The explosion of cloud technology has changed the face of business processes as we know them. Nearly 90 percent of companies rely on cloud technology. However, there is some skepticism about the security of cloud computing. With recent hacks and technology attacks, securing cloud computing has become a significant concern for businesses worldwide.

The security experts at GREY CLOUD SERVICES – FZCO understand your concerns, which is why we’ve put together this blog about the importance of cloud computing security and best practices that will keep you safe in the cloud.

 Why is cloud security so important?

According to a Cisco report, cloud data centers handle 94% of all workloads. Yet, despite the popularity achieved by cloud technology, most companies are skeptical about cloud security. There’s a reason for that. It’s also reported that hackers are launching attacks every 39 seconds. This can be fatal for businesses for the following reasons:

1. Remote Work Management

Remote work allows you to hire talent from all over the world. However, this arrangement comes with security risks. Using personal devices can expose your data to malware and phishing attacks. If a malicious virus penetrates your cloud system through them, the damage done could bring your company to its knees.

2. Security breaches

If your company decides to run your application in a public or hybrid cloud, you trust a third party to care for your data. Unfortunately, this means that you no longer have control over data security. So it's essential to be on your guard and make sure that your cloud provider takes this responsibility seriously. Even if you know that your provider will provide top-notch security, it is your responsibility as a customer to make sure that your data is safe.

3. Complying with regulatory requirements

Data protection standards were designed to ensure the integrity and security of customer data. When you store customer data in the cloud, you are responsible for keeping it secure, especially if your organization belongs to a highly regulated financial, insurance, banking, or legal industry. A data leak would ruin your reputation and brand because outside parties would hold you accountable.

4. Creating levels of access

An unintentional data breach will compromise the integrity of your business and give your competitors an advantage. Restricting access to data to only those employees who need it can prevent mistakes that lead to data breaches.

5. Disaster Recovery

Disasters such as a flood or fire can happen without warning. If you don't secure and protect your data, you could lose all of your data. This can undermine customer confidence in your organization, dealing a fatal blow to an otherwise successful business.
  • Best Practices for Secure Cloud Computing
  • Control employee access
  • Secure user endpoints
  • Maintain visibility into your cloud services
  • Enforce strong password security policies
  • Choose the right cloud provider carefully
  • Analyze cloud security contracts and SLAs
  • Understand that you are jointly responsible
  • The highest level of encryption

How is it possible to protect your cloud security?

1. Choose reliable providers

Working with a reliable provider is the foundation of cloud security. Choose a partner that provides the best built-in security protocols and follows industry best practices at the highest level. In addition, you need to make sure they are security compliant and certified.

2. Revise cloud security contracts and SLAs

In a disaster, SLAs and contracts are the only guarantees of service delivery and order of care. Unfortunately, 62.7% of cloud providers fail to state that customer data is the customer's property, creating a legal gray area. Read the terms and conditions, attachments, and supplements to determine who owns the data and what happens if you terminate services. Also, try to get clarity on the visibility of any security events and responses.

3. Be aware of shared responsibility

When you connect with a cloud service provider, you enter into a shared responsibility partnership for security. Therefore, it's essential to be transparent and clear about the shared responsibility partnership.

4. Maintain employee access controls

Implementing strict user access controls with policies will help you deal with employees who try to gain access to your cloud services. Best security practices in the cloud start with zero trusts. Only give access to data and systems to users who need it. To avoid confusion and complexity, create clearly defined groups with assigned roles. This will allow you to add users directly to a group rather than setting up access for each employee.

5. Visibility of cloud services

Remember, you can't protect what you can't see. Using multiple cloud services from different providers and geographic regions can create blind spots in your cloud environment. Make sure you implement a cloud protection solution that provides visibility into your entire ecosystem. Then you can implement granular security policies to mitigate a wide range of security risks.

6. Strong password security policy

Strong password protection may seem basic, but it's an essential element in preventing unauthorized access. Implement a strict and robust password policy. To protect against most brute force attacks, make it a rule that users must renew their passwords every three months. You can also implement multi-factor authentication.

However, regardless of size, all organizations can take advantage of these best practices and improve cloud security.

If you need to discuss cloud security options, our experts will be glad to help you!