Over the last ten to fifteen years, the cloud has gone from new technology to accepted–and by many, embraced–fact. According to a recent CompTIA study, cloud computing is now a critical part of today’s IT operations, powering everything from Cloud Backup to handling email and other commonly used applications. With this growth, as well as the growth of cybercrime, cybersecurity is an ever-present concern. Read on to find out about cybersecurity considerations in cloud computing.
Keeping Data and Applications Safe in the Cloud
Many businesses are storing their data and applications in cloud data centers, or in a hybrid (part cloud, part on-premise) cloud environment. How can these resources be kept safe from cyberattacks? On-premise security measures can include keeping anti-virus and anti-malware definitions up to date along with operating system patches to keep cyber criminals from getting through. The considerations for cloud cybersecurity are a bit different.
One consideration for a business is whether they want to have their data and applications in a public or private cloud environment. The public environment may do well enough for some businesses, but for certain highly-regulated fields such as healthcare, the private cloud environment is important to maintaing compliance. Or certain businesses can have some applications in a private cloud environment, but their email is hosted in the public environment.
Whichever environment the resources reside in, data encryption is important as well. If a cyberattack occurs, encryption ensures that the information cannot be read and misused. Data must be safe both while in transit to the cloud and once it resides there.
The Role of Network Monitoring
Finally, network monitoring is vital to cybersecurity, and can be done remotely twenty-four hours a day. Thanks to the cloud, employees can work from wherever they are, at any time of day. That can put the business’ systems at risk from unsecured mobile access in public spaces or even from a worker’s unsecured laptop or desktop when they work from home. Network monitoring by your service provider can help you proactively identify intrusion attempts and avoid an expensive data breach by alerting your business to potential problems.
To learn more about cybersecurity measures to keep your company’s data and applications safe in the cloud, contact your technology advisor today.
