In the current age of cloud computing, fast data accessibility irrespective of place and time is possible. But the question arises whether our data is secure in a cloud? Well, that depends on how well you understand the factors affecting the cloud security implementation by a service provider. For this, you need to learn a few tricks to identify a provider with most reliable security implementation in the cloud. Here are the factors listed for your assistance.
Security policy for Shared Data
Cloud data breach is the worst nightmare for any service provider and the customers. Data breaches can be due to many reasons. The prominent reason is space sharing by customers. Each cloud provider demarcates different containers for different users according to their requirements.
By default, the containers are not shared. These containers are sections of shared storage hardware. Your concern is to know that how protected these boundaries are and what methods have been implemented to secure these containers against unauthorized access by other users.
Before registering for services of a certain provider, you must ensure that it implements a foolproof way to login and authentication. Read the security policy of the provider carefully before your final decision.
Tools and Services used
The cloud industry has grown tremendously over past few years. The reason can be contributed to the cost effectiveness and demand for this ubiquitous technology. So, there has been some valuable research and innovation done to make the clouds more secure. There are many efficient tools and services that can be used for cloud security.
While the enterprises are spending money and efforts in utilizing VPN connections, they must also secure the services by implementing cloud firewalls and data encryption techniques. This is the least the providers can do to protect the sensitive data from any kind of attacks or breaches. You can read about this in the documentation provided by service providers. Azure is one of the safest clouds with tight security measure in place.
Encryption of Data in Transit
You have checked for the tools to protect data while in rest. The enterprises take a great care of data center’s physical and access protection. What about when the data is requested and is in transit? This is the most opportune moment for hackers and eavesdroppers. Data must be encrypted while it is in motion after an http request, or when the cloud services applications access the data. Just check that the service enterprise uses protocols like IPsec encryption and authenticates the data. Another issue to consider is how securely the cloud provider dumps the data that has been marked obsolete by the users.
Software APIs or OS loopholes
Even if the data is encrypted while at rest or in transit, there are other options that the hackers or data thieves can use to compromise the security of data in a cloud. You must take all the care to check about how the APIs are secured by the service providers. Also, make sure that the software interface provided is robust and strong to prevent all kind of malicious attacks. A cloud provider must lock down all the APIs.
Training of Employees
In spite of best security policies and encryption technique employed by the service provider, cloud security is still at risk if the employees of the organization are unreliable. Choose a service provider with a trustworthy background and history of good HR policies. It is a tough task but a peep into the organization hierarchy and control of employees on the data is essential to judge cloud security. If you have a large setup with a number of employees, train them against the chances for phishing. They must be discouraged to access the sensitive data outside the organization or with their personal mobile devices. Get your employees GCP certification to become certified today.
Physical Protection of the Data Center
Though this may look like a minor issue, it actually needs to be considered seriously. You will never wish that someone may break into your cloud provider’s datacenter and takes away the hard disk with your data.
Choose the Right Cloud Security Service Provider
Cloud security is a complete solution that involves securing the data and apps through proper hardware, software, people and location management. Now that you know about the different aspects of cloud security, you can use this knowledge to choose the best service provider. Share your experience while selecting a cloud service provider in the comments section below.
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