5 Tips for Keeping Data Secure in the Cloud

As more businesses turn to cloud computing technology to store information about clients, suppliers, vendors, and others, the need to secure that data increases too. The cloud isn’t like any other storage option because it’s not a tangible thing. It’s therefore critical to ensure the data saved to the cloud is secure and protected against possible security breaches.

Back It Up

A local backup is a critical aspect of securing data in the cloud. Anything can go wrong at any time, particularly when it comes to information technology. You hope for the best but prepare for the worst, which involves creating a few electronic backups and copies of all the data in the cloud. Using an external storage device, initiate a manual backup. That way, it won’t matter if something gets corrupted or lost. You’re covered either way. This also helps prevent the fallout you may experience from a ransomware attack.

Encrypt Before You Store

Encryption offers an additional layer of protection for sensitive data. Your IT team can encrypt the data saved in the cloud themselves. All you need is third-party software that encrypts files for you. Even then, you create a password for the app, and the app itself creates a sequence of secret keys for every data set you upload to the company cloud. This could alleviate some of the security risks you may be concerned with, such as Office 365 security risks.

However, you can also research a variety of cloud storage services until you discover one that offers encryption services. The bonus here is that anyone who tries to access the information will have to go through decryption first, and only the people who are allowed to reach the data will have the credentials to do so.

Appoint a CASB

A CASB, or cloud access security broker, may work as an on-premises appliance or it could simply be hosted in the cloud as an enforcement point for your security and compliance policies. Whatever the case, it acts as a buffer between consumers of cloud services and the providers of the cloud. The purpose of a CASB is to craft and implement policies that strengthen security at the access points into the cloud. Cloud access security brokers are responsible for access control, mapping credentials, profiling devices, cloud DLP, collaboration control, detecting and preventing malware, and sending threat alerts.

Pass the Password Test

Although it seems a small thing, password breaches are too common not to take them seriously. It won’t hurt to institute a company-wide class on how to create passwords that are impossible to guess. Employees should get into the habit of coming up with strong login passwords for any single sign-on applications, particularly if the office SSO platform grants them access to the cloud.

Skip the Sensitive Info

Every export will advise you to avoid saving anything sensitive on the cloud. At the very least, take time to double-encrypt sensitive data. Essentially, storing files in your cloud is akin to sharing something on the Internet. Once it’s in the cloud, it’s out of your hands. You have no control over what happens to it anymore. The best you can do is know that, should a breach occur, you did everything possible to keep client data as secure as possible.

You can’t mess around with personal information, especially if it belongs to your client base. Do you trust the cloud or do you prefer storage devices?