As businesses continue to face security threats, cyber security has become one of the top most priorities for business honchos and government leaders alike. In recent times, there has been a paradigm shift from channeling resources towards investing in software security mechanisms to turning to the cloud as an effective solution to counter cyber terrorism.
According to PWC’s The Global State of Information Security Survey 2016, 69% of today’s IT firms are using cloud-based cyber security services. A few years ago, when major companies first took the steps towards welcoming the cloud as part of their business process, such decisions were viewed with major distrust. Fast forward to today’s scenario and you’ll find that most cyber security mechanisms now include cloud-based solutions.
Here are the few top reasons why the cloud is now an integral part of today’s security solutions:
- It is much more affordable than the conventional hardware and software security systems that were previously used.
- Cloud-based security systems have next to unlimited computing power.
- Cloud-based security allows for faster responses and timely solutions.
- It is easier to carry out analysis with regards to cyber security.
- Since data is stored and processed on remote servers on the internet, and not personal computers and local servers, it is possible to build data centers in a matter of seconds.
In short, cloud-based cyber security facilitates intelligence gathering, reduces time lags between detection and remediation and helps in crafting secure channels of communication.
Having said that, several factors like increasing digitization and mobility have contributed towards making private and sensitized information much more susceptible to severe data breaches. Here are some steps that companies should take to ensure adequate security even in the cloud:
- Only trusted people should be given access to passwords, access control and should also receive adequate training on how to securely handle systems.
- Secure different databases with different levels of security. For instance, highly valuable data should be protected with extra data encryption.
- Personal data on an employee’s personal device must be isolated from company data. Also, patch management agents must be installed on devices like mobiles and tablets to ensure that the latest softwares are running.
- Use network protection devices to ascertain which user is accessing what content, applications and from where.
- A security intelligence layer can be added to streamline all security data. In addition, this also provides real-time visibility into both data centers and cloud infrastructures.
A major arena where cloud-based security solutions score big is of course, cost. It reduces the need to purchase, maintain and regularly update technology infrastructure and hire qualified personnel to oversee security processes. This in turn, reduces cost significantly.
Security Information Sharing:
Cloud-based systems will enable integrated security information sharing on a level that has not yet been achieved till date.
- By using a cloud service provider’s advanced infrastructure, businesses will be able to instantly deploy secure communication.
- It will lead to the creation of safe storage for sensitive information.
- Organizations will now be able to single out specific transactions like R&D projects or mergers and design and implement separate access and communication capabilities around these transactions.
- Businesses facing threats of cyber attacks can create out-of-band channels on the fly, to empower secure and strong communications. These channels can either be employed as disposable infrastructure or used for one or multiple times.
- In addition, cloud structures can enable companies to employ flexible responses that can be ‘moved, hidden, hardened, dummied or adapted’ when certain information or business assets are under threat.
With third-party cloud service providers now acquiring advanced technologies and industry certifications, businesses are now increasingly confident about putting their valuable data and mission-critical workloads in the cloud. In fact, 71% respondents now run external-facing production applications in the cloud, a figure that is up by 60% from 2013. 41% of companies use it for mission-critical workloads.