Understanding Cloud Compliance and Why it Matters

Cloud technology has expanded business capabilities across all industries. However, taking full advantage of the cloud means paying attention to compliance issues that can vary according to your industry and other factors. Without a stringent cloud compliance system in place, you could be making both your business and your customers vulnerable to data breaches and other security-related problems. That is why it is important to have a general understanding of cloud compliance along with a deeper understanding of what it means to your business in particular.

Essentially, cloud compliance means that any cloud-delivered system must be compliant with standards that are specific to each customer. For example, healthcare facilities have to comply with HIPAA standards, which are designed to protect the patient’s privacy. HIPAA has strict guidelines concerning how patient data is stored and shared. As a result, any cloud system will need to enact security protocols that will allow cloud systems to effectively comply with HIPAA standards.

It is important to note that compliance is often an ongoing challenge. Security threats are not static and new vulnerabilities can become exposed as technology changes and hackers look for new ways to infiltrate systems. In addition, emerging industry standards and new government regulations can require a constant reassessment of compliance issues in order to stay up-to-date.

Many companies are dealing with the challenges of cloud compliance by creating new positions or outsourcing their compliance issues to specialized companies. Chief Compliance Officers are being assigned to oversee compliance-related challenges and prevent any mistakes. At the same time, companies are looking to free up their IT team and allow them to focus on other areas of the business by hiring outside companies to deal with cloud compliance. These companies are tasked with understanding the industry and all relevant compliance standards. For industries with more complex compliance issues that are subject to change, outsourcing can be an invaluable tool.

Basics of Cloud Compliance

While the exact details of cloud compliance will vary, there are some essential keys to success that should help form any basic approach.

1. Be aware of the guidelines. First and foremost, any cloud compliance plan should be addressing the latest regulations on a local, national, and international level.
2. Implement access control policies. It is important to designate who has control over what information and put in certain protections to make sure that unauthorized users can’t access certain areas of the system. Typically, this means a multi-factor authentication process. While a single-sign-on system can be faster and more convenient, it creates unnecessary vulnerabilities.
3. Understand data storage. Data should be properly classified and stored in different areas according to the level of protection needed to adhere to cloud compliance standards.
4. Encryption. Encrypting data is an essential tool that adds another layer of protection to your most sensitive data. Even if there is a breach and an unauthorized user gains access to data, they won’t be able to do anything with the information if it is encrypted.

Common Compliance Standards

While there are a variety of compliance standards, here are some of the most common regulations that may affect your business and how you approach cloud security:

Center for Internet Security (CIS) – develops a global standards for IT system best practices.

Defense Information Systems Agence (DISA) – supports the Department of Defense organizations.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) – works to ensure businesses and customers can enjoy safe and secure credit card transactions.

Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) – regulates corporate financial disclosure regulations and requires that all financial records are reported once a year.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – oversees compliance in an effort to drive innovation and economic growth in the US.

Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) – develops standards for automated technology.

No matter what industry you are a part of or how big your business is, cloud compliance is an important issue that requires vigilance. Fortunately, there are options when it comes to ongoing compliance support. Prancer provides a cloud validation framework that can effectively test for compliance and offer solutions in an ever-changing environment. Instead of a one-time solution, you can establish a partnership with cloud validation experts who will keep you up-to-date as laws and regulations change and so that you can take full advantage of cloud technology while ensuring optimal security and compliance. Contact us today to learn more and get started.

A Basic Guide to Cloud Security

In general, the term cloud security refers to ways that the applications, data, and infrastructures are protected in cloud computing. The exact nature of cloud security, which tools are used, what protections are prioritized and other basics will vary not only according to the needs of the end-user but also according to the type of cloud environment. These are all factors that we will take a closer look at in the following post so that you can gain a better understanding of cloud security and how it affects your business.

The Main Goals of Cloud Security

Ultimately, all cloud security is designed with the same goals in mind:

1. Keep data and systems safe
2. Provide ways to view and understand the current status of security
3. Provide the ability to trace the source of events and respond quickly
4. Alert relevant parties of breaches or other unusual activity

How these goals are achieved can be impacted by the type of cloud environment.

Different Types of Cloud Environments

Public clouds pools virtual resources to provide a technology that is available to multiple users. Typically, a public cloud is managed by a third-party and provides automated features and self-service functions so that users can easily gain access. One of the big advantages of public clouds is that they are highly scalable, which is perfect for users who may experience frequent and unpredictable changes in demand.

With private clouds, everything is designed with the end-user in mind and any necessary hardware is located and managed on-premise. While all cloud environments include certain administrative controls, private clouds offer additional layers of management. This allows administrators to track use, recover data, and monitor integration. Private clouds can also make it easier to control access to different areas of the cloud.

Finally, a hybrid cloud uses both environments. For many businesses, this combination allows for a smoother transition to cloud technology. We may also see it be used more in the future as IoT devices require more computing power closer to where the actual device is housed. This trend has been dubbed “edge computing.”

Common Threats and Solutions to Cloud Security

Some businesses have been hesitant to make the switch to cloud computing because they are under the impression that cloud computing is somehow more vulnerable. While cloud security does require diligence, it is subject to many of the same problems that typical IT security faces. With the right approach, you can continue to enjoy a secure network. Here are some of the most common threats to be aware of when designing cloud security and solutions that can be implemented to minimize threats:

Access. All three types of cloud environments offer more connection than traditional models. This creates more places for traffic to penetrate defenses. Access threats can be the result of malicious users, weak credential management and deliberate account hacks.

The Solution: In order to protect access and make sure that only authorized users have access to data is to require strong passwords and a multi-step authentication process, encrypt all data and enhance security at every level of the network.

Data loss and system corruption. Oftentimes, these problems are the result of a dynamic workload that is constantly changing.

The Solution: Design a network that is flexible, scalable, agile and able to respond quickly as data is transmitted at different speeds and the workload fluctuates.

Malware and Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). These threats are deliberately designed to identify vulnerabilities in the cloud network allowing malicious parties to achieve data breaches.

The Solution: Realistically, there is no easy solution to these types of threats. Hackers will continue to try to find new ways to access data. That is why it is important to create a system that will alert administrators when there is unusual activity and allow teams to respond quickly.

Cloud computing can expand your capabilities without compromising security, but you will need to put a deliberate security plan in place. Once your cloud security has been improved, you will need to continue to monitor the system and make adjustments as devices and users are added, workloads change and new threats are identified. At Prancer, we can help you better understand your current cloud security, identify gaps and vulnerabilities, and help you improve security so that you can get the most out of your cloud computing. Contact us today with any questions and our team can help you get started.