Cloud Security refers to the technologies, policies, controls, and services that protect data, applications, and infrastructure in the cloud from both internal and external threats.
Between essential protection and uncompromising lockdown, it is critical to find the best compromise between security practices and the flexibility that is essential for business productivity.
Business applications, data storage, complete virtual machines… Almost everything can be governed by Cloud Computing. According to forecasts and observations made by IDC, it appears that spending on cloud infrastructure will increase by 22% in 2022 compared to 2021. This means that it will exceed the $90 billion mark by the end of the calendar year. A record number as this is the highest annual growth rate since 2018! But the more our businesses become cloud-based, the more the issue of Cloud Security becomes a top priority.
However, behind a concept as vast and complex as Cloud Security, it must be understood that it is based on a set of strategies, technical means, and control solutions that ensure both the protection of data stored, the availability and reliability of applications and infrastructure services essential to the operation of the cloud.
Protection against external and internal threats and vulnerabilities, resilience, and resistance to cybersecurity issues, Cloud Security is a concept intrinsically linked to Cloud Computing.
Private, public, hybrid… each cloud has its own security challenges
To fully understand Cloud Security, we must first differentiate the types of Cloud Computing. Public clouds are hosted by third-party cloud service providers.
When you use a public cloud, you get a turnkey cloud and have no latitude to configure and administer it, and the services are fully managed by the cloud provider.
If, on the other hand, you move to a private cloud service, you have a more secure and potentially more customizable space.
Finally, hybrid cloud services combine the scalability of public clouds with the greater resource control of private clouds while offering lower pricing than private clouds.
In all cases, whether you choose a public, private or hybrid cloud service, it is critical to ensure Cloud Security.
Why is Cloud Security important?
The more your company leverages the cloud, the more agile it becomes. Even better: the cloud enables small and medium-sized businesses to have the same tools and functionalities as very big companies. The downside is that the power at your disposal increases the cloud usage of your teams and, consequently, increases your exposure to threats that in the past only concerned larger companies.
That’s why Cloud Security is more important than ever. Unleashing usage and productivity through the cloud mechanically increases your dependency on the cloud.
Without the cloud, nothing is possible. Therefore, Cloud Security becomes a priority issue, especially when it comes to data protection. Preventing data leakage and theft is essential to maintaining your customers’ trust. Cloud Security, by guaranteeing data protection, makes it an element of trust between you and your customers.
The challenges of Cloud Security
The availability of the cloud is a major issue for companies. In this context, the first challenge of Cloud Security is to guarantee maximum availability, particularly by protecting infrastructures from Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Analysis of traffic on cloud servers, and detection of suspicious packets, are all practices that are essential to Cloud Security. The fight against data breaches and by extension, against data loss, are two other prominent challenges of Cloud Security.
Finally, the last key challenge of Cloud Security is user identity verification. As employees become increasingly mobile, they connect to cloud services from anywhere in the world, making identity verification more and more complex. This is why multi-factor authentication is highly recommended by cloud players.
Anticipation, visibility, transparency, reactivity, and proactivity are the levers to be used on a daily basis to guarantee Cloud Security.
