There are all sorts of ways a small business can benefit from The Cloud. But with The Cloud, come some cloud computing security issues. Nothing to be frightened by but still, they must be planned for. Read on to learn how you can tackle these issues and whether The Cloud offers the level of security you need.
So firstly, how secure is cloud computing?
An opportunist criminal can take advantage of any weakness if you let them. Thankfully cloud providers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google will be typically more secure than an on-premises server. That’s not the issue though. Cloud computing security issues will typically arise thanks to people; badly secured WiFi, being duped by phishing scams, and stolen log-in details can all contribute. But for every risk, there’s a solution.
Train your employees in security awareness
With tricks like phishing scams, social media spying, and imitating websites, hackers can trick your employees into giving them their login details. With the right training, you can ensure your employees act as their own firewall and spot scams like these a mile off.
Strong password policy
Regularly refreshing your passwords and making them hard to guess will give criminals as little chance of getting control over them as possible. Make sure they contain a combination of upper and lower case, numbers, and characters.
Multi-factor authentication
Incorporating multi-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to your team’s passwords. If a user needs to verify their identity with an additional one-time password or use biometric data, this will drastically improve your cloud security.
Have a secure off-boarding process
An angry or careless employee can cause serious damage upon exiting a company. Make sure this doesn’t happen by eliminating all access to your business’s cloud when an employee leaves. There should be a formal deprovisioning process carried out by an IT team as soon as an exiting employee no longer needs their access rights.
Control your endpoints
Every endpoint from your WiFi to your devices should have the most stringent security controls on them possible. You’ll want to encrypt all your data at its source too.
Control external collaborator access
Similarly, you must place strict controls over what files can and can’t be uploaded by what domains and users. Anyone accessing your cloud must be audited so as to fit a profile that’ll determine them as a safe collaborator. The use of data loss prevention tools can be used to facilitate this process.
As you can see with a few simple best practices, common cloud computing security issues can be avoided. And as stated above, cloud computing is as secure as any business would want it to be. If you’re not using The Cloud or are in any way unsure about migrating, click here to read our overview of cloud migration. And if you’re ready to take the leap then click here to book a call with one of our Cloud Migration experts today.