Seizing the Momentum Towards the Cloud: What You Need to Know
The dynamic shift towards cloud-based services has been remarkable within the last year. Large and small companies are attracted to its cost-effective data storage and services solutions. However, with this shift comes a shared concern about data security. As adopting cloud services often means trusting a third party to safeguard your precious data, the question is: is the cloud a safe place for your company's data?
Understanding the Cloud: Taking a Closer Look
Cloud safety involves an assessment of potential risks and benefits. People and organizations, such as banks and credit card companies, have trusted third parties with sensitive data for decades. Despite these organizations' global nature and operations, we trusted them with our data. The internet – and, by extension, the cloud – is another medium for transmitting and storing data. However, potential threats like hacking may also plague the cloud as they do the internet.
The Evolution of Data Security: Internet vs. Cloud
But how does the cloud compare to the internet regarding data security? Arguably, despite being a more recent invention, the cloud should provide as much security as the internet now, thanks to widespread regulations and security measures. However, it is also valid to say that the same problems that affect the internet - such as hacking - could likewise occur in the cloud. One thing to note is that the cloud, like any technological advancement, still grapples with challenges to overcome.
Data Safety Challenges in the Cloud
For instance, a study conducted by Symantec in 2013 revealed that 43% of 3,200 organizations had lost data in the cloud; they had to restore it from backups, which sometimes fail to work due to several factors. While it may seem small, this percentage can spell disaster for businesses reliant on the lost data. Substantial data loss isn't uncommon either; these mishaps are often linked to faulty cloud backup.
To Entrust or Not to Entrust: Mitigating Risks in Cloud
Given the potential problems associated with storing data in the cloud, businesses and individuals alike must undertake measures to enhance the security of their data. The fear of data being hacked is an ever-present one. Encryption serves as a great deterrent against hackers but brings its own challenges. Fortunately, contemporary solutions like 'format-preserving' encryption and 'tokenization' have emerged to maintain data usability while ensuring security. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools have also proven crucial in guarding against data breach threats from within and outside an organization.
Hybrid Cloud Solutions and Common Sense – Your Best Friends
Amidst the potential perils of relying too heavily on the cloud, integrating your cloud usage with traditional hosting methods may be beneficial. Hybrid cloud solutions that combine the cloud with an organization's IT infrastructure might offer the most optimal system for data security.
In conclusion, employing common sense and the same secure practices you used to protect your on-site data can greatly strengthen the security of your data in the cloud.
