I\u2019m sure by now that you\u2019ve heard of the cloud. Recent research has found that 59% of companies plan to use cloud services in the near future, so chances are that your organization is already developing a strategy to take advantage of everything the cloud has to offer. However, much like a traditional storage environment, the cloud comes with benefits and risks, therefore it\u2019s important to have a well-developed plan in place before making the move.<\/p>\n
First, you must define the level of risk you\u2019re willing to take with your data. Would your company suffer any consequences should a third party stumble upon it? Trade secrets, intellectual property, customer data, upcoming news announcements, and financial data would likely fall into this category. Weighing the risks associated with exposure of your information will help to determine what type of cloud environment is best and what security measures are required.<\/p>\n
There are several different cloud options available to you. There are private clouds, which is an environment exclusive to your organization and monitored by your own in-house IT team. Or there are public clouds, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform. The public cloud is utilized by many users and is monitored by the service providers\u2019 own employees. The third option is a combination of the private and public cloud, known as a hybrid cloud. It\u2019s very likely that your organization already uses some form of the cloud, through DropBox or Google Drive, and other similar websites.<\/p>\n
Depending on what form of the cloud your business wants to take advantage of, the next step is researching and partnering with a cloud service provider (CSP) that fits your needs. This may be one of the most important steps because this is when security, elasticity and other functions are discussed. Some CSPs will provide security monitoring or encryption. However, there are compliance regulations that may be relevant to your company, such as HIPAA or PCI. Or you may simply make the decision that the CSP\u2019s security standards aren\u2019t enough. If this is the case, you should enlist a third-party security vendor to add an additional layer of protection.<\/p>\n
Working with a security provider prior to transitioning your data to the cloud can help you gauge and prevent risks associated with moving the information from your current server infrastructure to the cloud. There are also solutions that can encrypt data before it leaves your environment, which will help minimize any potential risk of unauthorized viewers catching data on its way to the cloud.<\/p>\n