Best Practices to Create a Secure Environment for Your Cloud Storage
In the digital world, we treat cloud storage as an ultimate option to secure data, especially for businesses that require vast space and continue to expand, but it doesn’t imply that everything that shines is gold. Cloud storage too has its share of issues that every business needs to be aware of before choosing it for storing their crucial information, and its security is at the top of the list. Since it is hosted on the internet, it is not only always available for you, but everyone. The glorification of secure cloud storage often overshadows the security risks it comes with.
We are not implying that using cloud storage means compromising your data, but we are trying to create awareness surrounding it. Also, it is still the safest storage option when compared to the rest, but when you want to maximize its security, you need to work with best practices to create a secure environment for it. You may have done the bare minimum to tighten the security layer, but it will never be enough to combat the rising threat of cyber theft and crimes because they have become too advanced.
Considering how crucial your business data is, we are sharing the best practices to create a secure environment for your cloud storage here:
Implement Identity and Access Management
As cloud storage is hosted online, it increases the risks of breach, and the most common cause of it is that access was compromised by someone or the credentials were leaked. The best practice to combat risks of credential leaks and compromised access is to implement strong authentication by using identity and access management. In this, users and employees who have been given permission can access data because of their job profiles. Along with this, you must review access logs to remove unused accounts and those who seem to be involved in suspicious activities.
Implement Multi-Factor Authentication
We all know how easy it has become for hackers to break into accounts with a single password protection, and it is simply not enough to create a protective barrier because credential theft is among the most common causes of breaches. To ensure that none in your team becomes a target of hackers or phishing accounts, always implement MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) as a defence. Every user or employee should have a secondary method such as a one-time code or biometric scan to confirm their identity, and it should be implemented on all accounts linked to the cloud, especially administrator accounts.
Encrypt all Data
You may think that you have done everything to tighten the security of your cloud storage, but it will never be 100% because of how smart modern-day hackers have become. To ensure data remains safe and inaccessible by unauthorized users, treat encryption with the utmost importance. Not just the cloud storage, but when you use the same infrastructure to send your data to another user, it is masked with encryption, and it doesn’t allow attackers to see what the data in transit contains. Even if someone accesses the data, it remains unreadable and inaccessible without a decryption key. Use the AES-256 algorithm to encrypt resting data and TLS/SSL protocols for data in transit.
Patching The System
Every business holds some outdated software and unpatched systems that they forget to patch, and it becomes one of the weaknesses of your organization that could compromise your entire database. A cloud environment is also vulnerable because it keeps on allowing access to different users, integrating with third-party applications and websites, and all these needs regular attention to secure the integrity. To combat it, patching the system is the ultimate solution, and you can implement a patching policy and schedule regular updates once a week or a month that you should check with your provider.
Implement Backup Data and Disaster Recovery
With cloud storage, you are storing all your data in one place, which makes it more vulnerable and at risk of permanent loss. To prevent it from happening, implement backup data and disaster recovery and store it at a different location to protect it from internet breaches, natural disasters, or accidental deletion. As per the standard process, you should follow the 3-2-1 backup rule that implies that you should create 3 copies of your data, 2 different media types of storage, and one off-site storage in a different cloud location. A disaster recovery plan should also be included in the backup data strategy, defining roles and responsibilities.
Regular Monitoring
There are so many examples of how regular monitoring has helped organizations get hold of accounts with suspicious activities, and it is without a doubt one of the best practices to create a secure cloud environment. There should be a dedicated team that monitors unusual behaviour of accounts such as logging in at odd hours or trying to log in to an account they are not allowed or given access to, and others. There are multiple monitoring tools available that are compatible with cloud storage and can help trace such suspicious activities and take needful actions before any data leak or breach happens.
Train Your Team
Humans are made to make errors despite how well aware they are regarding a technology, but it doesn’t mean that you should take your chances of making errors. You should train your team on how to work with a technological setting and use cloud storage with utmost care because a single compromise on credentials can result in a data breach. Train your team on how to safely access the cloud storage and identify malicious behaviour and emails. When your team works in unity and understands security measures, better productivity and a safe working environment are guaranteed.
Final Words
Switching to cloud storage for your business is indeed the best decision, but you should implement best practices to ensure its integrity is not compromised. We have discussed some of the mandatory practices to secure your cloud environment from data breaches, stolen data, and even natural disasters. You can go beyond and implement more such practices, but the aim should be protecting your database on which the entire business relies.
