As cloud usage continues to grow, securing your cloud infrastructure is vital for reliable performance, but the security risks of cloud computing are often overlooked. Organizations must focus on putting the proper process, procedure, and technologies that will help mitigate breaches and data loss, avoid compliance challenges, and ensure business impacts are avoided. Cloud computing offers the ability for business and users to access their technology services over the internet.
Cloud security & cloud management post pandemic are more important than ever. With the ability to accelerate innovation while maintaining collaboration the cloud is an environment that needs proper security to keep data and business infrastructure safe from current or emerging cloud security threats.
Cloud Security Benefits
For organizations who currently utilize cloud computing, or are migrating to the cloud, having robust security in place is of the utmost importance. Cyberattacks are becoming more prevalent as threats continue to increase in sophistication and severity, and cloud computing is just as vulnerable as on-premise systems. However, security in the cloud offers some tangible benefits over on-premise architectures, including:
- Centralized Security: In the cloud, everything is centralized. This includes security controls and protection. Business networks in the cloud are comprised of many endpoints (user devices) that need to be managed and secured, which is becoming increasingly difficult as users incorporate more devices and are working from more decentralized locations. With the ability to manage these endpoints centrally, analyzing device usage, monitoring traffic, and performing web filtering becomes more efficient.
- Cost Reduction: As cloud computing does not require dedicated hardware investment, reduced IT and security costs are often seen. Organizational IT teams no longer need to constantly react to security issues, manage security updates, or configure security controls, as cloud security typically offers proactive security response and management at all times, requiring minimal, if any, intervention from IT team members.
- Dependability: With optimized cloud security, end-users can reliably and safely access business-critical data and applications at all times. Cloud computing services offer the ultimate in dependability. With the right cloud security measures in place, users can safely access data and applications within the cloud no matter where they are or what device they are using.
Cloud Security Threats
All cloud computing models are vulnerable to threats, mostly due to their internet connected nature. Organizations, and their IT departments need to proactively assess their security & IT infrastructure to mitigate the risks and threats that are present when moving to the cloud. Organizations that are considering moving to the cloud should be aware of the following common threats to cloud security:
- Data Breaches: There is no concern more palpable than a data breach. It’s something every organization is focused on. However, few have the resources and strategies in place to truly tackle it in a worthy manner. This makes it a critical concern (and something that has to be dealt with in a proactive and preventative way). Failure to deal with data properly (through deliberate encryption) opens your business up to huge compliance risks – not to mention data breach penalties, fines, and serious violations of customer trust. The onus is on you to protect your customer and employee data, regardless of what any Service-Level Agreement (SLA) says.
- Compliance Issues: Often organizations make the supposition that they have the highest protection levels just by operating within a cloud service, and assume compliance ends at federal and international regulations. For modern compliance, many industry regulations now exist as well, including PCI DSS, HIPAA, GLBA, and more.
- Lack of IT Knowledge & Experience: A common pitfall in cloud security is lack of training and expertise in cloud technology. It is estimated that by 2022 up to 95 percent of cloud security issues will be caused by user error, not security infrastructure.
- APIs not Secure: APIs can be of great help, but many do not take into account how they impact organizational systems. While a specific cloud architecture may seem safe on paper, malicious actors often take advantage of unsecure APIs that have been neglected.
- Threats from Within: While organizations typically assume threats exist outside their security perimeter, recent data has shown that up to 43 percent of security breaches come from within. Employee trust is important, but it is equally important to have proper vetting, training, and administrative controls to ensure proper access is achieved.
If you are looking to improve your security posture and assess your security environment, contact the RKON security team and discover the systems and controls we have to keep your organization, and your data, safe from malicious attacks.
As a leading IT advisory practice, our team has deep consulting and execution expertise in digital transformation, security, cloud management, and more. Our industry experience is rooted in our passion, integrity, and commitment to finding the best-possible IT solutions for our clients. Contact Us today for more information on our IT Services.
