As businesses work to grow and adapt alongside technological advancements, their owners are growing increasingly concerned for their data security. The migration from on-site providers to the cloud can be an especially nerve-wracking transition, as the need for data protection becomes increasingly critical to defending against breaches and potential cyber-attacks. However, while this shift does create a bit of inherent vulnerability due to the nature of remotely hosted servers, they are no more susceptible to threats and attacks than more traditional, on-site providers. However, they are much more secure when businesses choose to work with top-quality providers of cloud computing, cybersecurity, and IT support.
How Secure Is Cloud Computing?
As stated above, cloud computing is not any more susceptible to attacks than on-site providers, particularly if a business connects to the cloud through a secure, trustworthy provider, like Liftoff IT. They work diligently to ensure that your business’s data is effectively protected through several measures, including risk assessment, penetration testing, monitoring, recovery, access control, and more.
Their team of subject matter experts uses a specialized portfolio of 200 providers of data, cloud, and telecom solutions to select the ones that are best suited for protecting not only your business’s data but your business as a whole.
When security breaches or failures occur within cloud computing, the vast majority can be attributed to user error, improper access controls, poor password management, and unsecured storage buckets. Liftoff IT provides access to specialized vendors and partners who can help actively protect you from these kinds of threats. In short, cloud computing is relatively secure in general, but it’s quality providers that genuinely help keep people and businesses safe.
Related: Liftoff IT Cloud Computing
What to Know about Security in Cloud Computing
There are a range of factors that business owners should be knowledgeable on regarding the security measures involved in cloud computing. The following are four essential components of cloud security that solutions providers like Liftoff IT use to help keep your business and its data as secure as possible against potential cyberattacks and breaches.
Threat and Data Breach Monitoring
The monitoring of potential threats and successful security breaches is critical to ensuring a business’s safety and the safety of its data. Quality cloud computing security providers offer monitoring services so that business owners can be sure that their information is being kept under close guard and that there will be an immediate response if a data breach should occur. It’s challenging to notice, let alone address, a potential- or active- threat to security if no one is monitoring the data, after all.
Not only does this help to prevent data breaches outright, but it can also significantly lessen the damaging impact that said breaches could create within a business’s network. Intense data monitoring of cloud computing security by expert service providers allows for the identification of many previously undetected threats that many businesses would likely never be aware of. At least until a significant amount of damage has been done or large amounts of data have been compromised.
Data Access
Data is kept secure mainly because only specific individuals are authorized to have any direct access to it. Access to this data is often regulated by things like employee identification numbers and personal passwords, though it can also involve physical keys, like specialized magnetic cards and badges. Businesses use these access methods to ensure that no unauthorized parties can easily find and potentially steal their data and confidential information.
Many businesses will use a layered structure of data access, providing higher-up employees with more significant amounts of access to more restricted data. In contrast, lower-level employees receive little to no access, depending on their job and overall qualifications. This provides businesses with internal data protections alongside protection against outside threats. Disgruntled ex-employees can cause harm to a business if they retain access to critical data and confidential information, and these internal methods of access control allow employers to remove that access more easily.
Data Encryption
Thorough and robust encryption is yet another critical element of cloud computing security. Put simply; encryption is a way of scrambling data so that only authorized parties can understand the information the data contains through a complex cryptographic key. Encryption ensures that, even if a data breach were to occur, it would be almost impossible for hackers and other unauthorized individuals to decipher the data and steal confidential information from a business.
Effective encryption occurs when data is “in transit” from one location to another and while it is “at rest” or stored. The two primary types of encryption include symmetric and asymmetric encryption, also known as public-key encryption. Both varieties contain a unique strategy to protect data through the use of distinct cryptographic keys used to help ensure adequate security, privacy, authentication, and data integrity while also ensuring that industry and governmental regulations are being appropriately followed.
Network Infrastructure
While not a factor that most people immediately jump to when it comes to ensuring cloud computing security, network infrastructure essentially serves as the foundation for data protection, primarily when it is being transmitted from one party to another. The infrastructure used to protect business data typically involves firewalls, data encryption methods, access control elements, and other factors. It enables operations and management, network connectivity, and communication pathways between authorized users, internal, and external networks.
Depending on how a business’s network infrastructure is constructed, it may be easier or harder for hackers to launch effective cyber attacks and acquire confidential data successfully. Network infrastructures typically include a range of hardware (routers, cables, switches), software (firewalls, operating systems), and networking services (satellite, DSL, IP addressing). These elements are often handled off-site by data solution providers, like those found through Liftoff IT.
Are you looking for quality providers of data end telecom solutions for your growing business? Book a free consultation with Liftoff IT today, or reach out at (206) 635-7950 to learn about what their expert cloud service brokers can do for you.
What to Know About Liftoff IT Security Services and Comparisons
As providers of specialized cybersecurity, cloud computing, and IT services, Liftoff IT specialists work directly with businesses to determine which of their vendor partners would be the most suited for helping the business in the areas it needs the most assistance. They scour through their portfolio of over 200 solution providers to compare and contrast their services and find the most optimal candidates for a business’s particular situation. For example:
Say that a business needs a provider that can offer web filtering, onsight firewall management, and firewall cloud management. Liftoff IT will compare the services provided by their massive list of vendors to see which ones would be the best suited for that particular business. In this case, NetWolves and Verizon would be the top choices because they offer the required services, while CyberOps does not.
What to Know About When Data Security is Compromised
In a day and age where the strategic skills of hackers are growing stronger alongside security measures meant to keep them away from your data, it’s no longer enough to try to prevent cyberattacks, as many companies do. For businesses to remain safe, they also need a fully established response plan if security is compromised. Liftoff IT provides access to vendor partners who can help you design such a response plan, as well as a list of procedures to follow to keep your business safe in the event of a data breach. Their services also include a rapid response plan that triggers an immediate investigation to find and remediate a security breach once it occurs.
Related: Liftoff IT Cyber-Security Services
A Business’ Next Step for Protecting Data Security in Cloud Computing
Protecting your business’s data is crucial for operating successfully within the modern world of constantly evolving technology, which is why it’s critical to work with trusted, quality providers with interest in protecting what’s important to you and your business. But you don’t have to waste time painstakingly vetting through every individual service provider for your business’s data security, cloud services, and IT solutions. Liftoff IT offers access to a portfolio of 200 of the top solutions providers for all of these services, including Vigilant and transmosisONE. They take the time to learn about the needs of your business to ensure that you’ll be working with the best solution providers possible.
Cloud computing offers a wide range of new opportunities and benefits for businesses of all kinds, and it’s no wonder why so many have been scrambling to migrate to it in favor of on-site hardware. And while cloud computing also requires an increased cybersecurity and data protection level, Liftoff IT is here to ensure that you have everything needed to keep your business safe. They are also ready and willing to help you prepare for handling any of the online threats you may end up facing. Please take the time to consider reaching out for a free consultation to learn about their team of subject matter experts and the quality services they offer.
Are you looking for a team of subject matter experts to support and protect your business through superior cyber-security and IT support? Take a look at the services offered by Liftoff IT today to learn more about everything they can do for you.