Remote Support
19 Feb Top 5 Security Considerations when Migrating to the Cloud
As with the physical locks and security implementations to your business, your IT security is incredibly vital and needs to be considered in any part of your organisation — especially when moving to the cloud.
After all, whilst the cloud hosts a bunch of benefits for any forward-thinking company, you’ll still need to consider the security implications of making the jump.
In this article, we’re going to go over five considerations that you should make when migrating your IT systems to the cloud, all of which will help you reinforce your organisation’s security and help keep your data safe.
Security Consideration 1: Data Encryption
Data encryption is a security process where data is cyphered when transferred in the web, jumbling it into an assortment of letters, numbers, and characters that can’t be read without a decryption key.
Encryption is built into every single aspect of modern technology — from browsers and mobile applications protected by HTTPS and passwords and data being stored in an encrypted manner to stop any attackers from intercepting data packets and getting a host of possibly destructive data.
Your data is one of your most valuable assets, and encrypting it is the last bastion of defence to ensure that even if anyone does gain access to it, the information cannot be deciphered. After all, this could spell disaster for your whole organisation — and you do not want to risk it.
By using a modern encryption system, nobody without the encryption key will be able to access said data, meaning that it essentially becomes unusable even in the event of a breach or attack. This means that in the worst case, you won’t end up in a situation where your most sensitive data is leaked or utilised to harm you or your customers.
Security Consideration 2: Access Control
Much like any modern business that uses lanyards and keys to stop unauthorised access to your organisation, access control tools protect your organisation from anyone trying to use your IT systems and access data without the proper authorisation.
Firstly, it’s important to make sure that employees and stakeholders only have access to the files and applications they need. This is known as the principle of least privilege and will ensure that everyone only has access to the data that they need — to prevent any internal or external access to unauthorised data. It’s all to common for businesses to give all employees blanket access to the entire organisation’s files. This increases the risk of an insider attack, where someone who has genuine access to your systems may leak or tamper with data.
Access control can help mitigate other attacks such as social engineering or phishing. By utilising access control tools (along with multi-factor authentication), you can limit the damage an attacker may be able to inflict if get access to someone’s user account.
Security Consideration 3: Compliance
Compliance is essential in the modern world, with regulators cracking down on businesses that flaunt compliance rules. With this, ensuring that you stay compliant and that you have no reason for regulators to take action against you is important.
However, compliance also offers an opportunity for you to secure your organisation effectively. Part of the reason that compliance regulations exist is because they essentially enforce the standards that your organisation needs to meet, for the benefit of your customers, community, and those employed within your organisation.
By following compliance regulations, you’ll be able to ensure that your organisation is secure and you’re not letting any aspect of your business down.
Security Consideration 4: Backup and Recovery
In the event of a disaster, the procedure for what happens next is just as important as the preventative measures in place to stop said disaster. After all, sometimes things just slip under the cracks or new attacks that haven’t been prepared yet happen — and you need to be prepared.
Backups and disaster recovery plans will help you ensure that you can get your business back up and running in the event of a disaster. Both of these are vital, as backups ensure that you can have alternative access to your critical data in the event of it not being accessible through a disaster, and a disaster recovery plan will make sure that you have a path forward back to full functionality.
Security Consideration 5: Monitoring
Monitoring is important to ensure that you’re keeping an eye on anything suspicious within your organisation.
By keeping track of everything within your organisation and monitoring it effectively, you can have a holistic view of everything that is happening and stamp out any malicious activity before it can hurt you.
Cloud platforms like Microsoft 365 have a bunch of monitoring tools built in. This will let you stay ahead of any attackers and be prepared for any potential threats and actions that you may need to take.
There are different types of monitoring and detection tools that can be used, such as continuous monitoring solutions and intrusion detection solutions, all of which will be able to alert you in the event of any malicious activity.
Furthermore, the use of AI in these tools makes them even more effective at being able to monitor, analyse, and predict attacks before they even occur, and can truly protect your organisation against more powerful attacks that otherwise may fly under the radar to other detection methods.
Final Thoughts
Your organisation’s security is incredibly important, and taking steps to ensure that your IT security implementation is solid will go a long way in protecting your organisation in the future.
These steps are the five most important considerations for your organisation to make regarding security and are practically essential for any modern business.
If you’re looking to get started in improving your organisation’s security but need a helping hand along the way, contact us today. Our experts will be able to guide you through the process and provide you with the support that your organisation needs.
