Rising importance of Cloud Security

Authored By- Abhijit Chatterji, CIO, C-Zentrix

Cloud security is mostly about securing the online data from theft, leakage and deletion. There are various methods of providing cloud security such as penetration testing, firewalls, obfuscation etc. It is very important to avoid public internet connections as well in order to secure your data from leaking.

Cloud Security is the prime concern for cloud storage providers. We at C-Zentrix not only try our best to satisfy our clients but also follow certain regulatory requirements for storing sensitive data like health information, credit card numbers etc.

We make sure to protect client’s data against malicious insiders through background checks and security clearances. Not only outside hackers are the biggest threats to the company but also sometimes employees who unknowingly make mistakes such as using the personal smartphone for accessing the company’s data.

There are four control levels for cloud security –

• Applications
• Infrastructure
• Information
• People

Application and Infrastructure security are very important in cloud security. It is necessary to provide security measures including secure deployments because the cloud service provider is in-charge of the application and the user controls the data.

Security layer infrastructure includes network security, measuring endpoint security, physical security and communication encryption. How each data moves around the application, should be carefully inspected and all possible check and balance needs to be implemented.

It adds levels of delay but it makes things difficult for stealing. Even if the physical system on which the data resides gets stolen, little or no informative data can be extracted, should be the ideal goal and we keep pushing our levels to achieve the same.

Security technologies do not always have to take the form of tools or be operated and developed in a customer-based infrastructure. We at C-Zetntrix also offer services for various IT security levels, such as access and identity management. Ideally, data hackers will not take the normal route to break the application, however, if there are vulnerabilities are there in normal routes then it is a serious concern, and software programs and API's need to be re-designed to handle such threats. However, the design should be through around non-generic routes. Eg what if someone accesses the data through some other mechanism, can it be meaningful enough to cause harm?

Cloud providers help organizations with security guidelines and regulations through appropriate certifications like COBIT, SOC-2 etc. Security controls require these standards to be built-in during the development of cloud applications, regular vulnerability, effective access management and security checks. Intuitive thinking is required while designing the security layers and putting various components in places. Not to forget that the kitchen door should be manned the same way as the front door.

Cloud Security: a team effort

There is no doubt about the fact that cloud security is a team effort. It is not a job of one person; it requires a dedicated team and hard work to secure client’s confidential data. It is very important to know who controls the various components of the cloud infrastructure.

This means where and how security measures should be applied with a large focus on the data. There is only one goal for the providers and users which is to keep cloud data safe. Thus, there is no doubt to the fact that cloud security is a team effort.