What is Cloud Security?

Enterprise IT spending on public cloud services will overtake spending on traditional IT in 2025, according to Gartner, Inc. Furthermore, 51% of IT spending in these four categories will have shifted from traditional solutions to public clouds, such as Amazon Web Services, compared to 41% in 2022.

For organizations transitioning to a cloud environment, robust cloud and data security are non-negotiable. Security threats are constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated, and data in the cloud is at no less risk of a breach than in an on-premise environment.

What is Cloud Computing Security?  

Cloud computing security is the practice of protecting cloud based data, applications, and infrastructure from cyber attacks and cyber threats. Since data in the public cloud is being stored by a third party and can be accessed over the internet, it can be challenging to maintain a secure cloud.

As a business leader tasked with overseeing your organzation’s IT security strategy, there are many considerations you must make around cloud security to ensure your data and assets are properly safeguarded. 

In this blog, we are going to focus on public cloud services, which is when organizations employ third-party cloud service providers (CSPs) to manage their applications and data within the provider’s infrastructure. Continue reading to learn what you need to know.

What are Cloud Security Threats?

It is no secret that cloud services have transformed the way businesses store data and host applications, but they have also introduced new security challenges and threats. With the ever-increasing volume of data flowing between organizations and cloud service providers, there are more opportunities than ever for accidental and malicious leaks of sensitive data. 

In general, the features that make cloud services and applications easily accessible to employees and business systems also make it difficult for organizations to protect themselves from security threats – and there are quite a few. 

Misconfiguration, insider threats, identity and access management, or having an insecure application programming interface (API) are common threats today that can all lead to severe data breaches, and subsequently, data loss which could be detrimental to an organization’s reputation and viability. 

For this reason alone, it is imperative to have security controls in place for your cloud solution like intrusion detection and data encryption that proactively defend against these types of security threats.

What is Infrastructure Security in Cloud Computing?

Cloud infrastructure security is the practice of securing all the resources deployed in a cloud environment and its supporting systems. Cloud infrastructure is typically comprised of several pieces, including user accounts, servers, and storage systems, to name a few. 

You’ve probably heard it before – staying secure in the cloud is a shared responsibility. In a public cloud scenario, the cloud provider is responsible for securing the infrastructure and providing tools that allow the organization to secure its workloads. 

Your organization is responsible for:

• Securing workloads and data, satisfying compliance standards, and logging all activity.
• Ensuring cloud configurations remain secure and any new resources on the cloud are secured.
• Understanding which service level agreements supplied by your cloud provider deliver relevant services and monitoring.
• Understanding security measures from any other third-party products in your cloud environment and replacing providers if they are insufficient.

What is Cloud Workload Security?

Cloud workload security is the practice of protecting the applications and services that run on a cloud resource. This could include things like virtual machines, databases, containers, servers, and applications.

A cloud workload encompasses the application, data generated by that application, and the network resources that facilitate a connection between the application and the user. It is critical to ensure cloud workloads are properly managed and secured because an application will not work as intended if any portion of the workload is compromised. 

Cloud workload security can be complex since workloads can be distributed, moving across various hosts and environments. This can increase an organization’s attack surface, and thus, it becomes more vulnerable if the workloads are not properly secured.

What is Data Security in Cloud Computing?

While it’s true that the cloud offers many security benefits like enhanced data protection and encryption, secure file sharing and communications, continuous compliance risk management, and maintaining good cloud storage hygiene, there are some pitfalls to consider as well. 

One major implication to be aware of when hosting data with a cloud service provider is losing control of physical access to the server and the way it is deployed, managed, and configured. This can create potential security vulnerabilities because the organization can no longer determine who has physical access to the servers. There may not be any safeguards in place to prevent an employee of the cloud service provider from illegally gaining access to personal data and modifying it, copying it, and even distributing it to others. 

To prevent insider attacks, cloud service providers should maintain strict and transparent control of access to servers and IT infrastructure and communicate these permissions to their clients.

Buchanan is Your Cloud Computing Security Partner

Cloud security should be top of mind as you move your devices, data centers, business processes, and more to the cloud. A cloud service provider can walk you through all your options and help you select the right cloud security solution for your business so that you can reap all the benefits of the cloud while ensuring your organization is protected.

Buchanan’s team of cloud experts can meet you wherever you are in your cloud journey and provide services and solutions that will help you achieve your goals in the cloud. Contact us for your cloud strategy assessment today.