Comprehending how to secure and manage data in a cloud environment remains one of the biggest roadblocks for organizations. The transition from on-site data centers to international servers comes with ample benefits and some challenges.
Cloud data protection is the process of safeguarding a company’s information in a cloud environment. This holds irrespective of the location of the information, the nature of the data, whether it is in motion or at rest, whether it is managed by a third-party organization or by internal management.
This field of data protection has been increasing in importance over the last few years. Companies have shifted from the practice of building and looking after their own data centers and have opted for cloud storage instead. This has allowed businesses to save time, money, and the hassle of managing numerous employees.
Today, almost 98% of organizations make use of a cloud environment in some capacity, ranging from SaaS applications to complete infrastructure. Cloud adoption has nearly become universal and a necessity for most modern-day businesses.
Data Protection for Remote Workers
Telecommuting has been a Trojan horse for companies. While it offers many benefits for the business and the workers alike, it also has some drawbacks. On one hand, it has helped companies reduce overhead costs by a lot, granting them access to a global talent pool while improving the work-life balance of employees; it has significantly increased the chances of data breaches on the other hand. This has led to companies creating strict security guidelines for their remote employees.
Why should companies adopt cloud security?
We are currently living in the age of big data. Organizations are creating, gathering, and storing massive amounts of data every day. This information ranges from personal and privileged information, like medical records and credit card data, to worthless information like duplicate records and misaligned data.
Companies are required to access, maintain, and analyze increasing amounts of information each day, and adopting cloud services has been a welcome upgrade for organizations. It has helped organizations to achieve better workflow, more agility, and much faster marketing times. This has also led to companies being able to manage employees with a hybrid or remote schedule much better.
The network perimeter we have all come to know is fading fast. Security personnel around the world are coming to a consensus that we need to reconsider our approach when it comes to data security in a cloud environment. Safeguarding data and managing data across multiple environments, which is transmitted across numerous pathways, is a predicament that businesses will need to solve.
Data Privacy, Integrity, and Availability
The pillars of cloud data security are very similar to those of data governance and information security. Some of the best practices to follow are:
Data confidentiality: Sensitive data must only be accessed or modified by authorized personnel or approved automated processes. In simpler terms, it is vital to ensure that the company’s information is kept private.
Data integrity: Data by itself is trustworthy, unless tampered with. It is definite, dependable, and authentic. What matters most is to apply measures and strict guidelines through policies that protect the information from being deleted or doctored.
Data accessibility: The challenge of stopping unauthorized access while being available at all times to approved people and processes is constant. There cannot be any downtime for systems, and networks and devices must run smoothly at all times.
The three principles are often compared to the CIA triad, being the broader pillars that represent the core concepts towards building a successful security foundation, or any company’s personal security program. A data breach because of a vulnerability or attack will likely occur when one or more of these principles are violated. This is the reason security personnel everywhere follow this framework to assess probable risk to a company’s data assets.
Some challenges of cloud security
The risk of exposure has never been higher, as we see more data move away from traditional security infrastructures, such as central data centers, into mechanisms like a cloud environment. While on-site data security consists of some solid foundations, it still needs to be implemented in cloud management.
Some of the everyday challenges companies face with data protection in cloud environments are as follows:
Lack of observability: Many organizations are oblivious to where their data assets and applications live and what information is in their inventory.
Minimal supervision: As all the information and applications reside on third-party infrastructure, companies have much less control over how their data is shared and accessed across multiple environments.
Shared management causing confusion: Both the organization and the cloud service providers share security responsibilities at all times. If their tasks are not defined or understood properly, it can lead to significant gaps in coverage.
Unpredictable coverage: Services such as hybrid cloud and multicloud are rising in popularity as businesses are noticing greater benefits, and these can help suit the more tailored needs of businesses. But the fact remains that different providers do not employ the same security strategies. A difference in capabilities or coverage can lead to a lack of protection.
Increasing cyber threats: Since the concept of cloud computing is still relatively new for a lot of organizations, cyber criminals often target cloud databases and data storages.
Compliance guidelines: Organizations must follow all privacy regulations set by the nation or any authority in their field of business. Companies are under a lot of pressure to maintain the same policies across multiple environments.
Distributed storage: Companies are enticed to store data on international servers, allowing them to achieve lower latency and more fluidity. But, at the same time, it can raise data sovereignty problems, which might not have been the case if the information were present in their personal data center.
Upcoming Trends in Cloud Data Security
Cloud computing is evolving each day, and security strategies and technologies implemented to protect data in these environments need to do the same. Organizations need to educate themselves about future trends that are paving the way for a dynamic and complex future of data security.
➢Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are on their way to revolutionizing cloud data security. These technologies are capable of combing through huge amounts of data very quickly (granted you have the resources for it) and identifying certain patterns or vulnerabilities which point towards a security threat. Automated threat detection, predicting potential vulnerabilities, and a much more efficient response to issues are some of the things AI-driven security does better than traditional methods.
This form of proactive approach to contingencies is much better than the slow reactive method. It helps organizations stay on top of things and ahead of cyber criminals, while majorly reducing the likelihood of attacks by removing the most common factor, human error.
➢Zero Trust Architecture:
A major drawback of traditional security models is the assumption that everything that resides inside the network is safe. The Zero Trust model is a robust security framework that is gaining popularity among businesses nowadays. It does not share the same assumption; rather believes threats can come from anywhere and demands continuous verification of anyone trying to access data. Every device needs to go through multiple stages of verification to gain access to any resources. Companies stand a chance to enhance their cloud data security capabilities a lot through the implementation of practices such as this.
➢Blockchain Technology:
One of the most promising applications of cloud data security isblockchain technology. Its very nature is decentralized and coupled with the immutable ledger it offers, Blockchain stands out as the ideal addition that can improve data integrity. Utilizing blockchain, companies can enhance transparency by creating authentic records of transactions. This reduces the risk of the data being doctored and improves accountability.
➢Secure Access Service Edge (SASE):
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a revolutionary enhancement in the field of cloud computing. It brings together security services and networking to provide a single solution delivered through cloud environments. SASE is a solution that allows users to access resources from the cloud irrespective of their location. This model promises secure access and seamless transactions through its capabilities. It implements firewalls, zero-trust network access, and safe web gateways, which ensure data security.
Lastly, it should be noted that both parties (customers and cloud service providers) share responsibility for cloud security. The range of duties may vary depending on the specific cloud computing service model, IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS, along with the organization’s deployment of the same. The right crisis management plan can help mitigate any disaster. Organizations must train their remote workers on their contingency plans and increasing data security challenges.
While cloud computing has its benefits, it can be a two-edged sword for someone lacking a full understanding of the technology.
