Store Sensitive Business Data Securely in the Cloud

Advances in technology have allowed small businesses to become more efficient — and more profitable — by keeping data in the cloud. Whether you’re running resource-intensive applications or simply storing files for internal use, cloud-based systems can make accessing and backing up critical business information easier and more secure. That said, it’s a mistake to assume cloud storage automatically ensures robust security for highly sensitive data. And with most small businesses using one or more cloud services, leaders have a responsibility to learn about and mitigate the associated risks.

Small Business and the Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform — known as the Big 3 — dominate the cloud services landscape for small businesses, but they’re far from the only games in town. In many cases, businesses are using multiple types of cloud storage services.

Cloud storage offers ample benefits that are appealing to small businesses. It saves money by eliminating the expense of running and monitoring in-house servers. It’s infinitely scalable — your business will never outgrow the cloud’s capacity — and can boost resilience too, keeping your data out of harm’s way when fires, floods, or criminal acts damage offices and equipment. Plus, with your data stored in the cloud instead of a local computer, teams can collaborate easily and work from anywhere they have internet access.

Another important benefit is the potential to achieve significant security upgrades over local storage, with secure data centers and advanced features to help you keep bad actors away from sensitive data.

However, simply putting data in the cloud isn’t a guarantee of safety; security in the cloud hinges on implementing and adhering to the latest strategies for cloud-enabled systems and environments.

Cloud Security Controls

Cloud security starts with basic data access controls and best practices for IT. Some of the most important controls include:

• Limited access — Grant permission to access business data on an as-needed basis, and revoke permissions for users who no longer need it or have left the company.
• Multifactor authentication (MFA) — Make MFA mandatory for all users anywhere it’s available to control data access more effectively.
• Password hygiene — Require strong, unique passwords and disable passwords for those who have left the organization or no longer need system access.
• Strong encryption — Choose end-to-end or client-side encryption to keep data secure both in storage and in transit.

AWS features server-side encryption with customer-provided keys (SSE-C) — an example of client-side encryption. It means that the provider doesn’t store or have access to the encryption keys, which helps keep unauthorized users from accessing stored data. But SSE-C and similar security features are still vulnerable to cybercriminals, and hackers have learned how to use these legitimate encryption mechanisms to execute cloud-native ransomware attacks.

An approach to security called Zero Trust offers businesses a powerful way to reduce risk by eliminating the old “trust but verify” mindset. Instead, every user, device, and application must continuously prove it has the right to access specific resources, which helps block attackers even if they manage to steal a password or breach the network perimeter. By enforcing least-privilege access, segmenting systems, and monitoring activity in real time, Zero Trust limits the damage a single compromise can cause while improving visibility and control across cloud environments.

Ransomware in the Cloud

Ransomware attacks are very common today; learning how to mitigate the damage before an attack happens can represent the difference between an annoying event and one that’s devastating for your business. It’s important to understand what you can do to keep cloud data secure — and what you’re responsible for — versus security measures that your cloud provider will take on your behalf.

Personal cloud storage services like iCloud, Dropbox, and Google Drive enable object versioning by default, making it easy to recover files that are lost or damaged. That’s not necessarily the case with the Big 3 cloud providers that so many small businesses rely on.

In fact, AWS, Azure Storage, and Google Cloud Storage do not enable file recovery services by default. If ransomware locks you out of one of these providers’ systems, you’ll have no way to access the information stored there unless other backups exist.

Be sure you understand the features and controls your cloud data storage provider offers, and learn how to achieve the level of data security you need. Backups, object versioning, and object locking are all features that can help you ensure data integrity and availability.

They come at a cost, though, so you’ll need to conduct cost-benefit analysis and decide which features are a wise investment for your business. You’ll also want to plan how you’ll create backups external to the cloud, with rules specifying which files, how often, and how to safely store these backups.

Cloud Security Strategies

Cloud service providers have varying cloud architectures and different security features — everything from single sign-on and MFA to AI-driven pattern analysis and advance threat detection technologies. Learning how to lock down these environments is a significant undertaking, since each service will require a unique approach and set of security methods.

Make sure your IT teams recognize the responsibility to secure cloud data and have the resources to delve into appropriate security tactics for each cloud provider your business uses. But, like strong encryption, some best practices are more universal. These platform-independent strategies can help you manage cloud-based cyber-risks.

Identity and access management (IAM): Closely manage digital identities using your provider’s IAM features to fine-tune and monitor user access to organizational resources.

Data classification: Sort data into categories based on level of sensitivity. This can help make your IAM efforts more effective.

Configuration and APIs: Keep hackers at bay by confirming proper configuration of your cloud services and verifying that all application programming interfaces (APIs) are secure.

Life cycle policies: Establish clear protocols to securely govern the full life cycle of all data your business collects and creates, including inception, retention, use, and disposal.

Monitoring and auditing: Continuously monitor and log data access and use, auditing access logs frequently so you can detect and quickly respond to any suspicious activities. Integration of security information and event management (SIEM) with security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) allows for real-time alerts and automated responses.

Automation: Automate regular data backups and recovery processes for extra confidence that your business has continuous data protection.

Regulatory compliance: Maintain awareness of the latest best practices and security compliance requirements to help you understand and manage emerging threats.

Threat assessments: Detectnew risks and unaddressed vulnerabilities with regular cloud threat reports.

Training and awareness: Provide regular training and review sessions to ensure team-wide understanding and compliance with your organization’s data security and life cycle policies.

Cloud-native defense tools: AWS GuardDuty, Azure Security Center, and Google Security Command Center (SCC) are offerings from cloud providers that can enhance the ability to monitor security events.

Future-proof Your Company’s Cloud Security

In today’s information-intensive business environment, you can’t afford the loss of your data — or the damage to your reputation that can accompany a significant data breach. Contact the cybersecurity professionals at CRI to discuss strategies to safeguard your data, whether it’s in the cloud or anywhere else.