Technology grows faster than an elm tree during a rainy season. Because of that, new computing technology emerges every so often that suddenly becomes extremely prominent. Cloud computing is one of them. As one of the fastest growing technologies in the world, companies are jumping on board using the cloud for everything from e-commerce to software as a service applications. And its simplest form, cloud computing refers to any type of resources that can be accessed over the internet. That becomes a powerful and scalable tool for organizations to use. Whether it’s infrastructure as a service offerings like Microsoft Azure, databases like Google Cloud, or even SaaS applications like Salesforce, the cloud has something to offer for everyone. With so many organizations migrating data and apps to the cloud, it’s more vital than ever to understand how doing so impacts cybersecurity risk. Today, we’ll go over some of these risks and how to mitigate them.
The Benefits and Risks of Cloud Migration
Migrating to the cloud isn’t just beneficial for IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS applications. It can also offer significant cost savings, a scalable platform, and the flexibility to work anywhere from any device. Along with that, it can also help improve cyber security. Consider that with traditional on-premise architectures, IT teams have limited visibility into what’s going on with their networks and servers. Having control over these systems is paramount to staying safe. But unfortunately, these systems can become compromised by malware, viruses, worms, and other threats. Using a managed service provider in a public or hybrid cloud environment can provide greater visibility into what’s happening so that you can better protect yourself against cyber attacks—especially the ones that originate within your own network. Because most cloud providers have advanced security techniques in place, you can rest assured your data will remain safe while working in the cloud.
Key Security Considerations for Cloud Migration
Migrating to the cloud might be beneficial, but there are some considerations for moving your data that companies should be aware of and practice. Some of these relate to compliance standards. Whether it’s PCI, HIPAA, or GDPR, companies must remain compliant when transferring data. Data can be accessed from anywhere in the world when you use a cloud. That means you must keep your data secure and protected. Making sure your cloud provider has strong access controls in place—in addition to multi-factor Authentication—can help create an extra layer of protection for users needing to access sensitive information. Data privacy is also a concern. You must prevent unauthorized access and hackers, but you should also be aware of how much personal information about customers will be shared with third parties. That’s where the compliance we discussed earlier becomes critical. Finally, think about Network security. Make sure you secure the connections between your existing infrastructure and any remote/cloud servers to ensure Network integrity. Finally, the company should have a disaster recovery plan in the unfortunate event of a disaster striking and affecting its cloud.
Challenges in Ensuring Cybersecurity During Cloud Migration
As you plan to move your data back and forth to different Cloud environments, understand that there will be some challenges involved in ensuring you remain secure. Data security and integrity is one of the most important. Ensuring data stays encrypted in transit, while it’s being stored, and while it’s being used is critical to preventing it from causing damage if it falls into the wrong hands. You must also ensure that data is secure within the cloud infrastructure. Find ways to protect it against unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, and destruction. Use a cloud migration security program to help with the finer details of the process and with keeping everything safe (not to mention dealing with issues like data loss or corruption, losing data, and increased compliance costs). By taking the steps you need to prevent issues with your data, you can keep it secure and viable while migrating to the cloud.
Conclusion
Can you get right down to it, my greeting to the cloud is an amazing opportunity for organizations to improve their cybersecurity and generally streamline their operations. Not only is it more flexible and cost-effective, but it’s an agile solution to some of today’s more modern business problems. Unfortunately, it does come with some risks. Assessing these risks prior to migration and handling them as you migrate your data are critical to success. Considering these risks up front and creating a robust plan—along with conducting regular audits and implementing encryption technologies—can ultimately be an effective means of protecting data along the way.
