By Sairaman Srinivasan, Chief Strategy Officer, Consortium for Technical Education
In an era of digital transformation, cloud computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern business operations/ landscape. As companies move to the cloud – the IT infrastructure, services, and applications they leverage become more ephemeral and dynamic than their On-Premises environments.
Cloud computing has redefined how organisations approach IT infrastructure. Rather than investing in and managing physical hardware, businesses are now entrusting their data and applications to remote servers operated by cloud service providers (CSPs).
The Shifting Landscape: Cloud Computing and Shared Environments
This shift in Cloud Computing has brought remarkable advantages such as agility, scalability, flexibility, and reduced capital expenditure, catalysing a rapid migration of data and applications from on-premises infrastructure to shared cloud environments.
According to Gartner, 81% of organisations report working with two or more public cloud providers.
However, as organisations leverage the cloud’s benefits, it also introduces new security challenges due to the multi-tenant nature of shared cloud environments; multiple users and organisations coexist on the same physical infrastructure. This juxtaposition of data raises concerns about data isolation, access controls, and potential breaches that could compromise sensitive data and applications; and introduce new security challenges.
As a result, ensuring data protection in the cloud has become paramount.
The Complex Landscape of Cloud Security
In the realm of cloud security, key factors demand attention –
Firstly, selecting a reputable Cloud Service Provider (CSP) necessitates assessing security certifications, transparency, data protection policies, industry compliance, and a proven track record in data safeguarding. Data Encryption emerges as a cornerstone, rendering data unreadable for unauthorised individuals at rest and in transit, bolstered using robust algorithms and protocols like HTTPS, TLS, and SSL.
Understanding the shared responsibility model is crucial in defining security roles for both CSP and the client. Implementing strict access controls to ensure authorised access only, Identity Access Management (IAM) plays a crucial role in maintaining security and streamlined access management. Organisations should use authentication methods by enforcing robust password policies, stricter controls, and monitoring users with role-based access control (RBAC) to access sensitive cloud resources. Introducing Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of security.
Regular security audits and real-time monitoring helps to identify and detect potential threats and proactively mitigate vulnerabilities and threats. Data segmentation and network isolation prevent lateral movement and strengthen isolation; utilising Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) enhances resource segregation and improves isolation reducing the potential impact of a security breach.
Vulnerability scanning and patch management remain vital to prevent security weaknesses while implementing regular backup and disaster recovery strategies ensures business continuity.
Employees must undergo regular security training, heightening awareness of cloud-specific threats and best practices to empower themselves to protect the organisation from threats.
Compliance with data protection regulations is non-negotiable. Organisations and cloud service providers must ensure they comply with and understand their compliance requirements and responsibilities while using cloud services.
Lastly, a well-defined incident response plan is critical that outlines how to detect, investigate, respond to, and recover from security incidents in the cloud efficiently.
