Several steps are taken to secure a cloud service. The servers containing the data are placed in data warehouses that most employees don’t have access to. Files that are stored on cloud servers are also encrypted, making it harder for cyber criminals to access the data. Cloud providers also frequently run quality assurance tests and employ AI technology to identify possible vulnerabilities and bugs. Firewalls and redundancy are also built-in to ensure high security standards.

Cloud services are better than on-premise solutions. This is simply down to how the cloud operates and more importantly, how it is managed.

Cloud providers ensure that their systems are always updated with the latest security measures, meaning that your data is protected at all times. Using the cloud also means you avoid having to set up traditional servers, which come with their own array of technical challenges.

With a steady rise in the number of malicious acts and more sophisticated attempts, it’s becoming increasingly important to focus on cyber security. Cloud security provides a “belt and braces” approach to defending a company’s information assets. The cloud is a primary target for attacks because of its high value and easy access via the internet. These threats include malware, advanced persistent threats (APT), ransomware, phishing attempts and social engineering schemes, among others.

Cloud Breaches - Data breaches in the cloud are often caused by native functions. A cloud-native breach is a series of actions in which actors exploit errors and vulnerabilities in a cloud deployment without using malware. Such actors “expand” their access through interfaces that are weakly configured or don’t have enough protection to find valuable data that they then export or transfer to their own data storage location. This type of attack has been known to impact even the most secure enterprises in sensitive sectors like healthcare and finance, exposing both personally identifiable information (PII) and confidential financial information (CFI).

Access - IT departments have found that employees are often unaware of the security implications of using cloud applications, and can introduce a potentially higher risk exposure than using on-premises applications. The cloud also provides your users with access to data from any internet connected computer or mobile device, so it's important to define acceptable use policies.

Misconfiguration - Configuration issues of cloud services is a problem that largely goes unnoticed by organisations. Research has shown that many companies cannot currently audit their IaaS environments for configuration errors–which may lead to misconfiguration. That makes the misconfiguration of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) an “easy” way for attackers to successfully access and export data.

Inside Threats - You are not just using the cloud to protect your data, you need to protect yourself from rogue employees. Prevent rogue employees from being able to commit a cyber security breach with the use of the cloud by ensuring that all employee access is restricted to only those who have a legitimate reason to access your internal cloud service.