Cloud Data Security enables organizations to save both cost and scalability by hosting data on cost-effective platforms with flexible security features, but there is always the risk of breach if the system is misconfigured.
Cybercriminals often target data stored in the cloud for various reasons. To protect this sensitive data, encryption and backups may help. Doing this also ensures compliance with any strict data regulations that may exist.
Access control
Access control is an integral component of cloud data security. It safeguards sensitive information stored or traveling into and out of the cloud from unauthorized access, theft and corruption by employing measures such as authentication, encryption and access management. Authentication involves verifying a user using authentication tokens such as passwords or biometric data; encryption encrypts stored and in use data in order to protect against hackers; access management grants or denies users access based on their roles and permissions.
Cloud access control offers many advantages to organizations. By eliminating the need to install and manage local servers and hardware, cloud access control reduces maintenance costs and IT tasks significantly while making integration simpler with other applications as well as providing for more centralized management. It also offers convenience for employees since all they require to use it is access to an internet-enabled computer or phone with reliable internet connection.
Cloud access control does have its risks. It is susceptible to power outages at data centers and data breaches which could disrupt operations significantly and result in loss of information and business outcomes that have severe business ramifications, so it is vital that data backup occurs regularly in order to safeguard it against these potential dangers.
At the core of cloud security is implementing a robust access control policy with the principle of least privilege in mind, including stringent password requirements and multifactor authentication. Furthermore, companies should implement encryption at rest, in use and when moving data to and from cloud servers; maintain continuous visibility through monitoring; provide security awareness training to employees, third-party partners and anyone who accesses organizational cloud resources.
Encryption
Encryption is one of the key measures you can take when it comes to cloud data security, as it ensures sensitive information remains unreadable to hackers in case of breach and reduces risk associated with data loss or theft which could otherwise lead to regulatory fines or customer dissatisfaction. Encryption should be applied both during transit and while at rest; to safeguard transit-bound data use a virtual private network (VPN), tunneling protocol such as SSL/TLS; while data at rest requires more complex approaches like symmetric encryption or key management systems so only authorized users can decrypt their data when stored safely in storage – see our section on Encryption at rest for further details on this method of protecting data encryption!
Cloud data has become an attractive target for cybercriminals due to its interconnectivity; malware can exploit this vulnerability and gain access to various types of information stored therein. As a result, cybersecurity professionals must prioritize protecting all forms of data; for this to work successfully they require full visibility over their entire network.
Organizations must take an extra step in protecting data both during transit and at rest by tracking its location, to meet compliance regulations and demonstrate they are safeguarding customer information. This can be accomplished using cloud DLP tools with multi-factor authentication and visibility features as well as identity and access management frameworks that offer multi-factor authentication solutions.
Businesses should make sure to read their providers’ terms of service carefully. Vendors may fail to clearly specify that customers own their data, leaving businesses vulnerable. This is particularly pertinent when using cloud storage providers as these may possess keys for unlocking data at rest and access it as necessary.
Backups
As companies transform their IT infrastructure to digital platforms, backups become ever more crucial. Data is essential to business operations; when lost it can cripple reputations, profits, and even survival. To avoid data loss many organizations opt to backup their information in the cloud – but when selecting their backup provider it’s important to keep certain factors in mind.
First and foremost, it’s essential to understand how a cloud backup provider stores your data. For instance, you should understand how it is encrypted and who controls its keys; how they process requests; as well as any service level agreements (SLAs).
Cloud-based backup solutions often take an alternative approach by storing both physical and virtual copies of your data in multiple locations – this helps reduce costs while meeting regulatory compliance requirements such as data sovereignty regulations.
As well as offering security, an ideal cloud backup solution should provide redundancy – helping protect against common failures like physical media damage or accidental overwrites. Furthermore, such a solution should include an easy method for testing restorability so you can be certain they will work when needed.
Cloud backup solutions should provide companies with multiple deployment options, including continuous replication and scheduled replication. Continuous replication is typically used by companies who want an always up-to-date copy of their data, while scheduled replication might work better for organizations who do not require constant data updates. Some solutions, like Veritas NetBackup, even include embedded malware engines to protect against ransomware attacks in backups.
Permissions
Access control is a crucial element of cloud data security, ensuring only authorized users have access to sensitive information and protecting against unauthorized activity such as theft or altering of data. Access control uses authentication and authorization measures to verify identities before restricting resources; multi-factor authentication (MFA) also reduces theft or fraud risk significantly.
Access controls are essential in cloud security, but must be implemented and managed without increasing vulnerabilities. This is especially pertinent when working with transient workloads like containers and microservices which, when granted permissions, increase attack surface area and facilitate attackers moving laterally across networks more easily. To mitigate such risks effectively, businesses must adopt a zero trust security framework.
Many organizations are struggling with the complexity of managing and securing their expanding cloud estate, leading them into overly permissive accounts created either accidentally through misconfigurations or shadow admins, which leave adversaries free access to steal sensitive data or cause service disruption. Additionally, due to cloud workloads’ impermanent nature it makes assigning and tracking entitlements extremely challenging.
Microsoft Entra Permission Management offers a solution that meets these challenges by offering complete visibility into the permissions assigned to identities, actions, and resources. It automatically right-sizes or continuously monitors excessive permissions that go unused, as well as providing context-rich reports about all identities, actions, or resources involved. Furthermore, customers can unify access policies across infrastructure as a service platforms in order to create consistency in security policy across infrastructure as a service platforms – enabling a zero trust model as part of their cloud security strategy!
Security audits
Security professionals tasked with safeguarding sensitive data for organizations transitioning to cloud solutions must rethink how they protect it. While traditional approaches like firewalls, access controls, and encryption don’t work as effectively in this environment, new cyber practices such as “data store and object security” (DSOS) provide comprehensive coverage of an organization’s data stores to identify vulnerabilities while alerting teams of potential issues.
Even though cloud environments are generally more secure than on-premises systems, attackers still find ways to break in. Common vectors for attack include misconfigurations, stolen credentials and APIs that transfer information between different applications. To protect themselves against these attacks, organizations should create strong granular IAM policies with 2FA/MFA enabled on all accounts as well as encryption of all data at rest, use, or in transit.
CSPs frequently provide standard cybersecurity tools, yet these don’t cover every area of an enterprise – leaving security gaps through which threat actors can gain entry and steal sensitive corporate or PII data or other essential business assets.
There are various solutions available to increase cloud security. According to cybersecurity experts, experts suggest using a scalable approach with multiple security technologies that combine in order to detect anomalous behavior and centralize all data storage in one central repository with an ability to detect anomalies. Furthermore, security teams must have established plans in place for responding quickly to emerging threats while mitigating their impact. Finally, understanding industry and legal compliance standards and how they apply to your cloud environment is also key – noncompliance could incur fines and damage your reputation.
