Key Considerations to Protect and Secure Your Cloud Infrastructure

IBM recently reported that the cost of an IT security breach is rising for businesses. In fact, 2021 has had the highest average cost for a data breach in the past 17 years, at $4.24 million USD (just over £3 million).

And with the significant threat of sophisticated cyber-attacks also growing each year, IT security should be one of the top items on the agenda for every business today.

But if you, like so many others, have your critical applications and businesses processes now running in the cloud, truly robust security becomes a far more complex challenge.

Your organisation contains a vast landscape of users, devices, applications, connected components, end-points, integrations, and more. These must all be given dedicated attention to ensure your overall cloud environment is secure.

Remember, security isn’t only about preventing viruses and malware from getting in.

• How are you managing your users’ access to your applications?
• How are you handling the backing-up of your data?
• How do you know your third-party integrations are secure?
• How do you plan a strategy for disaster recovery in the case of a crisis?
• How do you secure the link between your on-premise infrastructure and cloud infrastructure?

Have you considered all the potential variables and vulnerabilities? If not, your organisation is likely at significant risk.

You should also think about things like:

• Partner limitations – If your cloud is provided by a partner, how much of the security remains your responsibility? It’s probably more than you think.
• Changes to your infrastructure – Your cloud environment is ever-changing and requires ongoing monitoring and maintenance.
• Updates and patches – The platform will receive updates and patches directly from the providers, which may affect your own security measures or configuration.
• Shadow IT – Employees may be using applications that your IT administrators are unaware of.

When it comes to security in the cloud, you must think far bigger, and be far more hands-on, than with any other IT infrastructure you’ve worked with before.

We appreciate all this may sound daunting, but help is available.

For detailed insights into all the different steps you should take to ensure robust cloud security, read our article here