Organizations aren’t afraid of the cloud anymore. Cloud adoption among large organizations is over 94%. Whether it’s data, services or their applications, this massive shift towards the cloud has created a need to keep the cloud resources safe. So when we talk about cloud security, we are referring to the technologies and tools that can protect cloud resources from attackers.
Why Cloud Security is Important
Why are over 94% of organizations utilizing cloud storage? Because it just makes sense. Companies can access their data from anywhere, and they can only pay for the storage they need. In the past companies had to buy large numbers of storage and servers and try to anticipate what they needed. Now they can only pay for the resources they need. So if they hire a lot of people, or engage in a mass layoff, they can scale up or down quickly.
But these benefits come with unique challenges. The data is not onsite and securely locked in an organization’s data center, it’s accessed through the internet. This makes the data vulnerable to attacks in new ways. With the rise of huge data centers from Amazon, Google and Microsoft, we now have extremely important and sensitive data being accessed from all over the world in ways that have never happened before. Therefore, having a strong cloud security policy is essential for all organizations.
Key Components of Cloud Security
A cloud environment is complex. There isn’t just one thing to protect against, there is data, the network, user identities and applications. To protect all of these assets requires a cloud security strategy with many different layers. Let’s take a look at some of the components of an effective cloud security posture.
- Data Encryption – Data that travels across the internet must be encrypted so that if it is stolen, it can’t be read or accessed.
- Identity and Access Management (IAM) – An effect IAM system controls the users who access data. If a bad actor can gain access to a user’s identity, they can take all their data. IAM ensures that only validated users can access sensitive data.
- Network Security – Firewalls and other tools that monitor network activity can continually monitor the data coming in and out of the cloud. They can spot abnormalities, and utilize AI to prevent unauthorized access.
- Threat Detection and Response – A proactive threat detection system monitors cloud environments looking for suspicious behavior. Some advanced tools notify security teams about an attack in real-time, severely limiting the amount of damage that a rogue attacker can engage in.
Challenges of Cloud Security
One of the challenges of cloud security is the shared model of responsibilities in securing a customer’s cloud environment. Depending on the type of cloud service that an organization is using, there may be differing responsibilities for securing the data. Google might be responsible for securing the physical access to their large data center, but a customer is still responsible for securing the data, managing who has access to that data, and configuring their security settings.
Ensuring that the right level of cloud service is purchased and that there are no gaps in coverage is a huge challenge.
There also are many regulatory challenges that may need to be met. HIPAA or GDPR have specific requirements to protect data. Ensuring that the cloud service that is chosen meets those requirements requires a lot of additional time, documentation and security policies that need to be managed by IT staffs that are quite often short on time and manpower.
Benefits of a Cloud Security Strategy
Organizations that take their cloud security seriously protect their data, stay in compliance with regulatory mandates, and build trust with customers both inside and outside their organization. A strong strategy can prevent costly downtime events that involve costly Incident Response engagements and prove to be far more expensive than the up-front cost of implementing the proper security tools. Most importantly, customers gain confidence that their data is safe, which is extremely important in today’ s digital age.
The Future of Cloud Security
As the cloud evolves, the cybersecurity that protects the cloud will continue to evolve alongside it. Some of the new trends are AI-driven security and real-time threat detection. These trends are making cloud environments even safer, and responding to newer threats. This will enable the cloud to continue to grow, meet customer’s needs, and respond to a changing world.
If you’re thinking about entering the field of cybersecurity, a knowledge of cloud security is a fundamental that must be understood and embraced.