‘Management is not responsible for loss or theft of personal property”, you might have read this phrase ‘N’ number of times. The phrase is just perfect from cloud security & compliance perspective” too. Wondering how? If you read the phrase in isolation it may not seem if it has got anything do with security compliance but if you know the context, then you’ll know that it is about Security & Compliance.
You might be wondering about the reason behind widespread migration to cloud. The reason is just this¬, for most business, cloud migration is a way to achieve cost savings but that is not only the reason enterprises are embracing it. Scalability, backup, disaster recovery and ease of management are some of the reasons organizations are moving to the cloud.
Though migrating to cloud brings lot of benefits but it also introduces lot of challenges such as security and compliance. In fact the concerns about security and compliance are the reasons why enterprises are not fully migrating to cloud.
There is an assumption among companies that once data is migrated to the cloud, the responsibility for security will shift to the cloud provider; however it may not be true. Like with any technology cloud computing is not free from issue. So storing your business data with a public cloud provider is somewhat risky because public cloud is open and there’s a chance they may not provide full-fledged security to your data.
First things first when it comes to storing data in cloud it should be understood that organizations should do proper research about the type of cloud services they are going to avail. Knowing complete information about the type of cloud services you are going to choose is important, because it is going to determine the extent to which they are going to meet your security needs and compliance goals.
By far the biggest question organizations have is, is it possible to have same kind of control over cloud data as they would have on premises. Because when something is not owned, the ability to make an impact and get results is limited.
Organizations moving data to cloud should look into the security requirements the same way they take measures to secure their data on premises. They have to essentially look into the details whether the cloud services they are availing match the compliance requirements that they are looking for. Depending on the situation, organizations can choose service providers who comply with compliance standards and demonstrate adherence to industry recommended standards. By having a right approach to security and compliance surrounding business data in the cloud, organizations can capitalize on the benefits of emerging cloud technologies while ensuring they comply with regulations.
That brings us to the question “what is the right approach to security and compliance in the cloud?”
When assessing cloud security, organizations should look into key questions when choosing a cloud platform, such as where is the data? And who will have access to it? And the type of data, organizations are going to store on the cloud.
They say that you can’t secure what you can’t see; it is perfect from cloud perspective. Because securing data begins with understanding what kind of data it is and where it is located. So, in securing data, it follows that organizations can choose to decide whether if there is any data that should not be moved to cloud, keeping in view data sensitivity and criticality. Organizations always have a choice to opt for private cloud providers; if they want business data to be moved to cloud, in that private service providers are more secure than public cloud service providers.
On-premises data centers are unable to provide the agility and ease of use that today’s businesses demand. But moving business data from On-premises to cloud is not as simple it sounds, a successful cloud migration requires the right approach to deliver business results while ensuring security and compliance.
