Cloud Security Best Practices in 2021
Despite the raging COVID19 pandemic, the acceleration of digital transformation hasn’t slowed down, and cloud adoption keeps up with the pace. Today, the number of people and organizations moving to the cloud is only increasing because of the connectivity and excellent storage offered by the cloud. However, adopting tight cloud security is advocated by experts like Sonrai Cloud Security to ensure your data remains safe.
What is Cloud Security?
Cloud security involves a composite interaction of processes, policies, technologies, and
controls. The significant advantage of cloud security is that it can be customized to suit your unique requirements.
Access Control
The most significant factor in cloud security involves identity and access control, also known as identity and access management (IAM). Such tight control over access ensures that only authorized people gain access to the organization’s sensitive information. Adequate cloud security restricts access to unauthenticated personnel and hardware and applications used by employees and others. More often than not, data breaches occur due to laxity in access management, information campaigns, crisis management, and a general disregard for security.
An excellent example is the 2019 data security breach of Facebook that left 530 million FB
users’ personal information exposed.
Data Theft
Slow data theft, also known as data leakage, is a data breach and unauthorized or
unauthenticated personnel gaining access by hacking. While most data leakage instances are deliberate, some accidental cases occur due to the oversight of an employee. Such negligence may result from carelessly sending sensitive data via email to the wrong recipient.
Though it is entirely unintentional, the leakage costs the organization heavily. Even emails sent with malicious intent are a threat to your sensitive data. These malicious emails are known as phishing expeditions, where a harmless-looking link is sent with the request to click, which automatically grants access to the hacker.
APTs or Advanced Persistent Threats
Advanced persistent threats or APTs are perpetual threats by hackers who gain access on the sly to steal sensitive information continuously. While occasional attacks target specific
information, APTs steal information and sort the data after accomplishing the theft.
Most hackers piggyback on small companies that are part of the supply chain of large
corporations to gain access to the big organizations’ network. Platforms like Sonrai cloud
security provide total security from such clandestine attacks.
Securing your Data
Cloud security best practices for 2021 include securing cloud data by identifying the most prone to attack and securing it with maximum protection. As sensitive data demands the best security, classifying data based on its significance to your organization and your competitors helps secure it.
As the data size and format are challenging factors, you may not offer the same security level to all your data. Hence, it is worth investing in software customized for classifying your data and assigning security accordingly.
IAM Solution
Adequate access management solutions need to be in place to counter cloud security threats.
You need to ensure that you have a highly secure identity and access management solution in place to stop unauthorized and unauthenticated access. The authorizations should always be role-based, with multi-factor authentication to make it challenging for hackers to breach.
Adding multiple security layers with user-level data security is a smart move, as they will have to comply with internal and external security standards.
Private vs. Public Cloud
While using the public cloud has a cost advantage, it is not without risks you can avoid. With a multi-tenant approach, you need to contend with a high level of cybersecurity issues. However, if you opt for virtual private cloud services, it helps you have total control by providing restricted use. All unauthorized, unauthenticated, and suspicious activity is captured instantly, helping prevent a data breach.
Having End-Point Security
Adopting best security practices at the cloud level may not suffice, and equal importance needs to be given to end-point security as well. All end-user devices, including desktops, laptops, mobile devices, and other applications used to access cloud accounts, must be adequately secured. All these devices are always vulnerable to attacks by hackers who try to gain access to sensitive data in the cloud network. Especially where there is a BOYD policy in force and where cloud accounts are accessed using VPNs, end-point security is essential.
Chose Cloud Vendors Selectively
Cost should never be the only factor while selecting your cloud vendors. With too many players in the market, CISOs need to exercise utmost caution while deciding cloud vendors by thoroughly evaluating their compliance levels and the information compliance standards they adopt. The vendors need to comply with HIPAA and GDPR standards and offer around-the-clock network and data availability.
Summing it Up
While the cloud has become essential in today’s scenario, it comes with its risks regarding data security. Having proper cloud security measures helps keep your sensitive information safe and secure.
Author bio:
Zoya Maryam
Blogger & Content Writer
