Cloud Security: Who’s Responsible for Your Data?

Most enterprises have entered the world of cloud computing. The question is, how effective are the cloud security strategies they have put in place?

You don’t have to look far to see how great of an impact a breach can have on a company. The media will report on how big companies get hit, but smaller organizations are also at risk.

Moving data and assets is often a point of vulnerability. Cloud services along with on-premise infrastructure aren’t always fully fleshed out when it comes to cloud security risks. Increasingly, IT executives are putting more emphasis on cloud adoption and migration and how their cloud security strategies either leave them open to attack or actually give them a more secure environment.

The Usual Suspects

Where are systems most vulnerable? In many cases, it’s a failure to configure correctly that leads to a breach. User controlled cloud assets are one of the common links, as well. These attacks are rarely associated with the cloud infrastructure or cloud service – it’s the user-defined security and user mistakes that are the cause.

Organizations don’t often prioritize secure configurations and fail to educate their employees on best practices to avoid a breach. Businesses need to establish policies that make everyone with access to the system accountable for their actions. Vendors should make sure their clients know what they’re responsible for and where risks might be highest.

Controlling Your Assets

When operating in the cloud environment, there is a level of control that is lost in terms of assets. That’s a natural part of taking on cloud solutions. However, it must also sway how we think about security.

Underlying IT assets are often moved to the cloud, which means the way security is managed must evolve. Physical and logical control still needs to be prioritized. However, the focus has to be on the data as much as the asset control. User agreements often recognize the limited liability on data on the part of the vendor. Organizations using cloud services need to think hard about how their data is being secured.

Do you need an agent to help you connect with the solutions that will keep your cloud security strategies robust? That’s what we do at One Connect. We specialize in cloud storage, data backup, cyber security and telecom. Contact us today to discuss your unique needs.