Seven Steps to Strong Cloud Security

Working in a cloud environment has become commonplace in all kinds of companies. It seamlessly allows work to be done collaboratively, paving way for more frequent innovative and creative processes, as well as task completion. Not only can actual work be done better in these ways, but it also allows companies to save themselves from the heavy costs of having hardware and maintenance on-site.

However, with so much of our work becoming more and more dependent on the online data storage and computing platform, companies must ensure a strong security system to protect our systems and work-products. While cloud networks like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud have their own strong measures of securing the cloud services they provide, it does not mean you should totally rely on their security measures and have little additional measures of your own for your company.

So what can you do to build a strong cloud security system for your company?

1. Establish Visibility. One of the biggest frustrations with creating a secure environment on a day-to-day level is the lack of visibility of how the pieces and processes fit or don’t fit together. A clear understanding of how the network, systems, storage, and applications work in your company is key to enable building the appropriate security measures.
2. Train Employees. Employees must be aware of how they are dealing with electronic data. The top priorities for cloud security are training employees on cloud-specific security tools, incident response skills, and knowledge of network behaviors. Having clear security policies and allowing employees aware of them creates good security hygiene practices.
3. Have the Cloud Security Implementation Conversation Early. Before workplace workflow systems are developed, a shift towards DevSecOps, is good practice. It allows for cloud security to be embedded into systems from the start. It removes the difficulty of developing a security system “after-the-fact.” It avoids the barriers that come with implementing a security system to systems that are already established in ways that cannot welcome and integrate well with a cloud security system.
4. Always Be Up-to-date. Having continuous diligence of encrypting data, controlling access, monitoring traffic, and being aware of vulnerabilities allows you to better your chances of catching and mitigating issues faster, and ensuring continuous, smooth operation of your company without major disruption.
5. Use Trusted Software. Use a reliable, mature software source that can provide timely updates.
6. Understand Your Users. If you understand your audience and how they interact with your network and systems, it allows you to put in better risk management measures. By establishing user-profiles and entitlements based on their roles, it allows the right kinds of access to the right people and also send appropriate red flags when anomalies occur.
7. Choose The Right People. An organization’s performance is only as good as the people in it. Hire and train qualified IT professionals right for your company to deploy your cloud security needs.

It is your organization’s responsibility to stay on top of itself and protect itself. While choosing reliable cloud networks is a good idea to ensure safety, always have separate, reliable internal security measures. Have the seven steps in place, and you will be working in a best-practice cloud security environment.

Credit

https://www.directionsmag.com/article/9407