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Is Your Cloud Ultra Secure?

Posted by Philip Bindley

With cyber threats increasing and the adoption of BYOD growing – the security challenges, risks and business impacts of the Cloud are becoming more evident.

With more and more companies considering the Cloud, we are finding that priorities are shifting from the cost-saving benefits that the Cloud offers towards a more security-centric focus. With cyber threats increasing and the adoption of BYOD growing – the security challenges, risks and business impacts of the Cloud are becoming more evident.

Prioritising Security

Despite IT budgets tightening, we are finding that executives are beginning to take Cloud security more seriously and investing in better resources to protect their data.

We only need to look at the high profile hacking attempts on well-known brands to understand why. Security is steadily becoming more important to companies ahead of cost when considering the Cloud, but it is still not the number one priority.

Yet with so many deployment options available, companies can find it difficult to anticipate all the security requirements that the Cloud brings.

Your digital data is an essential asset to how you do business, so it is imperative that your organisation knows the location of where data is stored and that your provider is adhering to compliance laws and best practices.

The physical and human security aspect of securing your data is often overlooked by organisations when locating new Cloud vendors. A surprising number of companies are not aware what physical and human security measures are in place to protect their data.

Making sure your Cloud providers undertake employee vetting and provide on-site security should be a key facet in your search for Cloud partners. This is especially important in data-sensitive industries, as these additional safeguards will help deter any unauthorised breaches of company or customer data and make your presence in the Cloud Ultra Secure.

A Risk-Based Approach to Migration

Having a secure and ultimately successful transition to the Cloud does not have to be a daunting task. Adopting a more risk-based strategy and creating a checklist for migration will ensure a smooth transition safeguarding your data giving you a framework to work within.

  • Identify the asset to move to the cloud.
  • Identify the value of the asset by determining how important the data is to the organisation.
  • Evaluate the Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability requirements and vulnerabilities for the asset.
  • Map the asset to potential Cloud deployment through identifying deployment models that best meet business requirements.
  • Evaluate potential Cloud service providers and models by researching the degree of control you require, location of data, compliance and the ability to handle regulated data.
  • Map out the potential data flow between the Cloud service and any customers or nodes.

Undertaking a risk assessment aligned to business objectives is the key driver for your successful adoption to the Cloud. By following a step-by-step methodology to identify the risks and associated costs of all the different Cloud deployment options available to you, companies will be able to make better informed security decisions and harness the true power and potential of Cloud computing.