Cloud Security for Businesses Explained
Many businesses use different kinds of cloud storage for media, work files, and other essential business data. With more services than ever currently in use, the number of stakeholders increases, making it difficult to get an idea of each service’s nature and how they will affect a company’s infrastructure. There’s so much going on that parsing out the details while keeping things secure in the cloud becomes an area of deep concern. It’s far too complicated. As with any online storage or service, the cloud can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks or other nefarious deeds perpetrated by hackers looking to steal a company’s data.
The solution? Using a hybrid form of cloud security to secure your data and maintain your business’ IT infrastructure. Here’s a quick primer on cloud security and how it can help your organization or small business weather the challenges of cloud-based security:
The basics
Most companies still use different storage solutions like legacy servers or data centers mixed with newer services like containers and serverless applications. There are also many companies using both multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud strategies for meeting their business goals. Since it isn’t standardized across the board, using a SaaS (software as a service) solution is an excellent way to increase cloud operations visibility and prevent security problems. In multi-cloud security, a company uses more than a single cloud to handle its digital infrastructure. In a hybrid cloud system, an organization’s infrastructure is a mix of private cloud services, a public cloud, and some type of infrastructure on the business facility’s grounds.
Flexibility
Due to the dynamic and expanding nature of using cloud services for business, having a flexible option is a must for any small business. Where multi-clouds use different clouds to accomplish individual tasks, hybrid clouds tend to use all of their components together to create an all-in-one solution to many problems. They’re flexible and easy to use. Hybrid clouds also reduce the risk of exposing or compromising data. How? The business can keep sensitive data off a public cloud while still using it for other activities. It’s a secure solution that’s easy to implement and oversee with the right tools. Hybrid cloud security offers the ability to customize your security suite for hybrid-cloud, multi-cloud, and multi-service environments. Throw in sound support for a broad series of platforms into the mix and protection of any data delivery regardless of source, and you have a flexible security measure to match your small business needs.
Full visibility and enhanced security
The way businesses use the cloud is continually evolving. Maintaining some level of visibility over all of your operation’s distributed systems is vital. A lack of visibility leads to problems down the line—especially if something goes wrong. It can also inhibit or push back attempts for your company to automate or allow some type of self-service for your customers. Using a hybrid cloud solution helps mitigate the problem while allowing you full visibility and flexibility over what’s happening with your systems as you transition or utilize the cloud.
On the security side, hybrid cloud infrastructure comes with some wonderful benefits. Your business can take full advantage of the private cloud portion’s enhanced security while using the public part of the hybrid cloud’s power and versatility. Encryption methods help keep the data safe within both the public and private environment. Transferring and storing data is fast and secure in a hybrid cloud. Enhancing your security with software offers a comprehensive solution container, application, workload, and data security within your hybrid cloud.
Compliance
There are numerous compliance standards involved in operating any business. Condensing and organizing data from physical services to the cloud makes this process easier. And because most companies are using the cloud in some form, compliance standards are more important than ever. Compliance standards related to ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, FedRAMP, and others must all be adhered to while operating within a (hybrid or otherwise) cloud infrastructure. Organizations share the responsibility of maintaining these standards with the cloud providers themselves, maintaining compliance standards, and providing necessary tools. Securing your cloud (and, by extension, bolstering its security) is entirely up to your organization. Following compliance standards helps create and maintain an overarching security standard for your organization as it transitions into using a hybrid cloud.
Advanced threat intelligence
Continually identifying and managing global threats is all part of hybrid cloud security. Advanced threat detection uncovers indicators of compromise (IOC) and indicators of attack (IOAs) that could potentially steal or otherwise mess with your company’s data. Additionally, it detects server, cloud, and container platform attacks while integrating with SIEM platforms and SOAR (security orchestration automation and response) tools while looking for causes and assessing the scope of attacks. The security features involved in this type of solution are a veritable arsenal of protecting your hybrid cloud and organization for a long time to come. If you’re concerned about hybrid cloud vulnerability and an uncertain future, implementing a hybrid cloud security solution is hands-down the best way to not only alleviate such concerns but foster a bright future for any organization.
