Cloud computing has taken off. Organizations in many industries utilize the cloud for a multitude of services, but there is risk involved. Improving cloud security is on everyone’s mind, but what are you doing to protect yourself?

First, you have to know where the risks actually exist. You have to know your vulnerabilities and how to make improvements. You’ll have an approach to infrastructure as a service (IaaS) that differs from platform as a service (PaaS). The same goes for software as a service (SaaS) and container as a service (CaaS) — each will have disparate controls governing your data, which is why each approach has to be customized.

Who’s Responsible for What?

Be sure to establish who is responsible for how your data is protected, because too many organizations have done little to safeguard their data, believing all the necessary security controls reside in the cloud. While the partnering cloud service provider will have some security measures in place, ultimately, protecting data is your responsibility, particularly while it’s in transit. For this reason, it’s wise to implement end-to-end encryption.

Another issue that is often not thought about until it is too late is how your data is deleted. When you purge unnecessary files, you’re freeing up more space for relevant data, but is it really deleted? Make sure you have the visibility you need to confirm that your deleted data is indeed wiped clean and unable to be compromised by hackers.

This can be a difficult process if you’ve got data spread far and wide because it’s often not exactly known where everything truly resides. However, by utilizing a single-sign-on solution, you can get the right amount of visibility and ensure that you’re safe. 

Plan Effectively

If you’re on the ground floor of developing a cloud-based services plan, you’ve got the upper hand in many ways. While the process seems daunting, you’re in a good position to carefully plan out your distributed architecture. That means that, before anything is deployed, you’ve planned exactly where data will go, where applications will run, and how you can start improving cloud security.

You will have choices in the type of cloud security you choose to implement. It can be an all-in-one solution, or you can manage each service separately. While having a centralized system is easiest for most organizations, your situation might call for something different. Cost and ease of use are often the determining factors.If you need an agent to assist your organization in improving cloud security, contact us at eXemplify. As a top telecom agent for more than 15 years, we know how to provide superior support and award-winning services, and we specialize in outfitting you with everything you need to stay ahead of the competition.