More businesses than ever are using cloud services to store data and run their essential business applications.
If your business is using Google Drive, Dropbox, or other cloud platforms like HubSpot, then you may assume that all of your data is secure.
However, as secure as cloud-based platforms should be, they are also where all of your sensitive data is being stored. While in-house data environments will never be as secure as cloud storage, there are still vulnerabilities.
From user lapses to data transference, there are key areas where you should be prioritizing improvements to boost the security inherent in the cloud.
Here are the four best ways that you can protect your cloud servers and the data that you store within them.
4 Ways To Protect Cloud Servers
1# Using MFAs
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is one of the best ways to ensure that your cloud is kept safe from those with malicious intent.
That’s because it is common for hackers to steal credentials from employers so that they can use their information to break into systems more easily.
MFA helps because even if a cybercriminal gets access to usernames and passwords, your system will still require an additional step before login.
This can be in the form of an email or a text to a private number, and it is an extra layer of protection that all businesses should be using.
If you’re not using MFA yet, then you’re acting negligently in terms of your data and your customers.
2# User Access
The sad fact is that most security breaches are due to poor security on the part of employees. That’s why it’s never been so important to segment exactly what different team members can access in your cloud platform.
Your cloud data security will be dramatically enhanced if you ensure that authorization levels are established, simply because not every employee needs to access everything that you store in your cloud.
By reducing the number of people who can access critical files and documents, the fewer risks your cloud will face.
Always make sure that you know exactly who has access to what, and that the more access a team member has, the more training they require in terms of online security.
3# Monitoring and Analysis
One of the most challenging aspects of online security is simply knowing that a data breach has occurred.
It can take time for repercussions to be spotted, which is why you need to have a real-time analysis of user activity. This can be an essential process to adopt, as it can help you to identify any irregularities, such as a new and unrecognized IP log-in or a network slowdown.
The more that you can monitor your cloud access in real-time, with alerts established in the case of suspicious activity, the faster that you will be able to respond to any cyber-attack attempts.
Monitoring is particularly vital during an employee offboarding process, as this can be a particularly vulnerable time for businesses and their cloud-stored data.
4# Have a Response Plan
All businesses need to have an updated and monitored data breach response plan in place at all times. While there are fewer risks of a data breach when using cloud services, the risk is still there.
In those cases when a breach does occur, your response is going to be critical, and the faster that you act, the more that you can limit any potential damage. A well-designed response plan will have the following attributes:
- Definition: This is identifying what kind of attack you have fallen victim to.
- Team: Have a list of team members with the necessary skills to manage the breach.
- Action: This is the majority of your response plan and will involve segmenting off the data that has been affected, while ensuring that no current attacks are ongoing. Your response team will then investigate what happened, how it happened, as well as highlight possible issues with your cloud security. In most cases of a data breach, authorities will have to be alerted and customers will need to be notified as well.
Finally, your response team will document the timeline of the attack and offer solutions to prevent similar attacks from being repeated.
Cloud computing is a cost-effective and secure app management option that is being used more and more by both big and small businesses. However, despite the strength of their security, cloud platforms are not invulnerable.
Make sure that you take steps to ensure that a breach of your cloud is less likely by establishing a security mentality that will keep your business and your clients safer from online threats.
Read Also:
- Cloud Computing: How Can It Benefit Your Business
- 10 Cloud-based Business Apps that Really Work for Small Businesses
- How Cloud Computing Can Help Small Businesses
Author: Abdul Mateen
