CLOUD COMPUTING: HOW YOUR ORGANISATION CAN AVOID BREACH

The information technology (IT) ecosystem is one of the sectors globally that is rapidly evolving. The fast paced of this ecosystem makes it imminent to always upgrade to the latest IT tools especially in the areas of storage and cybersecurity. Years ago, many organizations have what is called Server room, a lot still have it though, many have their files saved in hard disks, flashes etc. this narrative is rapidly changing. The new word today is “Cloud Computing”, this is a scenario where organizations and individual do not need to carry hardware around to either save files, operate or run programs. Cloud is one of the cheapest ways of obtaining or accessing IT services but there are drawbacks to cloud computing just as we have in hardware. The quest for digital transformation has been driving more organizations to move their data and other resources to the cloud but that doesn’t mean that Cloud is an Eldorado where breaches don’t occur!

 We saw how apple iCloud account was hacked few years ago, a testament that Cloud Computing isn’t hackproof but this report will try to address what an organization need to do to have a robust and secured cloud solution that will deter hacks and cyber breach.

What is cloud computing? According to tech giant, Microsoft Azure, it defines Cloud Computing as “Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. You typically pay only for cloud services you use, helping you lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, and scale as your business needs change”

There are numerous advantages of type of services. Advantages such as Cost; Cloud computing removes the capital expense of buying hardware and software and setting up and running on-site datacenters—the racks of servers, the round-the-clock electricity for power and cooling, and the IT experts for managing the infrastructure. Also, we have the issue of performance. the biggest cloud computing services run on a worldwide network of secure datacenters, which are regularly upgraded to the latest generation of fast and efficient computing hardware. On issue of security, cloud providers offer a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls that strengthen your security posture overall, helping protect your data, apps, and infrastructure from potential threats.

Authorization, for any organization to have a robust security, the issue of authorization is very important. An organization must be able to determine who will have access to sensitive data stored in the cloud. There must be some layers of security that must be deployed.

Encryption is, so far, the best way you can protect your data. According to Victoria Ivey, she said that “You have a file you want to move to a cloud; you use certain software with which you create a password for that file, you move that password-protected file to the cloud and no one is ever able to see the content of the file not knowing the password. The most easy and handy way is to zip files and encrypt them with a password. To that end you can use B1 Free Archiver — a free multiplatform compression tool. When creating the archive check the “Protect with a password” option, type in the password (keeping in mind the no. 3 rule) and only after that you can move it to the cloud. If you want to share it with someone, just give the password to that person. “

An organization must be serious about passwords. You do not just give it out anyhow or have simple passwords. According to research, about 90 percent of all passwords can be cracked within seconds! Use strong authentication and access controls (e.g., SSO, MFA, etc.) for both managed and unmanaged apps. Also, employ Zero Trust network access to private apps in data centers and public cloud services to reduce the exposure of apps and limit their lateral network movement.

Though, no business is completely immune to attack but there must be standard measures such as; Organization must make it mandatory to ensure that the frequency sharing of documents or data with outside parties is reduced drastically. Employees working remotely must use authorized devices to access company’s platforms such as email, website and backend.  The top management or decision-making folks must adhere to these things; Devising difficult-to-guess passwords, providing limited access, backing up sensitive files, separating personal from corporate data, implement a strong encryption plan and Keep sensitive materials out of the cloud.

Anthony Emeka Nwosu