Cloud technology is such a complicated field that very few people understand what it is. More people throw the term around as a simple buzzword, which has led to the development of certain problems. The largest of those problems concerns cloud security. Given that cloud technology is a world apart from other types of data storage solutions, there are a few unique steps that you should take to ensure your data stays protected.
Step 1: Perform a Risk Assessment
The first step to securing your data involves assessing what data will be vulnerable, and what type of data needs extra security. Things such as financial information, personal details, social security numbers, information that can be used to identify a person or business should be classified as high risk.
Step 2: Treat High-Security Data Differently
After completing step 1, you should group the rest of your data by different levels. This will help you treat data that needs to be kept more securely differently. For example, information such as financial details and health records should always be encrypted while they are in the cloud. This ensures that this data cannot be used without the proper decryption information.
Step 3: Audit User and Group Access
The next step is to declare who should have access to certain pieces of data. While you can usually delegate permissions to user accounts while in the cloud, the ability to do so is dependent upon the cloud environment. Ensure that only the proper people can access certain data. This may require you to set up strict access policies outside of the cloud.
Step 4: Test Access Security
Ensuring that the connection to your cloud server is safe is just as important as securing the data inside of the cloud. Traffic screening, intrusion detection and access logs should all be employed on your cloud server. Remote access should further be secured by SSL to ensure that accessed data cannot be intercepted by man-in-the-middle attacks.
Step 5: Consider Hosting on a Private Cloud
Cloud environments are built to separate data based upon the client. It’s very rare that someone can achieve operator access, which in turn allows them to access data that they’re not supposed to. To prevent this scenario from happening, consider hosting the data that has the highest security risk on a private cloud. This will keep your data both virtually and physically separate from the data of other clients.
Step 6: Evaluate Physical Security
The last step in securing your cloud environment is to ensure that it is physically secure. Military-grade protocols, such as biometrics and detailed background checks on personnel whom have access to the cloud hardware will ensure that it is as safe as possible.
Need help completing any of the above steps? Call Syndeo San Diego at 760-650-3300 to learn more about our IT support services for small and medium size businesses, and enjoy a renewed sense of comfort knowing your most valuable pieces of data are being protected 24/7.