Protecting Your Business with Cloud Computing Security Measures

Protecting Your Business with Cloud Computing Security Measures

Businesses and cloud computing are growing together as far as the modern digital world is concerned. Every day more and more companies are adopting cloud technologies and moving their critical infrastructure to cloud platforms. With all the benefits and flexibility, there is always a concern for all these organizations that keeps bugging them. And that concern is regarding the security of the assets they store in the cloud.

Cloud computing security is a key area to address for all businesses that rely on any kind of cloud-based services for their day-to-day activities. An attack or breach on your cloud environment might potentially take down your whole infrastructure. Therefore, securing the assets on the cloud is important for maintaining your business’s security and continuity.

Importance of Cloud Security

Business organizations are storing high volumes of crucial data in the cloud. This data includes sensitive corporate, financial, and consumer information. Plus, the population over the cloud platforms is increasing exponentially.

However, businesses these days are aware of the need for deploying cloud security measures. But there are the following challenges they usually face:

• Lack of clarity on what type of data is stored in which environments or applications.
• No insight into the access and utilization of applications and data within the cloud environment.
• Not having adequate visibility into the devices that users are leveraging to access or share cloud data.
• Lack of awareness of the policies set by the cloud service provider.

Not being able to effectively counter these challenges might result in security breaches, data loss/theft, application vulnerabilities, and malware propagation.

Hence, it is important to implement a whole bundle of technology, protocols, and best practices for cloud data security. These measures will protect cloud computing environments, applications running in the cloud, and data held in the cloud.

Moreover, it is necessary to design a comprehensive security plan to protect the following:

• Physical Networks
• Data Storage
• Data Servers
• Computer virtualization frameworks
• Operating systems (OS)
• Middleware
• Runtime environments
• Data
• Applications
• End-user hardware

There are three major types of cloud platforms:

• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
• Platform-as-a-Service
• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

Security is a shared responsibility in all these types of cloud environments. Cloud service providers embed security in the architecture of the cloud. But you as the user are responsible for protecting your data and other assets in the cloud.

Cloud Computing Security Measures to Protect Your Business

Deploying cloud security to your IT infrastructure is an essential step in order to secure your business from the increasing number of cyber-attacks and data breaches. Cloud systems are usually integrated with all the necessary functions within the IT environment of the company. So, you need to ensure that cloud-based systems are secure.

The following are some of the key security measures to protect your cloud infrastructure:

1. Encryption

It is the process where all the crucial data is secured by converting it into a coded test that cannot be deciphered by hackers. This data can only be decrypted by authorized users with a decryption key. Cloud service providers often provide encryption features for data at rest and in transit. It is recommended to use encryption for sensitive data to prevent unauthorized access. This will ensure that your data remains safe even when malicious threat actors get their hands on it.

2. Access Control

Access control refers to determining the permissions for who can access your cloud resources. The process involves setting up user accounts, passwords, and permission levels. All this effort is made to ensure that only authorized personnel can access sensitive data. Always use strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and role-based access control to limit access to sensitive data.

3. Network Security

Your cloud resources are connected to the network infrastructure of your company. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the best practices for your network security. Use firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and other security measures to protect your network from attacks. For optimum security, you must deploy proper monitoring mechanisms to detect any suspicious activity. Plus, try to keep your software systems up to date.

4. Backup and Recovery

Backups can be your savior after an incident hit your infrastructure. When all your data is compromised during an attack, you do not need to start back from scratch. So, you should always perform regular backups of your data and store them in a secure location. Also, keep testing your backups regularly to ensure that they are working properly.

5. Compliance

Cloud computing security is also subject to compliance and regulatory requirements. The process involves understanding the regulations and standards that apply to your business. It will help you meet the requirements more efficiently and avoid the fines and other catastrophic consequences of not adhering to regulatory requirements.

Along with all these security measures, incident response planning is also an essential aspect of cloud security solutions. It will help you minimize the damage at the time of an attack. Also, it helps in better and faster recovery.