Companies know that cyber security is a priority and that the lack of a strategy that includes protections around cloud security is a dangerous move. Without the budget to support a dedicated security team or chief information security officer (CISO), many companies are tasking their chief information officers (CIOs) and chief technology officers (CTOs) with cyber security planning.
With these roles already staggering under the heavy burden of accelerated digital transformation, the addition of cloud security policy and protection may require CIOs and CTOs to take an approach where they prioritize the most important security concerns. Here are four you should consider:
Own Your Security: The best approach is a shared responsibility model with your cloud providers because you certainly don’t want to entrust your data and systems to someone else’s definition of cyber security. Consider your cloud provider as handling security underneath the hypervisor, but you’ll need to address the rest. This may include managed services from a cloud security provider.
Watch Out for Misconfigurations: Not only do you have cloud providers that prioritize innovation and may update so quickly that it’s hard to keep up with the potential for misconfigurations, but you also have shadow IT. Your line-of-business managers may be procuring cloud solutions for their teams that haven’t been properly vetted through your security policies. Be sure to have a process in place that slows the flood of shadow IT, even if it doesn’t quite stop every unauthorized download.
The Cloud Is Not Inherently Secure or Insecure: For years there have been arguments about whether the cloud is safe; you can circumvent this discussion by adopting security practices that assume that the cloud is not secure, nor are your users. It’s not just hackers that cause issues. It’s also users accessing resources unnecessary for their job roles, and user error remains a major cyber security threat. Taking a zero trust approach that incorporates encryption and multi-factor authentication further strengthens security by only allowing employees access to the solutions they need.
Sure, major cloud providers probably have more robust security policies and tools than anything your company is using. But they are still not security companies, and you need to assume that anything coming into your organization needs to go through your security hoops.
Insurance Is Not a Strategy: Many companies make the mistake of purchasing cyber security insurance and consider that to be their entire strategy. Payouts are relatively small at around 30%, and cloud security threats are so common that you will quickly realize that insurance isn’t adequate to address the onslaught of cyber criminals trying to gain access to your resources.
In addition, most insurance companies require you to have monitoring and mitigation practices in place or the policy is violated.
Is your company working to put a cloud security strategy in place? At Hudson Technology Partners, we help you assess your specific vulnerabilities, then work with you to develop the right practices within the right solutions to protect your company assets. Contact us to learn more.