Cloud Security, Cloud services have been taking on a greater role in the broader economy for more than a decade. In fact, the cloud computing industry nearly doubled in size from just 2017 to 2020, and that trend will likely continue over the next decade and beyond.
With more and more businesses implementing cloud services into their practices, there’s also a great focus on security DevOps and utilizing infrastructure as code. In this article, we’ll take a look at three simple ways to update your cloud security strategies and make your organization more secure at every level.
1. Assess Your Current Security Risks – Cloud Security
Before you can make any concrete changes, you need to understand the security threats your organization is facing. This process starts with identifying any regulated or sensitive data—leaving this information vulnerable can lead to serious consequences for organizations of all sizes.
Furthermore, it’s important to understand who has access to that data and how it’s being shared within and outside of your organization. Finally, take some time to audit your setups for IaaS platforms like Azure and Amazon Web Services. While these platforms are highly secure, small mistakes in your configuration settings can leave you open to a variety of attacks.
2. Address Any Vulnerabilities
Now that you have a clear picture of your current situation, you can start taking the steps necessary to make your organization more secure. First, adjust any data access policies that could leave sensitive information in the wrong hands. You should also encrypt that information with your own internal keys (along with those provided by your cloud security provider).
While team members may need to access data on their own devices, this is another critical risk for managers to be aware of. Downloads should only be allowed on company devices as well as devices that have been through a security verification process.
3. Continue Adapting
Your security policies will go a long way toward pre-empting various threats, but ongoing optimization is the only way to keep your organization secure.
Unexpected incidents may require a guided response and force you to change your policies based on new information. Integrating a cloud risk database into your firewall or secure web gateway will help you maintain a high level of cloud security over time.
Businesses of all sizes are finding innovative ways to leverage the cloud, but they don’t always know how to use cloud services securely. These tips will help you minimize the risk to your organization while getting the most out of your cloud services.
