Top 3 Security Challenges for Cloud Computing
With cloud computing, you get the full package: secure data and applications accessible any time, anywhere and from any device. But that’s not all: you also benefit from increased efficiency, scalability, and faster deployments. So there is really no surprise when reports published by McAfee and RightScale show that more than 90% of companies already use cloud computing (public, private, or a combination of both). Before getting ahead of ourselves, let’s not forget that there are some security challenges to consider along with all these benefits.
Security Challenge #1: Organizations are afraid of losing their data stored in the cloud
Business leaders confirmed that when moving to the cloud, their biggest security concern is the loss and leakage of their cloud data, especially if we are talking about business-critical information. The truth is that the data stored in the cloud can be lost or leaked not only by malicious tampering but also by accident or when an act of nature brings down a cloud service provider. Regardless of the situation, the impact will be disastrous for the business.
Mitigating Measures
- Make sure that there is a disaster recovery process in place.
- Set up an integrated system to mitigate malicious attacks.
- Ensure that protection for every network layer is built-in to a cloud security solution.
Security Challenge #2: Threats to data privacy put cloud computing at risk
Generally speaking, enterprise-grade cloud services are more secure than legacy architecture but with hackers getting more experienced in breaching security parameters within the cloud, the risk of a data breach is higher than ever. When moving to the cloud, businesses have to relinquish some degree of control to a third-party provider. This means that in the eventuality of a data breach, the business has expertise if critical business systems are offline or a breach is being managed.
Mitigating Measures
- Invest in encryption and data tokenization to protect the data itself.
- Employ threat intelligence and intrusion detection tools.
- Choose a trusted vendor, with a strong record of security.
Security Challenge #3: Breaches of confidentiality challenge the integrity of cloud computing
Businesses are extremely concerned when storing sensitive data in the cloud, especially business-critical information. Usually, the data sent to the cloud is not stored in a single cloud storage server but in fact, they are replicated to different cloud data centers located in different geographic areas. This means that the data is at risk of being hacked from any of those cloud data centers and this is the reason why businesses are so much concerned about maintaining the confidentiality of their data.
Mitigating Measures
- Restrict data access to authorized personnel only.
- Ensure that only a limited number of people are allowed to edit the data.
- Use two-factor authentication systems.
Key takeaways
We live in a technology-driven world where risks of cyber attacks are around every corner. We have seen that when it comes to cloud technology, the most concerning security challenges are from data loss and leakages, breaches of confidentiality and data breaches.
What other cloud security challenges have you confronted with? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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