Cloud Security Best Practices

Check Out the Cloud Security Best Practices of 2023

Are you struggling with ensuring the best practices of cloud security? Cloud security is a well-defined set of technologies, procedures, protocols, policies, systems and software applications that ensure a high level of protection and information safety for all users. According to the Thales Cloud Security Study 2023, 39% of businesses have witnessed a data breach in 2022, compared to 34% in the year 2021.

With the increasing dependence on cloud computing, strengthening cloud infrastructure is highly important. In this article, we will closely examine the top 5 best practices that you can follow to ensure a robust cloud system.

Why is Cloud Security important?

• Technological advancements have led to increased in cloud technology adoption, and so data breaches and cyber threats are natural. Whether it is banks, hospitals or educational institutions – organisers need to prevent unintended information leaks and illegal data exchanges.
•  By following the cloud security guidelines and implementing proper tools, companies can keep their data safe, prevent sudden attacks and ensure uninterrupted business operations.
• To make your digital transformation journey successful, you must shift from the age-old security solutions and embrace new approaches, evolving into a mature company.
• From addressing security threats to ensuring minimal data manipulation – implementation of cloud security is essential for a smooth digital transition. 

List of Cloud Security Best Practices

Learn about the shared responsibility model:

When your company joins hands with a cloud service provider, you enter into a collaboration of shared responsibility. For optimal security implementation, you need to understand the various aspect of this shared responsibility. In collaboration with your partner company, you need to review the detailed matrix of shared responsibility. 

This matrix comprises several elements like application security, infrastructure, platform security, network security, etc. While following the best practices of cloud computing, make sure that there is complete transparency between you and the cloud service provider concerning the relevant controls for particular elements. 

Identify cloud risks:

Before implementing new data and tools:

1. Check the current status of your cloud security.
2. Conduct data classification to recognise sensitive data.
3. Track and monitor the accessibility of this data, including who accesses it and how it is shared.
4. Check your system usage and find out if there is any presence of unknown services in your cloud environment. 

Your Infrastructure-As-A-Service environments come with a host of critical settings. If misconfigured, these can create serious issues leading to the malfunctioning of your company systems. To avoid this, conduct regular auditing of your configurations to check encryption, access management, identity, etc.

Secure cloud environment:

When it comes to following the GCP best practices, the most significant thing is to protect your cloud environment. To do this, you need to implement various technologies. Segregate the data that is suitable for cloud storage and the data that deserves enhanced protection. Encrypt your sensitive data but use your own keys so that you can control who has access to it. 

Control your information and set limitations on data sharing. Look for unknown devices to block access. Alternatively, apply security verification for users. Safeguard all your valuable information by implementing cost-effective bot protection and advanced malware protection services. 

Handle security issues:

Unwanted security issues need strong applications in place for quick combat. To keep your systems untainted, you should be ever-ready to respond to sudden cyber-attacks and online threats. Check access scenarios with high risk. Implement multifactor authentication or additional steps of verification to ensure that users provide their true identities. 

Update your access policies automatically by integrating your cloud risk database with a secure firewall. As the final step of cloud security, scan all your files stored in the cloud. Use effective anti-malware software to run checks on all your files and stay away from undesirable data thefts. 

Train staff, develop policies.

Develop and document clear policies on access to cloud services. As per GCP policies, set clear definitions of who can access the cloud services and through which gateways. The final step is to train all employees in your organisation and conduct full-fledged employee training. 

Discuss the types of data misuse and the possibility of information theft and provide complete knowledge to your employees. Enable them to handle security issues by taking practical measures.

Final Thoughts

Apart from following the best cloud security practices, you can also partner with a cloud service provider such as GCP security services. While several solutions are providing the same services, it is important to understand what to look for while opting for the best solution. Choose an established name with a good reputation in the market. 

Find out whether the service provider has handled any serious breaches previously. Go through its security features and policies and check if it offers fully compliant services. Partnering with a trusted provider can help you build the best security protocols and improve the standard of your security deployment.