Change is inevitable that transformed the world from the beginning. Anything that didn’t adapt to the change faded out from the face of the earth. The same applies to every business. More than half of the businesses have adopted cloud platforms to harness its infrastructure and flexible benefits. Though a cloud platform has many advantages, every cloud user needs to follow a guideline to keep their data and applications safe and secure.
Top 6 Best Cloud security practices:
In the era of cloud adoption, cloud security is the main concern for every cloud user. Cloud security refers to the security of their cloud infrastructure. Likewise, the number of cyber attacks happening in the cloud infrastructure is also increasing. You can improve your cloud security by adhering to the below guidelines.
Understand your Cloud Plan
The number of players in the cloud market has increased tremendously. To stand out from the competition, each cloud service provider is devising unique packages. Some of the cloud providers curated very affordable cloud plans by compromising the security cost.
In such cloud pricing plans, you need to protect your data, applications & storage by implementing proper security firewalls and alert monitoring tools. This type of cloud plan is called the shared responsibility model. Some cloud providers offer cloud packages with a bundle of third-party add-on services. As a consumer, you should analyze the security of those third-party add-ons.
Prepare a Cloud Security Checklist
For any preparation, preparing a checklist will be a good kick-off. The same can be applied before selecting a cloud infrastructure for your business.
- Inquire safety preparation of the provider – Know about the cloud security protocol, infrastructure, adherence to data protection norms, penetration testing reports, and audit reports.
- Inquire about Geo redundancy – Know the geo location of the data centers where the infrastructure of your business is physically present. Make sure the cloud providers have a geo-redundant data center architecture to prevent consumer data and applications from natural & Man-made disasters.
- Inquire about backup & restoration – In cloud environments, it is necessary to take backup at regular intervals. The frequency of taking a backup of the cloud setup varies for each plan and provider. You should have the clarity of backup intervals of your cloud plan. Make sure the cloud provider has an optimum disaster recovery plan.
- Inquire about customer support availability – Cloud infrastructure system operates round the clock. Confirm the cloud provider has a support system available to respond to emergency situations 24/7.
- Inquire about encryption & authentication – Double-check the data that gets stored and the communication channels are highly encrypted. Anyone of Transport layer security (TLS) or Secure socket layer (SSL) should be in place. Access to Identity access management (IAM), Intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS) is an advantage for cloud security.
Analyze the Security Preparations of your Cloud Service Provider
Each cloud provider has a security strategy to ensure safety from cyber-attacks. A good cloud provider has security protocols enabled in all physical, network, data & application layers. All the partnered applications and tools should be up to date. Necessary firewalls and anti-malware systems should be available and employed.
Some of the leaders in the cloud market started implementing AI technology to manage and monitor cloud infrastructure security. Selecting a cloud platform that has cutting-edge technologies like AI ensures an additional layer of security for your cloud systems.
Enforce Zero Trust Policy
The zero trust model was introduced to minimize the impact of cyber-attacks. Even though it has been in practice since 2010, this architecture has not been widely adopted. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NSIT) of the U.S. Department of Commerce has given 7 principles for the zero trust security model.
The zero-trust cloud security model does not trust an asset or user account based on their physical or network location. Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) allows a user to access an application or data Implementing ZTA to your cloud platform gives you the advantage to monitor your cloud platform effectively.
Provide Special Security Training for Employees
One of the most hazardous methods used to penetrate a business is the insider threat. It is a threat caused by an account of a person who has access to many things within the organization. This attack can happen in either of two ways.
- A person who is a part of an organization intentionally misuses their access for personal benefit. This case is very rare in insider threat.
- Cyber criminals use several techniques like phishing to prey on a person who is an integral part of the business organization to gain access to the organization’s system. The gained access will be used against the business creating a loss in reputation and finance.
The remedy to avoid this is to give awareness to everyone in the organization. You can give a special cloud security course that covers newly developed cyber-attack techniques, and ways to prevent such attacks.
Employ Security Detection & Prevention Tools
All the communication between you and your cloud infrastructure is through the public or private network. Deploy alert monitoring tools to your cloud network. Alert monitoring tools help to monitor, assess, and categorize cloud security alerts.
Cloud monitoring tools keep all the activities happening in your cloud infrastructure in a log format. The system-generated log file helps to audit and detect all the modifications in your system.
Conclusion
Businesses adapt emerging technologies to improve their quality of work, delivery, and supply chain management. It is important that the core of the business remains improved, not vice versa.
Approaching any new technology or concept with a proper guideline instead of fear gives a strong boost to a hopeful future. Bookmark us to read more useful tech and business articles.
