Cyber security in the cloud

Cyber security in the cloud: it’s a must.

Businesses across industry have realised the storing, editing and sharing a different kind of information like history records, information related to warranties, quality and test data, and product specs is easy and convenient thanks to this technology.

However, many business owners and managers are wondering whether the cloud is safe from cyber attacks.

>See also: How to approach cloud computing and cyber security in 2017

Just like any other technology of this type, cloud technology is vulnerable. However, the risk of security breaches is minimal. In order to understand cyber security in the cloud, you should learn a few things about this topic.

Privacy and accessibility

This is probably the main concern of every business user. Namely, they want to be sure that their private data won’t get mixed or confused with the data from other companies. In addition, they don’t want to share their information publicly. The best-cloud based apps and programs rely on data separation. In other words, they can guarantee that the data is separated based on the role of each person that has access to the cloud. Even if customers have access to some information, there is a special transactional data which is available only to a limited number of people.

The risk of hacking attacks

Hacking means gaining unauthorised access to data in a system like a cloud system. Many potential users of this technology are wondering whether hackers can penetrate the system easily.

>See also: How to approach cloud computing and cyber security in 2017

According to many experts, proper user management and adequate password policies (complex passwords that are changed from time to time) should be enough to prevent cyber attacks.

At the same time, the system that you use must pay special attention to this issue. Many of the companies providing such services have in-house teams that are conducting penetration tests. Some of them are using 3 rd party consultants for this purpose too. During these tests, the experts are using the most common activities conducted by hackers to enter the system. In this way, they are eliminating the “holes” in the system.

The ability to access the cloud from different devices and in different ways, for example through play store for PC, is one of the things that make the risk higher. Yet, with a good plan, you will be able to avoid such situations.

Checking the providers

Every cloud technology provider will probably say that their offer is legitimate and safe, but in order to stay on the safe side, it is a good idea to use an option that has a 3rd party certification. This is a good way to check the security system and architecture applied by cloud technology providers.

>See also: How to approach cloud computing and cyber security in 2017

On-premise security vs cloud security

Some people believe that a system that consists of a few servers is a better solution compared to a cloud-based app. The fact that you own a set of servers doesn’t make anything more secure. Large on-premise systems require a lot of money and they can be accessed by many people. On the other hand, cloud systems are available 99.99% of the time and users can provide different levels of access to others.

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Nick Ismail

Nick Ismail is a former editor for Information Age (from 2018 to 2022) before moving on to become Global Head of Brand Journalism at HCLTech. He has a particular interest in smart technologies, AI and...