Business is increasingly conducted over the cloud. The pressures to move systems onto the cloud have been strengthening in recent years, and coronavirus – and working from home – has made cloud computing a necessity to get the job down in recent months. As such, cloud computing truly appears here to stay – and it’s up to companies across the world to get used to this ‘new normal’ in the digital world. Still, there’s work to be done to protect your data in the cloud – and this article aims to instruct and advise businesses looking to add cybersecurity practices to their cloud computing in 2020.
Check Your Current Cybersecurity
There are dozens of world-leading cybersecurity firms out there on the market today. Likely, you’re already paying a subscription to one of these services. The problem is, many of the current business cybersecurity systems are designed to protect office networks – and only a handful have made strides to also protect data in the cloud. So, your first port of call is to check in with your current cybersecurity provider, so ensure that they’re covering all aspects of cloud computing as well as your office network.
Understand Your Cloud Engagement
There are various levels to your engagement with and on the cloud. For instance, if you’re using a cloud-based file storage system, you’ll be saving all of your business documents and data onto the cloud – which means it’s stored in some faraway data center. But the memory of your business is only one place that your cloud engagement presents a weakness. What about cloud-based software like Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams? These are also security weaknesses – and all of them should be protected by cloud cybersecurity, too.
Boost Your Cloud Monitoring
Even when you have a good grasp of your cloud engagement, you’ll still need to monitor the data that passes over the cloud to be able to come away with an accurate idea of where your data is, how it’s stored and safely protected in transit, and which of your employees are sending data over the cloud. What you’re looking for, to protect yourself on the cloud, is a CASB – a Cloud Access Security Broker. These solutions enable you both to monitor and to police the data that your company sends over the cloud in the future.
Staff Awareness
Your staff are likely to be a mix of older and younger employees. Some of them will be incredibly IT literate, while others will be barely aware of what the cloud is, where it’s situated, and what it means for the security of your company data. Companies that are serious about their cloud-based security must always be on the lookout for weak spots – and more often than not, these weak spots are your staff members themselves. As such, training modules, information bulletins and conversations should take place within your company to inform all of your staff of the importance of strict security standards on the cloud. This should help you protect data in the future.
Use the four tips detailed above to ensure your cloud-based system is set up properly for security and productivity in the future.
