If you run a business, you have no doubt have heard of the cloud. If you haven’t, you are probably wondering what fluffy white things in the sky have to do with business, but don’t worry; we haven’t gone mad! We are talking about a centralized space on the internet where you can store your data and files.
More and more businesses are using the cloud now, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their employees may be working from home, and need to be able to access data and information easily and securely, and upload files. It is a superb tool for business in terms of efficiency, but it can bring about a problem: security.
While cloud providers such as Azure CSP provider ensure that on their end, security is at a level that is almost unbreakable, they cannot be responsible for how you manage it on your end. It is one of the biggest misconceptions, that they are solely responsible. Field experts emphasis that protection is a shared responsibility and that more than 90 per cent of the most common security threats are avoided if the customer (i.e. you!) takes precautions and implements proper security procedures
Here, we look at some tips to help you keep your data secure.
- Use strong passwords and change them often – for each website or service, all users should have different passwords and they should have about 8-12 letters and be a combination of lower case, upper case, and numbers. Some sites will also enable you to use special characters. Passwords should never be written down, and if your provider offers a two-stage encryption function, use it.
- Ensure that the data that you transfer from your business to the cloud is encrypted. Many experts advise using a virtual private network (VPN) as an additional layer of security.
- Make frequent updates- one of the benefits of using cloud storage is that frequent, automatic updates are made, but your provider can still build local backups of your information if necessary.
- Implement a policy of least privilege – simply, this means allowing users minimal access to the resources, programs, and files to perform their duties. The fewer individuals who can access data, the less opportunity there is for information and data hacking and misuse.
- Carry out vulnerability analysis – it is critical for you to search and test for any vulnerabilities regularly. While your cloud provider can do this regularly (or should be!), to see how security measures hold up in the real world, perform penetration checks.
- Delete access for users as soon as possible-often hacks are carried out by disgruntled former workers whose access has not been cancelled. Make sure they are no longer able to log in and access information as soon as anyone leaves the business.
By putting these six measures into place, you will be removing many of the risks. Have you got any additional tips to add?
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