organizations to be much more vulnerable to insider threats than to hackers. Therefore, it’s crucial to assess cloud security solutions to account for insiders.
You’re probably wondering how to get around these challenges. The best way to expose your system’s vulnerabilities and fix them before it’s too late is by performing an in-depth audit. How do you do it? Here’s our checklist.
Implementing a secure cloud infrastructure requires comprehensive analysis. Organizations need to address all risk management measures to determine how protected they are.
Cloud security assessment is the optimal way to perform an in-depth security evaluation. Here’s what should be reviewed to improve data protection in your organization.
Access and identity management is the first crucial step in cloud security risk assessment. At this stage, you need to check for the following:
It’s crucial to maintain credentials for identity and access in a secured directory. To achieve this, you need to answer these questions:
Data loss can put your business at severe risks, so you need to make sure key information is easily recoverable. You can do this by addressing these points:
Make sure your cloud infrastructure is in the hands of competent specialists. Pay attention to the following:
Good encryption will leave the leaked information useless for hackers. The type and number of encryption services required vary based on the organization’s size and type. We recommend considering the following:
The security systems must always be up-to-date to maintain a secure cloud environment. Here’s what you need to consider:
The worst thing about security breaches is that you can’t identify all of them. 49% of US-based companies have suffered from a data breach in 2020. However, some organizations learn about unsanctioned access weeks or even months after it had occurred.
We provide companies with senior tech talent and product development expertise to build world-class software. Let's talk about how we can help you.
Contact usDo you want to know about every loophole in your cloud system? Then, it’s important to implement a proper logging system from the get-go. Here are the things to check:
Answering these questions can help you look at your сloud security more objectively and critically. As a result, you will know what measures and tools to implement to protect your data more effectively.
How can you improve your company’s cloud security capabilities? Here are the solutions you can implement right now to make your business safer.
Your organization must have a clear framework that defines who controls data assets and how this data can be used. This framework will provide you with a streamlined approach to managing and securing information.
After you create a proper data governance policy, you will have to maintain it. Here are some useful tools that can help you automate data operations and management:
This step is often overlooked, especially when companies move large volumes of data into the cloud at once. Double-checking can be done either manually during the configuration of the cloud server or by using cloud security assessment tools. These applications can automate and streamline the check-up to expose security vulnerabilities.
Some of the cloud security configuration tools you can use are:
Data loss prevention policy is crucial for all enterprises. Correct DPL software will tighten cloud data security and ensure valuable information won’t be stolen.
But you shouldn’t confuse DLP with other cloud security solutions. DLP goes a step further from disaster recovery and endpoint security software. It uses AI to monitor abnormal behavior and attempts of unapproved access. As a result, this software can prevent data loss incidents altogether.
Here are the most popular DLP tools to enhance your company’s cloud security:
Even the most secured cloud infrastructures aren’t entirely immune to cyber-attacks. Therefore, you must prioritize critical data and back it up routinely. We recommend you to start with files that affect business functionality. This can save you from disastrous consequences that await companies without reliable data backup.
Some of the most popular cloud backup providers in the US are:
You can boost cloud security by implementing additional authentication. Even two-factor authentication might be enough to repel most data breaches. This can be done by enabling such measures as:
The next step is to use a custom email provider with anti-phishing capabilities. Remember: no anti-phishing tools can guarantee 100% safety, however, they can significantly reduce the risks of unauthorized access.
The best way to improve your system’s safety is to perform an exhaustive cloud security audit. Conducting a complete evaluation of the cloud system is undoubtedly a time-consuming process. However, it allows organizations to get a realistic picture of security capabilities. It also helps them fix loopholes and enhance data protection.
Read also about best countries to outsource software development and IT outsourcing to Ukraine.
Securing the cloud is an increasingly challenging task for any company. The good news is that you can outsource it.
Relevant Software offers a variety of managed IT services and provides cybersecurity experts. Since 2013, we’ve worked with over 200 organizations from all over the world, offering them a variety of managed IT services and innovative cybersecurity solutions.
Our vetted team of security specialists can perform a comprehensive cloud security assessment to help you:
Do you want to migrate to the cloud or secure your existing infrastructure? Feel free to contact Relevant to get on a call with our cloud security experts.
If you’ve been building up a stack of AI solutions that don’t quite play nicely…
Businesses integrating AI into their workflows could unlock a transformative 40% boost in workforce productivity…
No one dreams of studying regulatory documents all day. Yet, for financial institutions, that’s exactly…