What is Cloud Security?

Cloud security is the set of technologies, policies, controls, and procedures designed to protect data, applications, and IT infrastructure within cloud computing environments such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. 

It’s important to remember that when using ANY cloud-based service, your data and applications are stored, managed and processed on remote IT infrastructure and servers accessed over the internet rather than held on a local server in the office or on a personal computer. This adds several security considerations, as you never truly know exactly where your data is located. Therefore, cloud security aims to protect these resources from breaches, threats and other security risks. 

Essential factors of Cloud Security include: 

Data Protection: 

Whether it’s your personal holiday photos or sensitive business documentation, it’s vital that all data in the cloud is encrypted. Access is restricted to only those people who are meant to be accessing it to shield it from cybercriminals. This typically involves using encryption techniques for data in transit (data moving between networks, for example, a user accessing data in the cloud from home or an office) and encryption-at-rest for data stored in cloud storage, including emails and files. 

Identity and Access Management (IAM): 

When you’re using cloud services and applications it’s critical to make sure only the right people can get in to access it. That’s where strong authentication mechanisms come into play, so in addition to strong passwords, you might also consider multi-factor authentication (where you also use a smartphone app or special USB key to sign in). You may also want to put policies in place so data and applications can only be accessed from specific offices or countries or even specific smartphones and personal computers. You also want to be sure that people have the right roles. For example, so that only IT users can create new cloud user accounts or that ‘Clive’ in marketing can’t mistakenly delete ‘Alans’ data in finance. Essentially, this boils down to managing user accounts, application identities, roles, and permissions properly. 

Compliance and governance:  

When you’re running a business, you’ve got to play by the rules, even in the digital world. This means following all the laws and industry standards that apply to your type of business and the data you store in the cloud. This typically includes maintaining audit trails such as information of who logged in and when, and regular compliance reporting to report on how you’re keeping your business data safe. 

Threat detection and prevention:  

Automated security tools and technologies such as intrusion detection systems (IDS) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) are like digital watchdogs, sniffing out suspicious activity and stopping it before it can cause significant harm. Having firewalls and antivirus software in place on cloud-based servers and personal devices to monitor, detect and block threats in real time. 

The major cloud vendors have available tools to help achieve this goal. 

 

Security monitoring and incident response: 

Continuously monitor cloud environments for suspicious activities, security breaches, and vulnerabilities. Establish incident response plans and procedures to address security incidents quickly. The main cloud service providers have dedicated security websites and portals to help achieve this goal, but be sure to use and monitor them regularly. 

Secure configuration management: 

Implementing secure (and repeatable!) configurations for new cloud services, virtual servers, and network infrastructure to minimise security risks. This is like having a reusable blueprint and could involve the use of automation to build new cloud-based services quickly that are configured identically and using policies to ensure that security tools are built in. 

Disaster recovery and business continuity: 

Developing a strategy and having a backup system in place to ensure data availability and business continuity in the event of disasters, system failures, or cyberattacks. It’s a common misconception that your data is automatically backed up and protected in cloud environments, so you want to be sure you could get it back if the worst happened.

More on that, here

What is the Cloud Shared Responsibility Model? What does it mean for your cloud data security. (voragoit.com)

and

Why is it important to backup cloud data?  (voragoit.com)

In summary, cloud security is important for protecting data in the cloud, ensuring business continuity in the event of a security incident, complying with industry specific rules and regulations, mitigating cyber threats, controlling costs, and preserving business trust and reputation. All businesses should take it seriously, regardless of size.