Cloud Computing Security

Cloud Computing Security or Cloud Security refers to protecting data, applications and infrastructure from unauthorized users or hackers. It is a set of controls based on technology designed to respond to unexpected threats by alerting the user. Cloud Security uses an effective layer of protection to ensure company assets (data, infrastructure, technology) using cloud computing services functions naturally and conventionally.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud is the on-demand delivery of storage, intelligence, IT resources, and other computing services over the internet on the “pay-as-you-go” model, without owning physical data centers. Cloud computing is categorized into the following types:

Public Cloud

Public clouds are owned by third-party cloud service providers and deliver their cloud computing services like server and storage over the internet.

Private Cloud

It refers to cloud computing services used by a single organization or company and can be physically located on the company’s on-site center.

Hybrid Cloud A hybrid cloud is a combination of public and private clouds, bought together by technology to share data and other information. Hybrid cloud is more flexible and gives more option to optimize your infrastructure.

Why Cloud Security?

Now that it is a proven fact that Cloud platform provides enterprises with more secure space for storing application and data. It is essential to understand that one cannot benefit from cloud computing without ensuring the security of its software application and data. Enterprises must build a robust security system that can support the speed and frequency of the cloud deployments. Therefore, leveraging the latest security tools to align with the advanced security protocols is crucial to Cloud Computing.

Benefits of Cloud Security

Data Security 

Data security is a crucial challenge in cloud service, in cloud computing, it becomes more complex because of large number of users from all over the world. Data security and privacy are the two things a user is more concerned. A cloud security solution has security protocols to protect sensitive information and have layers of security features that prevent the third party to access and tamper your data.

DDoS Protection

Distributed denial of service attack is an attempt to disturb the regular traffic of the targeted server. DDoS attacks are becoming more frequent and worrying. Cloud security and protection service protects your cloud from a DDoS attack and delivers threat detection and alert features.

Threat Detection

Cloud Security provides advanced threat detection services by scanning your cloud. It increases security for the cloud by providing availability and reliability you need to conduct safe cloud access. It brings a rapid response capability that notifies you, showing you threats that have been detected. Once threats are detected, the cloud security solution will respond to them. Together these features will give you the capability to organize and keep your data safe in the cloud.

Support

The best thing a cloud security solution offers is constant support and monitoring 24/7. In addition to software updates, cloud security assists with configuration, installation, and troubleshoots from a highly trained support team which also provides rapid response to your queries and gives consistent service.  

Scalability

Cloud security provides you with the flexibility of avoiding server crashes during high traffic periods. It provides the scalability feature to turn up or down your limit based on the traffic.

Regulatory Compliance 

Regulatory compliance is a set of laws, rules, regulations, and guidelines that need to be followed by companies.

• Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 – it protects from accounting fraudulent practices in the enterprise.
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act of 1996 (HIPAA) – Designed to protect data privacy and confidentiality of patients and standardization of electronic health record system and includes security measures.
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) -is a set of policies and procedures created to protect and ensure security of credit, debit, and all cash card transactions.
• GDPR – amended to protect data of citizens in European & U.K. region from a data breach
• CCPA – protects consumer data of California citizens and creates rights relating to access, deletion and sharing of personal information collected by a company.
• ISO 27001 – Also known as ISO/IEC 27001:2013 which sets out the specification of an Information Security Management System (ISMS) in International standards. Its best practices help organizations to manage Information Security by addressing People, Practices, and technology.

Cloud Security Monitoring 

Monitoring is a mandatory component of cloud security, usually based on automated tools. Cloud security monitoring supervises digital and physical servers to actively analyze and evaluate data, device or system activities for potential security threats and risks. Continuous cyber security monitoring allows a company to:

• Detect a large variety of threats
• Reduce the time required to respond to attacks
• Comply with the market and regulatory standards

Cloud Security Controls

Cloud security control will be beneficial if an appropriate defensive implementation is in force. An effective cloud security system should identify the issues that arise with security management. The security solution fixes these issues with security controls. These controls are placed to protect any vulnerability in the system and reduce the impact of the damage. There are many types of controls in cloud security framework, and the main four are categorized below:

Deterrent Controls    

Deterrent controls make the attackers know that they will have adverse effects if they continue with the theft of data or conduct some suspicious operation and acts more like a warning machine.          

Preventive Controls                                                                   

 Preventive Controls make the cloud environment more robust to threats and attacks by mitigating vulnerabilities. It disables in active ports, patch updates, audit policy, revisit inactive ports to ensure that hackers do not enter from any weak points.

Detective Controls                                                                                                                   

It is designed to detect and respond to security threats and incidents. Their primary function is to monitor the network to identify when an attack would happen.

Corrective Controls

In the case of security attacks, corrective controls are triggered. Their job is to limit the damage caused by the attack. After the threat is detected, data servers are disconnected from the network to avert data breach.

All those controls play an important role in managing the overall security framework of a system. A right cloud security solution takes measures to prevent attacks from happening, quickly detect attacks that do occur, restore cloud functionality and stability.

Future of Cloud Security

Transformation technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will gain momentum in the coming year in cloud security.  Cloud Security and the tools used to monitor will be more advanced with automated defense system integration.

The fast-approaching demises of passcodes giving way to Artificial Intelligence (AI) through biometrics and multi-factor authentication. Use of artificial intelligence, attack indicators will be more powerful, agile, and accurate.

The use of AI and ML in the security framework will reduce the burden on security teams by automating the process of finding valuable insights that improve overall security.

In the future different Cloud Security solution companies can create a collaborative approach to analyze abnormal activity across global users and build a Cooperative environment. The future of cloud security is more promising, with a tremendous opportunity for technological tools to support and work effectively and efficiently.