Much like with any other software, cloud also faces its own share of risks and vulnerabilities. Hence, any business or organization that uses cloud for data storage and sharing must exercise a plan of action to counter any mishaps that may happen.
To address these risks, here are the top cloud security techniques you need to know as a user.
Authenticate users
Basic detail any cloud user must know is that using an account is a responsibility shared by more than one person. Cloud is about multi-tenancy, which is what adds a unique dynamic to the system but is also a security complication at the same time. Therefore, a security measure must be implemented to reduce the risk of credential compromise and for better overall access management.
Multifactor authentication does the trick. Place an ample amount of layers of authentication factors to prevent attackers in controlling and configuring cloud consumer resources.
Set rights for user access
Put together a collection of roles both for shared and responsibilities specific only to consumer matters. These roles should ensure that there is no individual that can affect the data center.
It does not matter where you are in the country, whether cloud services in Kansas City or anywhere else, setting a limit to access rights can decrease the impact of a credential compromise. Even developers and system managers should not have uncontrolled access to your resources. Having role-based access to your resources is an effective way to establish boundaries between the accountable personnel.
Protecting your data
After the part where you establish access privileges and boundaries, now you must turn your focus to the reason why you decided to use cloud, your storage.
There two main things you must take note when planning for data security: preventing unauthorized access and leak of supposedly deleted sensitive information. To ensure that your data is secured, these are the steps you can take:
Encrypt – Have all the data that is at rest encrypted. Your cloud service provider (CSP) commonly offers a choice between consumer-managed encryptions and cloud service provider encryptions. The CSP-encryptions are found to be more convenient, but it does not provide control over where or how the keys are stored, while the consumer-managed option contrasts that with better control while also giving the user the burden of key management.
Track replicated data – To ensure persistence, CSP’s often make copies of stored data. Keep track of all the necessary replicated data through a thorough analysis of your cloud deployment to make sure that when its time to delete sensitive data, the duplicates of it, cached or copied, will be included as well.