The rate at which companies adopted cloud-based solutions was astounding. Any organization looking to meet growth, productivity, and efficiency goals has found the cloud to be a valuable tool. With so much data in the cloud, users must be aware of the security risks before making the migration.

The threats are real and have taken a toll on the companies that have been breached. Millions of dollars are at stake when a major breach occurs. Worse yet, a breach can result in losing valuable loyalty of customers who have been affected. 

In response to the uptick in companies becoming breached in the United Kingdom, regulations have sprung up, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is probably one of the more significant pieces of legislation to come out. It outlines how personal data is to be stored, setting time limits on how long it can be stored. It also addresses how companies are to handle notifying individuals when data has been breached. 

In the U.S., the health care industry falls under the purview of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which is designed to provide privacy standards to protect patients. If data is compromised, the fines are brutal. However, it seems that the consequences of a data breach on private (non-health care) companies are regulations unto themselves, which means security teams are constantly fighting to stay a step ahead of cyber criminals. 

Addressing Security Concerns

A clear first step for many security teams planning on placing data in the cloud is to classify data assets. This will help you rate the sensitivity of your data and how it should be stored, migrated, etc. This not only helps to determine the level of control you will need in your network, but it will also help you with confidentiality issues.

Next, look at who has access to your data. Does everyone in your company have a gateway to the most sensitive documents? When you classify your data assets, you should restructure who has access to each data set so only a select few have access to sensitive data.

What tools are you using to monitor traffic? This is a prominent piece of every good security strategy. Monitoring and auditing activity gives you insights that can help you flag suspicious behavior and stop a threat before it does real damage.

At eXemplify, we have a strict standard for how we assist our clients with their security needs. If you’ve got data in the cloud, we’ve got solutions that will help you refrain from being an organization with a damaged or tarnished reputation due to a security incident. Contact us and let’s discuss our process.