SOJOURNERS

How To Secure The Cloud

“Encryption, Configuration are one of the best ways to secure your Cloud Computing systems.’

Fortunately, there is a lot that you can do to protect your own data in the Cloud. Let’s explore some of the popular methods.

Encryption is one of the best ways to secure your Cloud Computing systems. There are several different ways of using encryption, and they may be offered by a cloud provider or by a separate cloud security solutions provider:

  • Communications encryption with the cloud in their entirety.
  • Particularly sensitive data encryption, such as account credentials.
  • End-to-end encryption of all data that is uploaded to the cloud.

Within the cloud, data is more at risk of being intercepted when it is on the move. When it’s moving between one storage location and another, or being transmitted to your on-site application, it’s vulnerable. Therefore, end-to-end encryption is the best cloud security solution for critical data. With end-to-end encryption, at no point is your communication made available to outsiders without your encryption key.

You can either encrypt your data yourself before storing it on the cloud, or you can use a cloud provider that will encrypt your data as part of the service. However, if you are only using the cloud to store non-sensitive data such as corporate graphics or videos, end-to-end encryption might be overkill. On the other hand, for financial, confidential, or commercially sensitive information, it is vital.

If you are using encryption, remember that the safe and secure management of your encryption keys is crucial. Keep a key backup and ideally don’t keep it in the cloud. You might also want to change your encryption keys regularly so that if someone gains access to them, they will be locked out of the system when you make the changeover.

Configuration is another powerful practice in cloud security. Many cloud data breaches come from basic vulnerabilities such as misconfiguration errors. By preventing them, you are vastly decreasing your cloud security risk. If you don’t feel confident doing this alone, you may want to consider using a separate cloud security solutions provider.

Here are a few principles you can follow:

  1. Never leave the default settings unchanged. Using the default settings gives a hacker front-door access. Avoid doing this to complicate a hacker’s path into your system.
  2. Never leave a cloud storage bucket open. An open bucket could allow hackers to see the content just by opening the storage bucket’s URL.
  3. If the cloud vendor gives you security controls that you can switch on, use them. Not selecting the right security options can put you at risk.

Basic Cybersecurity tips should also be built into any Cloud Implementation. Even if you are using the cloud, standard cyber security practices shouldn’t be ignored. So, it is worth considering the following if you want to be as secure as possible online:

  • Use strong passwords. Including a mix of letters, numbers and special characters will make your password more difficult to crack. Try to avoid obvious choices, like replacing an S with a $ symbol. The more random your strings are, the better.
  • Use a password manager. You will be able to give each application, database, and service you use separate passwords, without having to remember them all. However, you must make sure you protect your password manager with a strong primary password.
  • Protect all the devices you use to access your cloud data, including smartphones and tablets. If your data is synchronized across numerous devices, any one of them could be a weak link putting your entire digital footprint at risk.
  • Back up your data regularly so that in the event of a cloud outage or data loss at your cloud provider, you can restore your data fully. That backup could be on your home PC, on an external hard drive, or even cloud-to-cloud, as long as you are certain the two cloud providers don’t share infrastructure.
  • Modify permissions to prevent any individual or device from having access to all your data unless it is necessary. For instance, businesses will do this through database permission settings. If you have a home network, use guest networks for your children, for IoT devices, and for your TV. Save your ‘access all areas’ pass for your own usage.
  • Protect yourself with anti-virus and anti-malware software. Hackers can access your account easily if malware makes its way into your system.
  • Avoid accessing your data on public Wi-Fi, particularly if it doesn’t use strong authentication. However, use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to protect your gateway to the cloud.

Cloud Storage And The File Sharing

Cloud computing security risks can affect everyone from businesses to individual consumers. For example, consumers can use the public cloud for storing and backing up files (using SaaS services like Dropbox), for services like email and office applications, or for doing tax forms and accounts.

If you use cloud-base services then you may need to consider how you share cloud data with others, particularly if you work as a consultant or freelancer. While sharing files on Google Drive or another service may be an easy way to share your work with clients, you may need to check that you are managing permissions properly. After all, you will want to ensure that different clients cannot see each other’s names or directories or alter each other’s files.

Remember that many of these commonly available cloud storage services don’t encrypt data. If you want to keep your data secure through encryption, you will need to use encryption software to do it yourself before you upload the data. You will then have to give your clients a key, or they won’t be able to read the files.

Check Your Cloud Provider’s Security

Security should be one of the main points to consider when it comes to choosing a cloud security provider. That’s because your cyber security is no longer just your responsibility: cloud security companies must do their part in creating a secure cloud environment — and share the responsibility for data security.

Unfortunately, Cloud companies are not going to give you the blueprints to their network security. This would be equivalent to a bank providing you with details of their vault — complete with the combination numbers to the safe.

However, getting the right answers to some basic questions gives you better confidence that your cloud assets will be safe. In addition, you will be more aware of whether your provider has properly addressed obvious cloud security risks. We recommend asking your cloud provider some questions of the following questions:

  • Security audits: “Do you conduct regular external audits of your security?”
  • Data segmentation: “Is customer data is logically segmented and kept separate?”
  • Encryption: “Is our data encrypted? What parts of it are encrypted?”
  • Customer data retention: “What customer data retention policies are being followed?”
  • User data retention: “Is my data is properly deleted if I leave your cloud service?”
  • Access management: “How are access rights controlled?”

You will also want to make sure you’ve read your provIder’s Terms Of Service (TOS). Reading the TOS is essential to understanding if you are receiving exactly what you want and need.

Be sure to check that you also know all the services used with your provider. If your files are on Dropbox or backed up on iCloud (Apple’s storage cloud), that may well mean they are actually held on Amazon’s servers. So, you will need to check out AWS, as well as, the service you are using directly.

🅐🅚🅖

Interested in Management, Design or Technology Consulting, contact anil.kg.26@gmail.com
Get updates and news on our social channels!

LATEST POSTS

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.