Security is a critical component when it comes to running any business. A sound security strategy provides unified and reliable protection of your assets from potential threats. Today, every business is vulnerable to attack, not just major global brands. The consequences of being unprepared can be catastrophic. Keeping your data safe should be a top priority and cloud security can help you do exactly that.
There are many types of cloud, but cloud security is in a league all its own because it is designed to be different in its functionality from all other cloud types. Cloud security is different by necessity. It is designed to understand and react to the dynamic aspects of cloud computing. It can ingest data from containers that traditional security methods would never have known existed. Cloud security is the only way to effectively secure resources in cloud computing environments.
What is Cloud Security and Why Would I Want it?
Cloud security, according to Wikipedia, refers to a broad set of policies, technologies, applications, and controls utilized to protect virtualized IP, data, applications, services, and the associated infrastructure of cloud computing. Simply put, cloud security involves the procedures and technology that secure cloud computing environments against both external and insider cybersecurity threats: it protects your data and helps prevent breaches.
Cloud security and security management keep data and applications in the cloud secure from current and emerging cybersecurity threats. Best practices that are designed to prevent unauthorized access to your company’s information are required when storing data in the cloud.
5 Best Practices for Keeping Data Safe
1. Implement Managed Security Solutions
Creating and establishing an effective cyber practice is more challenging than ever. It requires tools, talent and time. A managed security solution can quickly establish a security program for you and save the time and resources it takes to manage it proactively. Managed security solutions include the foundational pieces needed to swiftly get visibility into critical security events while enriching data sets with information from threat intel sources. Security solutions include:
- Security information and event management (SIEM)
- Vulnerability scanning
- IDS
- Network forensics
- Endpoint protection
- Behavioral analytics
2. Establish a Front-Line Defense
Cybersecurity is complicated, and legacy security systems typically have many different point solutions to cover basic security functions. You want a single point of defense at the ready to defend against any threats to your business. Unified threat management (UTM) combines all of the essential managed security functions into a single tool. It’s the tip of the spear on the front lines of your defense with the following protections:
- Anti-virus
- Anti-spam
- Web filtering
- Content filtering
- Firewall
- Intrusion detection and prevention.
3. Secure Your Network (SASE)
The secure access service edge (SASE) combines SD-WAN capabilities with network security functions to support your company’s digital needs. It creates a single network that secures and connects all your endpoints — mobile devices, offices, IaaS, SaaS, PaaS and IoT devices — into one global network. SASE connects and secures sites, as well as the new tenants of enterprise: IoT devices, mobile devices and, you guessed it, the cloud.
4. Create and Enforce Cloud Security Guidelines
All organizations should have written guidelines that specify who can use cloud services, how they can use them, and which data can be stored in the cloud. They also need to lay out the specific security technologies that employees must use to protect data and applications in the cloud. Ideally, automated solutions are in place to ensure that everyone is following these guidelines. Having a dedicated team of IT professionals or consultants can help enforce security policies.
5. Leave IT to the Professionals
There are many vendors, and choosing the right one for your organization is an arduous task. To ensure your organization picks the most secure cloud provider, enlist the aid of an IT consulting firm focusing on digital transformation in four core areas: voice, network, cloud and security.
Cloud architecture and the migration of your workloads to the appropriate cloud service is important when securing your business. Having multi-layered security strategies in a cloud computing environment, scalable infrastructures and an integrated security platform is a guarantee with the right team of IT professionals.
Increase Cloud Security and Soar Higher with ATC
ATC architects and designs transformational, next-generation voice and data networks, leveraging both cloud and existing infrastructure (where applicable), giving organizations the agility, redundancy, and security needed to support business objectives and operations.
We help organizations cope with all the moving parts, including:
- Remote work
- Company devices or BYOD
- Unified communications
- Cloud adoption
- Network and connectivity challenges
- The rapidly evolving security landscape.
If you’re an emerging or mid-market business, ATC has proven experience and success assisting organizations like yours to define a technology plan that will achieve your desired results, such as scalability, speed-to-market and competitive differentiation. Contact us or set up a discovery call today. Positive outcomes await.
