Is Cloud Storage as Secure as We Need It To Be?

We frequently encourage our clients to consider the cloud as a viable option for their data storage needs, be they someplace to store a copy of their data backup or even their primary storage option. Having said that, it is important that we clarify that this cloud storage needs to be secure. Let’s explore how to ensure that much is true.

Step one, we need to establish whether or not cloud storage is safe in and of itself. This will ultimately fall to the provider you are effectively entrusting your data to.

Cloud Storage Security Depends on the Cloud Provider

Cutting a long story short, it really is as simple as that. There are plenty of means that your cloud provider has to help ensure the security of your stored data on their infrastructure—because that’s all the cloud really is: an infrastructure that you can use remotely instead of using your own. In this case, you’re simply using someone else’s server to store your data.

Due to this, your data’s security is wholly dependent on the protections that the provider has (or has not) put in place.

Ideally, your provider will have made sure that your data is protected by a variety of safeguards, including encryption, access controls, redundancy, and cloud monitoring, with these features tested regularly to ensure that your data is properly secured. Any quality provider will be doing so to the best of their ability, with their servers locked down and guarded behind their own security features and personnel.

Data Also Needs to Be Available

Of course, data that your business can’t access is (for all intents and purposes) data that doesn’t exist, so you need to be sure that your cloud storage provider can also ensure that you have access to everything you’ve entrusted to them. 

There are numerous reasons why this may not be the case, ranging from user error, mechanical failure, or local disaster leading to a service disruption on the provider’s end to a successful cyberattack upon the provider.

However, Most Cloud Security Issues Originate from the Client’s Side

The unfortunate truth is that it is much more likely that any security issues you experience with a reputable cloud storage provider will likely come from an issue present on your end. There are a lot of examples as to how this can happen, including:

• The use of shadow IT, in the form of one of your users also storing data on another, unapproved service or platform
• Files being inappropriately shared
• Insufficient passwords being used to protect access to cloud resources
• Accidental data deletion by a user
• Insecure and unauthorized devices being used to access cloud resources

In short, the cloud is very secure indeed—the problem is usually the person using it and how it was set up. This makes it critical to your company’s successful and secure use of the cloud that your users understand how to appropriately utilize the cloud in a way that maintains security while also allowing them to be productive.

That’s where we can help. Give us a call at (703) 743-3056 today to learn more about how we can help secure your operations, including your use of the cloud.