Introduction
The cloud is the new normal, but it’s also a bigger target. There are many ways your company could be attacked and compromised. Whether that’s by an internal employee or an outside attacker. Cloud security can be complex. But if you have the right skills and know-how, you’ll be able to prevent attacks and protect your data. Here’s how:
Cloud security is a big industry.
The cloud market alone is expected to grow from $20 billion in 2017. To $70 billion by 2022, according to Gartner. And as we move toward more and more use cases for the cloud—from consumer products like Amazon’s Echo speaker. Or enterprise applications such as Salesforce’s Einstein AI platform—the need for secure cloud services will only grow.
The good news is that there are plenty of companies out there working on solving these problems. IBM has its Watson AI system; Cisco Systems’ Talos group has invested heavily in cybersecurity research. And Microsoft has its Azure Security Center (formerly known as Azure Threat Intelligence Center). But what skills do you need?
Cloud security skills are different than traditional IT skills.
Cloud security is a new field, and it’s important to keep in mind that cloud security skills are different than traditional IT skills. As a result, you’ll need to have an understanding of how your organization’s architecture works. Including its data centers, servers, and applications—as well as its security practices.
You should also be familiar with tools like network monitoring tools. That can help you identify potential vulnerabilities in the server infrastructure. Or application environments before they become problems for your business. You don’t want to be caught off guard by something like a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) when you least expect it!
Cloud security is about covering all the bases.
- You need to be aware of what your cloud provider like Cisco Umbrella Winnipeg is doing, including the security measures they take and how well those measures are implemented. This includes knowing what privileges each user has on their account, as well as which files or applications can be accessed remotely by them or other users (e.g., a power user might have access only during business hours).
- You need to know which employees within your organization have access to different systems or data sets—and if any of them have been granted special permissions that aren’t required by standard operating procedures (SOPs). For example, some companies allow salespeople who handle customer information full access when they’re working with customers in person. Others require this level of control only when interacting over email or even phone calls with customers—and still others prohibit all remote access altogether unless explicitly authorized by management approval first thing Monday morning every week following one’s last paycheck being deposited into account number 1234567890
Cloud security permeates every part of your organization.
This cloud security permeates every part of your organization, from human resources and finance to operations and technology. It’s not just about the cloud provider—it’s about you.
In fact, even if you don’t use public clouds or software as a service (SaaS), your company needs to be aware of how they can help make sure that your data is secure at all times outside an always-on connection to the internet.
You need to be able to build and maintain networks, but also work with vendors and third parties.
In a cloud environment, you are not responsible for the network. You must be able to build and maintain networks and work with vendors and third parties. You need to understand how to manage your organization’s data centers, including those owned by other companies or organizations such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Your cloud infrastructure is at risk, so you need to be ready for that
You need to know how to build and manage your cloud infrastructure, but also how to work with vendors and third parties. You need to be able to secure your cloud infrastructure, but also know how to manage it. And finally, you should have the proper tools on hand for each task at hand: network security monitoring systems; intrusion detection systems (IDS); honeypots; firewalls; IDS/IPSs; load balancers…the list goes on!
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Conclusion
If you’re a small business owner or an IT professional, it is important to have a good handle on what cloud security really means. You need to keep up with all of the changes that are happening in this space and do your best to stay ahead of them. Cloud security isn’t something you can just ignore or hope that everything will go away if you don’t pay attention. It can be complicated, but it also opens up many opportunities for businesses that want their data secure from harm!
