Businesses are becoming increasingly flexible at managing different types of IT workloads, often relying on public cloud services. Public cloud can help boost organisations’ efficiency and cost-saving efforts, however, a lack of confidence, collaboration, and knowledge is holding many organisations back.
Too many of them hesitate to adopt cloud technologies because they fear the security risks that might accompany it. A 2018 report by Cybersecurity Insiders revealed nine out of 10 cybersecurity professionals were concerned about cloud-based security risks.
Organisations need to enhance their understanding of on-premises and cloud infrastructure to ensure their cloud choices and developments are rewarding, rather than burdensome and expensive. Many are daunted by the idea of releasing some of their most critical information, including company financials, trade secrets, and client lists, into the cloud.
Poor representations of cloud security have misinformed many of us about the reality of cloud-based data breaches, information losses, and cyberattacks. The truth is, with strong, responsible security measures and cloud management in place, you can effectively secure their cloud-based data.
There are three important considerations when looking to move towards the cloud:
1. Understanding. Before adopting public cloud, organisations need to understand what the cloud can and can’t offer. While it can provide businesses with powerful benefits, there are also serious security issues that come with cloud adoption. Therefore, it may be wise to focus on yourr readiness for cloud security before making the move.
Moving from servers to services can present a learning curve for security teams. You need to understand the security solutions required to keep pace with the demands of cloud security without limiting your capabilities.
2. Skills. The availability of trained staff who understand issues around data privacy and lack of integration with existing on-premise technology is crucial. Cloud security is based on a shared-responsibility model. While public cloud providers secure the global infrastructure, organisations will need to secure all aspects of their environment in the public cloud such as networking configurations and encryption. This means businesses need cloud security-savvy personnel to successfully move to the cloud.
3. Framework. The emergence of the “polycloud”, or cloud services from multiple cloud providers, now requires organisations to consider security in a multi-cloud environment, where every cloud provider has a different framework and a different set of security tools. You need to build a uniform security framework across all these services. Also, to maintain the benefits of the cloud, the security framework should be automated. A third-party security vendor can help with this framework.
Businesses that fear the cloud could be missing out on significant benefits. With the right framework and security measures in place, organisations can move towards the cloud with confidence, extracting maximum benefits while minimising the risks. However, you can’t necessarily do this alone. Working with a security expert will give organisations the greatest chance of getting cloud security right.
Mauricio Sabena, Systems Engineer Manager – ANZ, Palo Alto Networks
