Posted on November 16, 2020
Cloud
Cloud computing is an immense blessing to businesses of all industries and sizes. This is proving to be more true as more employees are working remotely due to an unforeseen pandemic. More businesses need a way for their employees to access their work while working away from the office.
With any type of tech, you need quality security. 2020 is showing that investing in high-quality cloud cybersecurity is a must to keep you, your business, and your data safe.
A couple of different cybersecurity trends are happening. On one side you’ll find the number of threats is growing as more businesses opt for cloud computing solutions. On the other side, you’ll find companies offering improved security solutions for the cloud.
Cloud cybersecurity has changed and is continuing to change in 2020. Here’s what you need to know about the changes happening in cloud cybersecurity.
The most obvious trend in cloud computing is the growing demand. Businesses of all sizes and in all industries are adding or switching to a cloud computing solution.
The cloud can, and will, make your work-life easy. It helps make businesses more efficient, advanced capabilities, and get their work to the market faster.
Another reason companies are switching to the cloud is the need for a virtual workspace. The Covid-19 pandemic forced many businesses and employees to work outside of the office to maintain safe social distancing. The cloud offers a handy safe way for companies to digitize their work.
Despite these benefits, cyber threats still exist. More cloud cyber threats are surfacing as more businesses opt for cloud solutions. One of the cloud cybersecurity weaknesses 2020 has revealed is the lack of comprehensive cybersecurity.
Many businesses still have legacy systems in addition to their cloud solutions. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of expertise in cloud security and a lack of hybrid security for both legacy and cloud systems. This gap is vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Businesses and individuals are looking for more comprehensive cloud cybersecurity solutions. Cybersecurity companies are feeling the pressure to create improved integrated security for the cloud. This will continue through the rest of 2020 and into 2021.
Cyber attacks are nothing new but the pace at which they’re growing is. With more businesses going virtual, hackers and cyber thieves are learning to effectively attack cloud-based systems. These cyber-threats are becoming more widespread and will continue to grow as more people use the cloud.
Fortunately, many companies are investing more in cybersecurity as employees work from home. Setting up VPNs, or virtual private networks and security software are helping protect most employees and businesses from cyber threats.
There are businesses on the other end of the spectrum who can’t afford to invest in quality cloud cybersecurity. The main cause is the weakening economy which causes these businesses to cut technology costs from their budgets. A few industries struggling include hotels, restaurants, airlines, and some retail stores.
Worldwide spending on cloud cybersecurity is growing and expected to grow at a much faster rate by the end of this year.
The job market for cybersecurity jobs has shifted greatly throughout 2020. As businesses rely more on technology, VMWare, and cloud solutions, there’s a rising demand for cloud cybersecurity talent. There is, however, a shortage of experienced security candidates.
The slight change is employers and businesses are searching for talent that can work and thrive in a remote environment. Besides having a strong knowledge base in cybersecurity, potential security professionals will need to be adaptive, self-motivated, and communicative.
The two skills security professionals need to be successful include hard tech skills and soft people skills. Businesses must also become flexible and plan to develop and grow less experienced IT security staff. Successful security candidates will have initiative and a willingness to learn.
Both 2019 and early 2020 demonstrated the advancement and sophistication of cyberattacks. The inherent cybersecurity vulnerabilities found in Cloud computing makes it even easier for hackers to break in and steal your valuable data. Here are the most common cyber threats of 2020.
Compared to in-house systems, cloud systems are more vulnerable to data breaches and leaks. The reason being larger amounts of data flowing between cloud systems and employees. If you have weaknesses in your cloud system, hackers will break in and steal sensitive data.
Always be checking your security certificates and software for updates. Expired certificates can lead to a major data leak, like the 2017 data breach of Equifax.
An email is another culprit to data breaches and leaks for many businesses. Poor or non-existent email security is an invite for hackers.
The best way to prevent this cyber threat is to integrate at-rest and in-transit data security. This includes email encryption for both the server and your individual email messages. Digital certificates such as SSL/TLS web certificates and secure/multipurpose internet mail extension certificates.
Cloud access should be secure for all employees regardless of where they are. A VPN can help as it encrypts data moving between the company’s network and Wi-Fi access points. You should carefully research your VPN options to ensure they’re truly secure and will fit your needs.
Free VPNs are typically not as secure as they promise to be. If you feel the need to go with a free VPN, look for ones that have AES-encryption and don’t log files. Many of these free services will record and sell your information or use subpar encryption.
Always do your research when shopping for reputable cybersecurity. Digital certificates and VPNs should keep your data safe and make your life less stressful.
A major cause of data and security breaches has very little to do with the technology itself. Businesses, and the humans who run them, are responsible for a vast amount of security issues due to poor access management.
As businesses switch to the cloud, many often forget to limit access to certain information. Leaving your data open to everyone in your business puts it at risk for theft and makes it more available to hackers.
There are two main ways to improve your cloud’s access management. You’ll need to incorporate a strict access policy and follow it. The other is to use authentication and identity certification tools.
Creating and enforcing an effective access policy is easy. The mantra to follow is if an employee doesn’t need access to specific data to do their job, don’t grant them access to that data.
After enforcing this policy, you should perform regular audits to ensure only the proper employees have access to sensitive information. Removing unnecessary access will make your data safer and more secure.
Limiting access is particularly important when an employee leaves your business. You should make and follow a plan for restricting access for an employee who is in the process of leaving the business. Many major data breaches occurred when a disgruntled employee found they still had access to their work accounts and data.
Along with stricter access management, add secure authentication and identification tools to your cloud system. You’ll find many cloud vendors offer multi-factor authentication or MFA which requires users to verify login information through a second device such as a smartphone.
Separation of Duties or SoD is a security model that separates tasks among several people. This prevents one user from having access or control to everything in your cloud environment. Should an attacker hack an account, they’ll have limited access to your cloud system.
Cloud systems can store immense amounts of data remotely. If you’re not careful, the amount of data you store can become unmanageable making it difficult and expensive to backup.
Large amounts of cloud-stored data can become vulnerable and easily exposed. The other issue is traditional data security doesn’t integrate with cloud environments.
Both of these issues may prevent you from backing up your data. A hacker can attack your cloud system, encrypt your cloud data, and demand payment for release. Without a backup, you’ll lose your data, large amounts of money, or both!
You can prevent data loss by managing your data and regularly backing up cloud and VMWare systems. Don’t wait until something goes wrong as it will be too late.
You’ll need to create a distributed system that will backup data in multiple locations and systems. Doing so will also prevent the risk of losing data from an individual storage area network (SAN) system.
Another option is opting for Disaster Recovery as a Service or DRaaS to backup your VMWare and cloud environment. NETdepot offers DRaaS to protect and backup your data on nearly any platform. It’s a reliable and hassle-free way to ensure your data is always safe.
A cloud environment is a wonderful way to keep your business running smoothly regardless of where your employees are working. Investing in quality cloud cybersecurity will ensure your data and sensitive information is always safe and secure.
Do you want to improve your business’s cloud cybersecurity? Let us know and we’ll help you with all your data security needs.