Introduction
Cloud services have many benefits like scalable
workloads, cost-effectiveness, collaboration efficiency, convenience, access to
automatic updates and others. However, since the cloud's very nature is of a
collective resource, identity management, confidentiality and access control
are of particular concern. All of these three factors point in a single major
direction – Cloud Security.
Two concepts
are of clear importance when we talk about Cloud
Security: The first is the Security of a Cloud and the second is Security in
A Cloud. Both of these are mutually exclusive concepts and should not be
confused with each other. Whenever one wants to opt for a cloud service, he or
she should check on both these aspects to make sure that they are opting for a
cloud or a cloud service which has
all its corners covered.
Security in The Cloud
According to
Tech Target, cloud computing security is a set of control-based technologies
and policies designed to adhere to regulatory compliance rules and protect
information, data applications and infrastructure associated with cloud computing use. This
essentially comprises of Security in The Cloud which is protected by multiple
layers of restrictions in the form of Cloud Application Security Brokers, Web
Application Firewall, policy management, directory services, multi-factor
authentication, encryption, etc. While cloud
service providers will look into the safety of how and where your data is
stored and who has access to that data, there also several third party
auditors. They attest that your CSP’s internal process exists and that they are
effective in handling the safety of their facility where your data has been
stored.
Thus, while
you check how secure your cloud is with its internal best practices, it is also
important to go for a CSP that has certain certifications and compliances in
place like PCI DSS, HIPAA, Gov. Cloud, geo-privacy and others. The
documentations you should look for also depend on what kind of business or company
you are. For example, The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI
DSS) is an information security standard for organizations that accept,
process, store or transmit credit card information. If your clouds have been
certified with PCI DSS, it means that all your important card numbers are
completely safe with them. Similarly, there are certifications that are concept
neutral and overall define the operational capabilities of your cloud. The CMMI
Level 3 certificate proves that the CSP
has detailed process that guides the product lifecycle from its conception
throughout to its delivery and maintenance.
Security of A Cloud
Coming to
Security of a Cloud that forms a crucial part of the data security story. It
means that data must maintain its integrity under attack. There will always be
a time when your data in cloud come in evil hands. The possibility of this is
higher in traditional IT systems since not all companies that use IT can follow
super-standard security rules having layers over layers of security funds in
place.
Now in a
cloud paradigm, recovery of your data is as important as its safe storage.
Effective cloud disaster recovery provides continuity for services and the ability
to fail over to a second site if there is a hardware or software failure of IT
systems. In such cases, Service Levels Agreements are of utmost importance
since they help in holding the CSP responsible for any data outage or if data
cannot be recovered during a disaster. Here, compliances in the form of uptime
guarantee, recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives can form a
cloud SLA. These too should be kept in mind while deploying your IT
infrastructure on cloud.
Conclusion
These are
some parameters of judging a cloud’s security capability. Cloud companies like AWS, Azure, ESDS and others have a plethora of certifications that establish
their stronghold in its cloud service
and security. Checking the various use cases and case studies of companies
where it has dealt with challenging security concerns helps in arriving at a
decision on selecting a cloud with best in-class security features.
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