There are a number of compelling reasons to store your data on the cloud. Absolute security is not one of them.
Cloud security risks are unfortunately all too common. The more worrisome news is that they are increasing your after year. According to one analysis, container software vulnerabilities increased 46% between January and June 2019 compared to the same six-month window of the previous year. The figure is even more daunting when you compare it to the number of security vulnerabilities from 2017. They increased by a stunning 240% during that time interval.
Take the Proper Steps to Secure Data on the Cloud
If you are trying to protect data on the cloud, then you need to take a number of steps to protect it. One of the benefits of the cloud is versatility, which makes it easier to implement proper measures.
Some of the most important cloud security measures are summarized below. You should follow them carefully to deter hackers from stealing your data.
Create local backups of all data
You always want to make sure that your data is backed up properly. You never know what could happen to it.
Less experienced cloud strategists plan on using other cloud resources to back up all data. The problem is that the same security vulnerabilities that affect one cloud server could affect others.
This is why it is a good idea to make sure that data is backed up locally. You should have plenty of external storage devices available to store your data. You can also use colocation cloud services as an alternative. Your data storage needs will vary according to the growth of your data volume.
Choose unique and randomized passwords
It is unbelievable how careless people still are when it comes to choosing passwords. An article was recently published on the most common passwords. They include the following:
- 123456
- qwerty
- Password (yes, really)
- 12345
It goes without saying that these passwords are notoriously unsecure. Any cybercriminal worth his salt will try using them with a password cracker before they try anything else.
Unfortunately, even far less obvious passwords are pretty easy to crack. Any password with under eight characters can be cracked relatively easily. They can be cracked even more easily if they have words that are in the dictionary, even if they are combined with letters and special characters.
The safest option is to use a random character generator to create passwords. These passwords are virtually impossible to guess. Hackers would need to either break the encryption or use a very powerful password cracker application, which makes their job much more difficult.
Reconsider storing any sensitive information on the cloud
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last decade, you have noticed that countless organizations have fallen victim to cyber-attacks. Even major financial companies and technology giants like Yahoo have fallen victim to rogue hackers. If these companies can be hacked, then your organization can be as well.
Your data might be even less secure on the cloud, even if you take stringent measures. What is your best option? You should avoid storing any incredibly sensitive data on the cloud. You can still store a lot of information, but it is best not to store financial data, employee addresses or other very delicate information.
Make sure your cloud server is well encrypted
There are a lot of things that you can do to make your data on the cloud more secure. However, one of the most important things by far is to make sure your data is properly encrypted.
The 256-bit encryption is theoretically be strongest. However, you might not necessarily need to use encryption that is that robust. Keep in mind that there has never been a case of a 128-bit encryption being cracked successfully. You should at least make sure that you have 128-bit encryption to protect your data on the cloud. If the encryption levels are 64 bit or lower, then it might be cracked a lot easier.
Cloud Security Must Be a Top Priority
There are a lot of steps that you need to take when you are storing data on the cloud. It critical to make sure that your data is adequately secured. This will make it easier to protect against potential security breaches.
