Security is a big deal when it comes to cloud computing. Small businesses that do not have huge budgets for IT, are often forced to sign up with vendors who may not have a huge reputation with respect to security. This is a make or break scenario considering that a lot of your businesses’ proprietary and confidential information are stored on a third party server. A breach of security could not only mean loss of confidential information, but could also imply loss of customer trust and brand reputation.
This is exactly why cost should not be the sole determining factor while migrating to the cloud. Security should be a much higher priority. If you are a freelancer, small business or an enterprise considering a move to the cloud, here are some questions you should ask your vendor before signing up with them.
What are the security layers provided for data?
Since data on a cloud needs to be accessed using the internet, there is always a possibility of hacking or snooping. This risk can be mitigated through encrypted data transmission and by following the secure PKI standards. Most of the popular cloud computing services offer this security feature and so it may appear to be a no-brainer. However, if you are signing up with a less popular vendor, the onus is on you to validate the claims and ensure that the vendor follows one of the industry standard security procedure.
How do you ensure access is restricted to authorized users?
One of the arguments for on-premise solutions against cloud services is that data can be restricted to users in a geographic firewall. Since cloud services are accessible over the internet, anybody with a user login information may access the data. However for small businesses, this argument may be flawed. Firstly, network firewalls are routintely bypassed by casual office visitors. Also, on-premise servers are routinely stolen and destroyed that all mandate the need for a more reliable storage solution. Cloud services that cater to hundreds and thousands of customers are often located in extremely secure datacenters where entry is strictly restricted. The data on such servers are much more secure than on-premise solutions for SMBs. Also, a lot of these services also offer IP-based access restriction features to ensure businesses may replicate the network firewall on their cloud service.
What are the data recovery options?
A common practice among a lot of businesses is to sign up with multiple services to ensure data is backed up on multiple locations. While this helps mitigate risks sufficiently enough, the benefits of signing up to a cloud service are lost since businesses may now have to spend money on more than one vendor. To ensure cost optimization without compromizing on data protection, vendors need to be evaluated on their disaster recovery options. The reputed services often have secure and reliable data protection and recovery features enabled on their own datacenters to ensure a secondary backup by the company is unnecessary. While such reliable services are often costlier than the lowest priced competitors, they work out well for security-enabled cost optimization efforts.
A vendor that satisfies the concerns surrounding the questions above is a reliable choice for any business. Do you think we missed out on a question? Tell us in the comments.