There is a misconception that the cloud service provider must provide all the necessary security systems to secure the cloud environment.
Cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google take care of the security systems of their physical data centres and the server hardware on which the virtual machines run but leave the individual customer in charge of protecting the devices and applications.
Cloud Security System:
Information protection is a topic of great relevance in the digital age, and the secure use of cloud storage services has become a significant challenge.
Voices are continually raised that the data stored in the cloud cannot be secure under any circumstances, which often causes the most cautious individual users to avoid these online solutions.
However, the private sector is not the only one that worries about security in the cloud. In the business sector, these services are also used to store a large volume of private data and confidential information related to the company.
Cloud providers offer a variety of security systems and tools to secure customer workloads, but the administrator has to implement the necessary defences. It doesn’t matter what kind of security defences the cloud provider has if the customers don’t, and they must protect their networks, users and applications.
Despite rumours about the security risks involved in storing information in the cloud, the volume of data deposited there is continually increasing, as these systems are frequently used.
On the one hand, individuals use them for the convenience of being able to access all stored data from anywhere and even create backup copies of their hard drives and save them in these online systems.
On the other hand, companies find the cloud a beneficial tool to maintain a better connection between different employees and thus increase the efficiency of work processes.
In addition, its use reduces costs since cloud hosting resources can be increased as required, requiring less on-site infrastructure.
Variety of Cloud Security Systems and Tools
1. Know what you are responsible for
Not all cloud services are created equal, and the level of responsibility varies. Software as a service (SaaS) providers will ensure that your applications are protected, and that data is transmitted and stored securely, but that is rarely the case with cloud infrastructure.
For example, the organization has full responsibility for AWS Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon EBS, and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) instances, including operating system configuration, application management, and data protection.
2. Control who has access
Many databases in the public cloud are open to the Internet. Most of the resources in public cloud environments do not restrict outgoing traffic. Even a percentage of cloud workloads accept traffic from any IP address on any port.
The Verizon data breach from July this year occurred because configured its s3 storage configured its S3 storage to allow external access. Unfortunately, this is a common mistake. Many organizations have S3 packages that will enable anyone to access them. Many administrators mistakenly enable global permissions on their servers by using 0.0.0.0/0 on the public subnets.
3. Protect the data
Another common mistake is leaving data unencrypted in the cloud. Without going any further, the United States exposed their voter information, and sensitive Pentagon files revealed their voter information and sensitive Pentagon files because they did not encrypt the data, and the servers were accessible to unauthorized third parties.
Storing confidential data in the cloud without implementing the proper controls to prevent server access and protect data is irresponsible and dangerous. Encryption is safe against failures: even if the configuration of some security systems fails and the data falls into the hands of an unauthorized party, they cannot use the data.
Over and over again, we hear that there is no such thing as a 100% secure cloud, but what exactly are the dangers that threaten it? An incomplete answer would refer to the many problems in using cloud services safely: along with the loss of information caused by provider insolvency, technical breakdowns or account blocking.
There is also the risk that an unwanted third party can access the data without authorization. The question then is: who are these third parties, and why do they interest in this information.
