Common Cloud Gotchas: Cloud Security Problems to Avoid

Cloud computing security can be a mystery. The main idea of using a public cloud is to contract out certain foundations and application to other third party providers. So, how can you keep your data secure when it leaves your boundaries and your control? But wait, as confusing as it seems, there is hope.

Fortunately for organizations that are looking at choosing a cloud computing concept, securing sensitive data outside their corporate perimeters is not as impossible as it may seem. Technologies do exist today that can enable cloud computing security that should be strong enough for a company to remain in full agreement while taking full advantage of the agility, flexibility and economies of the cloud.

Pitfall 1: Responsibility for Cloud Computing and Cloud Security

If your chosen cloud service provider is the only one that is housing your data, then does it not make sense that the responsibility and liability should likely rest with the cloud service provider when it comes down to cloud computing security?

That stands to reason, but it is not true. While recent changes to data privacy rules like those connected to HIPAA do cite that a third party contractor does bear some responsibility for your data’s cloud security—and while CSPs take security quite seriously—this should not shift the burden from the covered entities at all. In the event there is a breach of your organization’s information, your organization should be held liable and should have to make a public breach disclosure. You can look for other ways to keep control over all privacy and integrity of your data no matter which CSP you choose.

Pitfall 2: Are You Encrypting Enough for Cloud Security

Your key to vulnerability will lie in public Internet connections that your data has to go through between your perimeter and your CSP’s, right?

Not quite, and so the encryption in transit is not enough. Encryption in transit is basically a cloud computing security standard. This standard protects the data from would-be eavesdroppers while your data is en route from your business to the CSP’s. Remember, data should always be encrypted while it is in transit.

But encryption in transit is but one part of this story. Last year, the NSA’s MUSCULAR program made some waves when news was released about how the agency had tapped directly into Google and Yahoo’s internal networks so to intercept some data as it was moved between their data centers. Encryption in transit would not be much help there. So, choose a cloud data encryption solution that protects your information every step of the way—while in transit to the cloud, at rest in the cloud, or even while in motion or being use in the cloud.

Pitfall 3: Forgetting your neighbors: Cloud Computing

As one of potentially many customers of a public cloud provider, you are comparable to a renter in an apartment complex. Multi-tenancy could raise a few cloud computing security issues. Fortunately, by taking these steps to secure your data, you have addressed these issues. Choosing a cloud computing data encryption solution that will give your business exclusive access to the encryption keys will be important to keep your information safe. So, even if your data is unintentionally leaked or disclosed, no one will be able to read it or do anything with it without your prior knowledge and consent.

Cloud computing security has a lot of concerns and this can make companies hesitant to adopt the cloud concept, but they do not need to be. There is always a solution to the data privacy challenges that can be created by the cloud, and that solution is control. By maintaining control of your data from the very moment it leaves your perimeter throughout its life in the cloud, maintaining control of your encryption keys, and your data, so everything remains safe no matter where it roams.

To learn what local web can do for your business and its security, visit Cloud Security on localweb.com.

To read more about cloud security, visit Cloud Computing and Security.