In order to go into detail on the subject of cloud security, we must be clear about what cloud computing is. cloud computing.
Cloud Computing is a business model based on the delivery of on-demand services, whether software, hardware or storage. In which the main objective is to acquire resources when needed. The benefits of rapid deployment, flexibility, low upfront costs and scalability have made cloud computing virtually universal among organizations of all sizes.
How does cloud computing work?
Instead of owning their own IT infrastructure or data centers, companies can rent access to resources, from applications to storage, from a cloud service provider.
What is cloud security?
Cloud security is the protection of data, applications and infrastructure involved in cloud computing. Many aspects of security for cloud environments (whether a public, private or hybrid cloud) are the same as for any on-premises IT architecture.
High-level security issues, such as unauthorized data exposure and leaks, weak access controls, susceptibility to attacks and availability disruptions, affect both traditional IT and cloud systems.
Like any computing environment, cloud security involves maintaining adequate preventive protections for you:
- Know that data and systems are secure.
- You can view the current security status.
- Know immediately if anything unusual happens.
- It can track and respond to unexpected events.
Cloud security best practices
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- Avoid publishing services on the Internet: if the service is required only by your internal collaborators and it also handles confidential information, avoid publishing it on the internet and keep it in your local network.
- Make use of VPN: as much as possible make use of secure VPN access.
- Protect your access with multiple factor authentication (MFA): Privileged and commonly used accounts should be protected with MFA, including SaaS such as email services and any other platform for corporate use.
- Apply the Implicit Deny policy: Only open ports on services that are required, indicating the origin of the communication if possible, to reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
- Keep your systems up to date: in case of Infrastructure as a Service, keep your systems up to date as much as possible (Taking into account your required change controls and testing).
- Redundancy in internet links: in public clouds it is necessary to have multiple internet providers, since our operation will depend on this service.
- Manage data securely: Data security should be the primary concern of all cloud users.
- Full access control means implementing strict encryption and using appropriate public key infrastructures.
- Implement Endpoint Security: Enterprises need to protect the endpoints on their corporate networks and the devices they use to access their cloud accounts.
- Choose cloud providers carefully: think first of all about your business needs and the real benefits this change will bring you. Industry regulations, international certifications, are some of the aspects to consider during the selection process.
- Protect your access keys: Keeping the credentials or keys to access our resources is crucial, that means not storing them in software repositories or burning them into code. Cipher whenever possible.
- Implement intrusion prevention and detection systems.
- Apply the principle of least privilege: each user in the environment must have the necessary accesses for the execution of their tasks.
In a next post we will look in detail at a set of security best practices for each type of service (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS).
Choosing a Cloud Provider
All cloud service providers are doing their best to enforce cloud security measures to attract more customers. However, some may claim to have the best protection, such as marketing labelwhile, in the real sense, they have poor security poor security schemes. EYE “not all that glitters is gold”.
How can we migrate to the cloud in a secure way?
We should keep in mind that cloud migration is the process of moving digital business operations to the cloud. Cloud migration involves moving data, applications and IT processes from some data centers to other data centers.
Our perimeter has been extended
The cloud becomes an extension of our local network in case it is located in a remote data center such as public clouds, this means that we must visualize it with the concept of “Zero Confidence” and monitor all our resources and apply strict control rules, without impacting business objectives.
Here are 11 steps to securely migrate to the cloud:
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- Evaluation and analysis of the regulations that apply to your industry.
- Establish the role of migration architect
- Choose your level of cloud integration
- Choosing the supplier (Analyze each aspect and benefits to the business)
- Establishing KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in the cloud
- Establish performance baselines
- Prioritize migration components
- Carry out any necessary restructuring
- Create a data migration plan
- Change production
- Review the allocation of application resources
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Most common mistakes when migrating to the cloud:
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- Lack of planning
- Assume that they must migrate everything as is
- Little evaluation of the different suppliers
- Migrate all your data at once
- Assuming that all cloud environments are the same
- Migration of data and workflows without a business purpose
- Not configuring your data and applications for the cloud
- Not projecting the cost of migrating to the cloud
- Forgetting about security
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Summary:
Cloud security is important for business and personal users. Everyone wants to know that their information is safe and secure and that companies have a legal obligation to keep customer data safe, and certain industries have stricter rules on data storage.
Security is an essential element of your cloud service and you should always verify that your service provider can provide the correct levels of security for your industry.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE ABOUT CLOUD SECURITY? IF SO, FEEL FREE TO LET US KNOW BELOW IN THE COMMENTS.