Those organizations who are reluctant to fully adopt a cloud strategy generally cite compliance as their main concern. However, obtaining a comprehensive understanding of how compliance can be achieved is the key to moving forward with a business strategy that will add flexibility, affordability and growth. Even as the regulatory environment continues to shirt and evolve, cloud security and compliance can be a reality for your business.
Cloud Security Challenges
When addressing compliance, security cannot be ignored. The controls which are required to achieve compliance are often established as you look to bolster your security operations. How you address security challenges will impact the success of your compliance strategy, whether in your own onsite network or in the cloud.
- Operational consistency: Inconsistent operations torpedo productivity and make you inefficient. The more successfully you standardize daily operations, the better off your operation will be. When moving your business to the cloud, the most effective security and compliance functions that you have established on-site should be applied to your cloud services strategy. The better the consistency of your operations, the more easily you can respond to audits and shore up your security.
- Advanced threat assessment: Cyber threats come at you in a constant, never-ending stream of criminality. They become more sophisticated every day, intent on getting their hands on your organization’s data. Cyber criminals have many methods to attack your network systems and IT infrastructure. As mobile and remote workforces become more prevalent, your network has become more accessible to bad actors, through insecure networks you do not control. As we have discussed, ransomware is often their weapon of choice, representing a $1 billion-a-year industry for them.
- Visibility of information: Until recent years, data resided in the data center, but times have changed. From mobile devices to the use of cloud-based applications, vital corporate information is more widespread than ever before. Additional regulatory requirements regarding data residency are in place, but understanding your overall data is becoming challenging.
Cloud Compliance and Risk
While auditing compliance protocols are beneficial on many fronts, audits also allow businesses to measure fourth-party risk.
What is fourth party risk? Every company outsources parts of its operations to multiple suppliers. Those suppliers, in turn, outsource their operations to other suppliers. This is fourth party risk. The risk to your company posed by suppliers’ suppliers. (Source: Upguard)
Those who are utilizing cloud services rightfully have an expectation that their primary providers follow general and industry-specific compliance protocols and frameworks. As clients evaluate cloud service providers, it is essential to understand and identify who is responsible for securing which part of the cloud along the process. The responsibility roles can be broken down in the following way.
- Customers: Implement security in the cloud application.
- SaaS providers: Implement security in the cloud
- Cloud service providers: Guarantee the security of the cloud.
For organizations that are conditioned to operate in the traditional manner – with all data onsite – cloud operations represent a change in mindset. The security of their data and compliance with all regulations was once completely under their purview. However, as cloud service offerings are introduced into the business model, they must take into consideration the reality of shared responsibility.
Alliance IT can help your organization to move data to the cloud, making your company more agile and productive. We understand the nuances of cloud security and compliance and are here to help you to understand the process and make the move forward. Call us today to learn more.
