As enterprises use a multi-cloud strategy to improve IT operations and provide better services to customers, they cannot afford to overlook best practices for cloud environment security.
With the ability to run many different computing environments for application delivery, the demand for security becomes even more evident.
While IT managers must deal with other issues such as increasing complexity, non-existent cross-platform visibility, and standards from multiple cloud providers, they cite security as the main challenge.
According to global research, conducted by A10 Networks in partnership with the Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network, respondents reported that ensuring strong security across clouds, networks, applications and data will be key to realizing the advantages of multi-cloud IT. And this perception is being built.
So far, only 11 percent believe they have been very successful in seeing the full value of their multi-cloud strategy, while the majority (51 percent) consider themselves only somewhat successful or unsuccessful so far.
To extract the best from the cloud and ensure the success of the multicloud strategy requires shielding the IT infrastructure, protecting the enterprise from network vulnerabilities and threats.
It is worth noting that the security of the cloud infrastructure and storage becomes even more important in view of the significant number of cyberattacks. According to data from Grand Thorton, the annual global cost of cybercrime is only growing. In 2015, it was $3 trillion. By 2021, the figure is estimated to be $6 trillion.
Without channeling investments in security, institutions are even more vulnerable. Until recently, machines at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) were exposed on the Internet because of a misconfigured installation of the SonarQube platform.
In this article, we present some of the important security measures for your company to take advantage of cloud storage.
Multi-cloud IT security practices
To craft an effective security strategy in your multicloud environment, you need a clear sense of the methodologies and solutions that can be leveraged.
Take a look at the practices cited in the BPI report as resources for improving multi-cloud security, reliability, and performance:
- Centralized visibility and analytics into security and performance – 56%
- Automated tools to speed response times and reduce costs – 54%
- Centralized management from a single point of control – 50%
- Centralized authentication or pre-authentication to help maintain effective control over users, administrators, and systems-62%
In addition, with the growing volume of digital business data and transactions, 38% of respondents also pointed to the need for more scalable, high-performance security solutions. A demand that is expected to increase with the Internet of Things (IoT) and the emerging 5G connectivity.
But then how do you ensure protection, security, and reliability in multicloud environments?
Today, the market offers a number of tools to provision and manage cloud infrastructure resources with maximum security.
Cloud platform providers offer various levels of performance and pricing for compute, cloud storage, networking, monitoring, analytics, and artificial intelligence services, and many others.
However, cloud management may seem complex at first. Moreover, the manager needs to be prepared to deal with the challenges that arise with the deployments of the solutions.
Cloud Modernization: When the cloud environment remains outdated and without frequent updates, it is also more vulnerable. Cloud modernization allows the infrastructure to be constantly reviewed and improved, increasing the level of security in both cloud storage and operations. In short, modernization extends the protection of the cloud environment while minimizing exposure to risks and threats.
Cloud management and support: This type of service includes a number of activities. Monitoring of resources, automation of activities, backup management, cost optimization and, finally, cloud security management. With the support of a specialist cloud partner, it is possible to have an adequate infrastructure management, meeting security requirements, preventing problems and solving incidents, if necessary.
Cloud architecture: by developing applications in cloud native, the company can take further advantage of the elasticity, scalability, agility and automation offered by cloud providers. Using state-of-the-art technology, it is possible to get the best use of the cloud environment, also increasing the security level of cloud storage.
Is maintaining cloud infrastructure and storage really secure?
Yes, it is! Cloud storage has more layers of protection, keeping your files safe even in the face of any cyber incident.
For this, it is important that you put in place initiatives that can enhance the security of cloud infrastructure. Here are a few:
Create and manage accesses within your cloud environment:Define employee accesses by groups or by roles. With this configuration, you prevent professionals from having privileges and viewing restricted content. Also, limit the number of employees with administrator access.
Implement a strong password policy: by educating employees on the care needed to create and manage passwords, you increase the level of protection of your IT infrastructure. Passwords should be difficult, with special characters, uppercase and lowercase letters. Ensure that passwords are secure, not repeated for multiple accounts, and kept in a secure location such as a password manager. Also, periodically require them to be changed.
Enable multi-factor authentication: Also known as MFA (Multi-factor authentication), multi-factor authentication requires the user to provide at least one additional piece of information in addition to the password. The use of biometrics or a verification code, sent to the user’s smartphone, is increasingly common in the login process. As users access systems anytime and from anywhere, MFA helps ensure that they are who they say they are by requesting additional authentication factors. The practice makes it harder for hackers to gain access.
Having encryption applied to the database: Keeping data encrypted in an additional layer of security, with restricted user access, is critical. This will ensure that the data will not be exposed, decreasing vulnerability and the risks of cyber attacks.
