Nowadays more and more data is being stored in the cloud. Managing large chunks of data along with complex infrastructures can be daunting but nonetheless, it is crucial to pay attention to security. Why? Well, with more companies opting for cloud infrastructures and storing their private data there, more cybercriminals are attracted. Therefore, it is a necessity to implement effective security measures for your cloud-stored data.
By cloud security, we mean following industry best practices, implementing proper access controls, staying compliant with regulations, and generally keeping your cloud data secure. It is best to have a “privacy and security first” mindset in order to mitigate risks like data breaches, human errors, ransomware, or outages. Now, let’s get into the topic…
How cloud security benefits organizations
Implementing proper measures to your organization for better cloud security brings a range of benefits. The obvious one is greater protection for your environments and sensitive data, but let’s get into specific areas where cloud security proves advantageous.
- Strict access controls and management – minimized risk of unauthorized access
- Better availability and reliability – cloud services are responsible for uptime
- Reduced costs – no need to buy any hardware
- Improved security of applications – regular testing by providers
- Compliance with industry regulations – service providers should undergo audits
- Stay up to date – providers consistently improve their services for better security
- Constant customer support – 24/7 help with any potential issues
Are there any challenges?
Despite its benefits, we shouldn’t forget to pay attention to challenges that come with cloud security… What’s more, we should know how to properly address them. It is important to understand your responsibilities in terms of security, compliance in regards to industry standards and potential risks concerning your data.
Shared Responsibility Model
It is crucial to grasp the division of duties for protecting different aspects of cloud environments. For example, when it comes to Microsoft, it operates under the shared responsibility model and clearly outlines what the user and the provider’s obligations are.
Depending on the type of deployment, SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS, the obligations may vary a bit. Though, physical networks, data centers along with physical hosts are the responsibilities of the provider. While a user is responsible for the information and data it possesses, devices (servers, endpoints, etc.), accounts, and identities.
Source: Microsoft Shared Responsibility Model
By understanding the shared responsibility model you can make informed decisions to implement relevant security measures for data protection in areas of your responsibility.
If your data was accidentally deleted, corrupted or attacked with ransomware, the provider is not obligated to restore your data. Your data is your responsibility.
The risk of an outage outage
Another challenge regarding cloud security is the possibility of a service outage. Imagine your operation-crucial data stored in the cloud becomes unavailable. Do you think that it’s not possible?
Let’s remember the outage of Microsoft’s services that happened in July of 2024. This was a DDoS attack that reportedly caused an 8-hour outage of the Azure portal along with some Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview services. Frankly, this is not the first time that the company was targeted with a DDoS attack, it also happened a year earlier, in June of 2023. The attack impacted Microsoft customers’ access to critical services such as Azure portal, Microsoft Entra admin center, and Microsoft Intune.
Compliance
To stay compliant means adhering to legal requirements, following industry regulations and data protection as well as privacy standards. Compliance is especially important in heavily regulated industries – finance, government, or healthcare. That’s because they deal with a significant amount of sensitive data, which must be protected against unauthorized access and potential exploitation.
To choose a reliable cloud provider, you should analyze their compliance with security standards such as ISO 27001, GDPR or SOC 2. These regulations guarantee that your cloud providers implement strict access controls, monitor risks, encrypt your data, assure physical and environmental security, and many others.
Best practices for security and privacy of cloud data
Now that we have discussed the importance of cloud security along with the benefits and challenges it brings, we can address best practices to secure your data in the cloud. So, how exactly do you boost your cyber defenses and keep a proactive security stance?
Analyze potential risks
Before taking any action, it is important to evaluate what threats could potentially pose a threat to your business. When you have a clear view of what risks need to be addressed and taken into consideration, you can choose the appropriate security measures to keep your cloud data protected.
Implement strong authentication
With proper authentication measures, you significantly reduce the risk of a threat actor accessing your data. Consider implementing MFA (multi-factor authentication) or 2FA (2-factor authentication) and strong passwords. With those two mechanisms, you move past the basic authorization process as it necessitates verification through other, additional actions apart from the password. These are your first line of defense, therefore they play a crucial role in maintaining the privacy and security of your environment. Did you know that the basic 8-character passwords can be broken by a hacker in just 37 seconds? Introduce policies that require all users to only have strong passwords using numbers, special characters, and being 16 characters long.
Make sure data is encrypted
In order to keep your cloud data protected, it is important to have encryption by using strong cryptographic keys, like AES. Your data should be encrypted both at rest and in flight to guarantee that even when it is intercepted by a threat actor, it won’t be readable without the decryption key. Moreover, you should keep your data in an immutable format on your storage, to be sure that it cannot be altered or deleted.
Introduce and manage access controls
When it comes to cloud data, teams sometimes work remotely, require access to different areas of the infrastructure and with more complex ecosystems, the number of users can be large. Now, it is crucial to properly manage access permissions across the entire organization to avoid unauthorized access, potential security holes, and any form of human error.
That is when RBAC (Role Based Access Controls) along with the principle of least privilege comes into play. By having predefined permissions for roles, you simply assign individuals to their relevant roles. With the principle of least privilege, you can guarantee that no user has excessive access, by minimizing their permissions to data that they require to complete tasks. Remember to regularly review the granted access and to revoke permissions for inactive accounts.
Keep up with patches & upgrades
Since cyber security is a constantly evolving industry, patches of platforms are crucial, as they often address the arising security issues. To prevent attackers from exploiting outdated security configurations, processes, or systems, you should stay up to date with the most recent relevant patching and regularly upgrade your cloud infrastructure.
Monitor and audit your environments
It is a necessity to have a clear overview and understanding of all processes taking place within your network. You should have a system to notify you about any new devices attempting to connect, unauthorized access, and attempts to alter or delete data. By continuously monitoring processes, not only do you improve the security of cloud data along with user accountability but also create space to actually improve those processes and address any potential vulnerabilities.
Introduce a zero-trust model
Another significant practice is to implement a zero-trust approach. By doing so you maintain a zero-trust stance towards individuals inside and outside your organization. This way you prevent any risks related to hackers but also malicious insiders within your company. To successfully maintain a zero-trust model, you should use the aforementioned authentication practices along with strict access controls.
Train your teams
For any security measures to work, they need to be clearly understood by your employees so they can put those into practice. Educate your teams in regard to potential threats and vulnerabilities that could potentially affect your company. Make sure that employees will report any suspicious activities so that they can be dealt with. Also, it is important that teams understand their roles and responsibilities as well as the processes that need to take place in case of a disaster scenario.
Check for compliance
To maintain a secure environment it is important to verify your organization’s compliance. By adhering to industry standards and regulations along with legal requirements, you enhance the security of your cloud data. Now, it is crucial to have regular audits and checks, to make sure that your company is compliant. Auditing also supports the transparency of your organization and business continuity. Some of the industry standards include GDPR, SOC, HIPAA, ISO, NIS 2 and DORA.
Backup your data
Your last line of defense is the backup provider that you opted for. Make sure that you follow the 3-2-1 backup rule. Ideally, you should be able to schedule your backups and, essentially, just “plug-and-play” due to the automation of backup processes, which minimizes the risk of human error.
What is more, a backup provider should include flexible restore and recovery possibilities, in case of any security-related incidents concerning data loss. It is also important that a backup vendor provides unlimited retention for compliance and archiving purposes.
Verify the security of data centers
In terms of data centers used by cloud providers, it is important to verify their security. Make sure that a data center goes through regular audits, and has fire protection and overall physical security as well as technical support.
When analyzing data centers, pay attention to their compliance with the following industry standards: ISO 27001, EN 1047-2 standard, SOC 2 Type 2, EN 50600, SOC 3, FISMA, DCID, DOD, HIPAA, ISO 50001, PCI-DSS Level 1 and PCI DSS, LEED Gold Certificate, and SSAE 16.
How Xopero Software can help you meet your security requirements
Backing up your data is important for cloud security as it supports your recovery efforts in case of a disaster scenario. With the evolution of cloud services comes an increased interest of threat actors who try to exploit vulnerabilities and gain access to your data. Risks where backup can be your guardian angel include ransomware, service outages, data deletions but also support compliance since it is a requirement in terms of industry standards.
A robust backup solution will support the availability and reliability of your data. Due to the ability to schedule backups and keep the processes automated you reduce the risk of human error and save time for employees to stick to their primary objectives. With AES encryption using your own key, immutable storage, replication, recovery capabilities, and verified compliance with regulations such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2, you can be sure that your data is safe.
Summary
The industry of cloud services is always evolving, so it is important to pay attention to the ongoing updates and arising security threats. Ensure protection against ransomware, human errors, and platform outages by following the best practices. Pay attention to the shared responsibility model to understand your obligations in terms of securing your cloud data.
Remember, your data is your responsibility, the provider is mainly obligated to secure their infrastructure and maintain the availability of their services. Therefore, it is necessary to take advantage of security measures like strict access controls and backup solutions to boost the security of your cloud data.