When it comes to data security, many questions can arise. How is my company data protected? What is the difference between local and cloud computing? Is my company information safe in the cloud?
There are still many questions about how secure your business information is when using a cloud computing service provider. Here are five of the most significant cloud computing risks you need to be aware of so you can make an informed decision before jumping into any online storage.
What Are The Cloud Computing Risks ?
Below are some of the cloud computing risks you need to know hope you find this information helpful.
Limited Network Visibility
There is no visibility when it comes to security operations in the cloud. Traditional IT systems have monitoring options that allow you to see your environment in real-time.
Cloud Security does not have this benefit. The only source of visibility cloud security has is scheduled monitoring of servers and storage devices. This can lead to missed attacks and misconfigurations if not configured correctly.
Because the security responsibility of the cloud computing responsibility model is shared between the cloud service provider and the organization, some level of visibility into workloads and assets is lost during a cloud migration.
While the transfer of responsibility from an organization to a cloud service provider varies in scope and depends on the type of service model being used, organizations must be able to monitor their network infrastructure without relying on network monitoring and logging.
Security Due Diligence
Cloud computing companies are growing in popularity, but sometimes they are less secure than the providers they compete with. The solution to this problem is to conduct due diligence on each vendor that you plan to use to store your information.
Conducting a thorough research will give you an idea of what security risks these companies may be associated with and allow you to make an informed decision about which companies to trust.
A clear understanding of the scope of work needed to successfully transition an organization to the cloud is a critical security imperative.
Too often, organizations that are unaware of the amount of work involved in a transition overlook the security measures put in place by their cloud service provider and fail to do the due diligence required to address all potential security gaps.
Malware Attacks
Companies often think that as long as they are checking the supplier’s reputation, their risk is low. While this may be true, in many cases malware infection occurs without your knowledge.
The threats to these infections are twofold. They can steal your data in transit, maliciously modify it before it’s sent to the cloud, or steal your data after it’s been stored.
Because moving sensitive information to an Internet-enabled cloud creates unique cloud-based cyber threats, organizations need to be aware of how their attack landscape may evolve and what widespread malware threatens a cloud-based organization.
A good security solution will also detect infections already present on the network before they damage your business.
Data Leakage or Loss Of Data
A data breach occurs when employees share data not approved for release with others. This can lead to data breach notifications, which can affect your business’s image in the public eye and result in fines if the data is sensitive.
If you outsource storage, you won’t be able to track who can access your information or what they do. This can lead to data leakage because employees can share sensitive information without your knowledge.
A good security solution will track the visibility of the data, keep track of who gets access to it, and limit the actions they can do with it. This gives you better control over your data and provides a more secure environment.
More than 60% of organizations cite data leakage as their biggest cloud security issue, as reported in the 2020 Cloud Security Report, and understand the risks associated with an organization transferring control of critical data from an internal IT department to a cloud service provider.
If a cloud service provider is hacked or attacked, the organization will not only lose its data and intellectual property, but will also be liable for the damage caused.
Conclusion
Cloud computing is becoming more and more popular. However, this does not mean that companies are immune from data loss or security risks. The best way to solve problems caused by cloud computing is to take proactive steps to protect your company’s information and reduce the risk of data loss.
These steps include educating employees about the risks of cloud computing, protecting applications with encryption, and implementing a CASB to keep data secure while in transit or at rest.
Efficient cloud computing can be more secure than a traditional network if done right.
Redundancy within the shared responsibility and responsibility model is overridden to improve data security, cloud storage ensures data availability and secure recovery if an event makes the organization’s physical asset storage or equipment unavailable or obsolete.
Cloud service providers often offer cross-enterprise analytics, providing consistent security updates and visibility into an organization’s entire attack surface.
