Protect Your Company With These Core Elements of Data Security and Privacy

April 19th, 2022


Major data breaches have become chillingly common, and no one is immune. Even seemingly innocuous data breaches can have serious repercussions. And if the major tech titans can’t keep their data secure, who can hope to achieve absolute data protection?  

Consider the 2021 LinkedIn breach, where 70 million users had their data exposed on the dark web. LinkedIn claimed that no private PII (Personally Identifiable Information) was leaked, but any IT professional knows that the “human” element of data security is one of the most vulnerable. The leaked data was more than enough for social engineering attacks, which malicious parties can employ not only against the specific user but could also be an entry point into that user’s workplace. One attack, millions of businesses at risk. 

No one wants to be left holding the bag when a data breach occurs, which is why data security and privacy regulations are increasing all over the globe. HIPAA, SOX, GDPR, and CCPA all have defensive stances against unsecured and under-secured private data.  

Increased cloud computing has put a spotlight on compliance in the cloud, maximizing internal IT resources by putting an expert third-party security team in charge of compliance with regulations. If you haven’t considered how your cloud provider is ensuring data security and privacy, you’re behind the curve. 

RELATED: Why Customer Data Protection Should Be at the Top of Your Priority List 

Data Security in the Cloud 

The adoption of cloud-based services has been on the rise for the past few years, but the migration to the cloud is still moving at an exponential pace. Fortune Business Insights projects the cloud storage market to double approximately every three years for the next decade. The increase is due, in part, to the amount of data generated daily. With the evolution of IoT and edge device applications, the digital mountain of stored data is growing quickly. 

Data security and privacy needs to be at the forefront of many CISOs priorities, mitigating the challenges of increased security regulations and cyberattacks. Cloud migration is an efficient means of addressing those priorities, with 94% of companies believing their online security has improved by switching to cloud computing.  

Why trust cloud service providers with your data security? 

  • Security Is Their Reputation: Any cloud service provider who doesn’t take security seriously is not going to be in business very long. Because security is tantamount, they invest heavily in the best security innovations and talent to provide maximum protection. 
  • Compliance Assurance: Cloud-native security means the protection protocols are already built into your cloud provider’s services. They’ve spent the time and money to achieve compliance certification for various standards (HIPAA, PCI, SOC2, etc.), and give clients visibility on how their data is maintained in compliance. 
  • Scalability: For on-prem networks, expanding can often mean cobbling together new hardware with old, thereby leaving vulnerabilities. Cloud service providers have the capacity to scale up or down without exposing potential attack surfaces, since the hardware and security are homogeneous throughout the architecture. 
  • Threat Resilience: It’s not just cyberattacks that put your data at risk. Natural disasters, power outages, and hardware failure also leave your data vulnerable. Cloud services minimize RTOs and RPOs, protecting you from data loss no matter what the scenario. 

Cloud service providers stake it all on their ability to keep your data secure. But that doesn’t mean every provider is the same. It’s important to vet your vendor to make sure that compliance is more than just a buzzword on their homepage. 

RELATED: What You Need to Know About Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 V.6 

And this leads us to the “CIA Triad,” the basic minimum-security posture necessary for any cloud architecture you’re considering. 

Baseline Security Requirements for Cloud Computing: The CIA Triad 

The most basic threat model must address these core elements of data security: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. These elements make up the CIA Triad, a concept that’s been around since the 1970s but remains relevant, even as the way we use and think about data has dramatically evolved since that era. 

Cloud strategies need to take these elements into account, especially as remote work and the culture of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) have expanded greatly over the past few years. 

Confidentiality 

Confidentiality must be maintained so that only authorized users can access data. Definitions are set for what data is accessible, and by what entities. Data encryption is a hallmark of confidentiality, but also a strategy of “least-privilege access,” meaning as few people as possible are granted access. 

The latest in reducing over-permission is AI-based. Software that tracks user behavior can automatically create permissions for access, matching the behavior of the user. 

In addition, one of the latest pivots in confidentiality is data minimization. Instead of collecting and protecting mountains of data, organizations are seeking to reduce the amount of data to store and maintain. You only need to protect what you need to keep. If it’s just noise, let data erasure take care of it.  

Integrity 

Maintaining the integrity of your data means protecting it from unauthorized changes. Not only does this cover your organization from malicious modifications or deletions, but it also means that in the case of authorized change made in error, the original integrity of the data can still be restored. 

With active monitoring as a cloud strategy, real-time access logs tell you who is accessing the data and making alterations, and alert you to any suspicious behavior as it happens. 

Availability 

If uptime is important to your organization, then maintaining data availability is the core element that ensures the data is there when you need it. This happens to also be one of the core benefits of cloud computing. Minimize the impact of anything from natural disaster to equipment upgrades with cloud redundancies and real-time restore points. 

Cloud computing protects data available from any number of unforeseen challenges, allowing your users to carry on without so much as a blip, whether they’re in the office, at home, or any number of remote locations. 

WATCH: Bringing Your Office to Remote Work with Virtual Systems 

Improve Your Data Security With Virtual Systems’ Cloud Solutions 

Virtual Systems takes cloud security very seriously, maintaining compliance with a wide array of standards and requirements. With our deep security and threat detection, we deliver a holistic IT stack in one simple solution. 

We’re passionate about keeping up with the latest in security, and we want to make sure you are too. Be the first to know the latest from Virtual Systems by subscribing to our newsletter. Our team of cloud security experts also puts together informational videos for our channel, Talk Nerdy to Me. 

Are you ready to talk to a team that is enthusiastic about building the right infrastructure to protect your business from any vulnerability? We’re here to answer whatever questions you have, so fill out our contact form and let us know! 

References 

Sas, C. (2022, January 13). Top 50 Cloud Computing Statistics and Trends For 2022. EPC Group. Retrieved from https://www.epcgroup.net/top-50-cloud-computing-statistics-and-trends-for-2022/  

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