The cloud lets you run your business from anywhere, improve your team’s performance and stay ahead of competitors without spending a lot. But it’s not all perfect. There are risks involved with using the cloud.
Many business owners think that once their data is in the cloud, it’s fully protected by the cloud service provider. That’s not true. It’s a team effort and you have an important role to play.
The Shared Responsibility Model
Securing cloud data is a joint effort between the cloud service provider and the customer. This is known as the shared responsibility model. If you don’t know which security tasks are yours, there may be gaps that leave you vulnerable.
To keep your cloud secure, you need to know where the cloud provider’s job ends and yours begins. Start by analyzing your agreement to understand what security roles belong to the provider and what remains your responsibility.
Your Responsibilities
While every cloud provider is different, here’s a simple breakdown of what you’re likely responsible for:
- Your Data: Just because your files are in the cloud doesn’t mean they’re automatically protected.
- Encrypt sensitive files to make it hard for hackers to read them if stolen.
- Set access controls to limit who can view privileged information.
- Back up critical data to ensure business continuity.
- Your Applications: If you use any cloud apps, you are responsible for securing them.
- Keep software updated to avoid vulnerabilities.
- Limit third-party app access to reduce unauthorized logins.
- Monitor for unusual activity to prevent data breaches.
- Your Credentials: You can’t secure your accounts with weak passwords.
- Enforce strong password protocols to prevent unauthorized access.
- Use multi-factor authentication for extra security.
- Implement policies that limit access based on roles and responsibilities.
- Your Configurations: You’re responsible for setting configurations correctly and monitoring them regularly.
- Disable public access to storage to prevent outsiders from accessing your files.
- Set up activity logs to track who’s doing what in your cloud.
- Regularly audit permissions to ensure only the right users have access.
Take Charge Without Worry!
You don’t need to be an IT expert to secure your business in the cloud—you just need the right people. At Claritech, we understand your challenges. Whether it’s protecting your customer data or setting up configurations properly, we know how to do it right. We help you to turn your cloud into a safe haven so you can focus on growing your business instead of worrying about tech.
Download our infographic here for more information. Have questions? Email dan@claritech.ca to get the answers you need.
By kathryn@claritech.ca