In the age of Big Data, organisations are generating, collecting and storing vast amounts of information every second, ranging from highly sensitive data to less sensitive data. At the same time, organisations are adopting cloud services that enable them to achieve greater workforce agility.

Thus the traditional security network perimeter is rapidly disappearing and security teams are realising that they need to rethink current and past approaches to securing cloud data.

With data and applications no longer residing in a secure data centre and hybrid working becoming the (somewhat) norm, organisations must address how to protect data and manage access to that data as it moves across and through multiple environments.

What are the challenges of securing data in the cloud?

As more data and applications move out of a central data center and away from traditional security mechanisms, the risk of data exposure increases. While many of the fundamental elements of on-premises data security remain, they need to be adapted for the cloud. Below we highlight common challenges that organisations need to deal with when it comes to data protection and hybrid working.

Lack of Visibility: As shocking as it may be, many organisations lack the knowledge and awareness of where all their data and applications reside and what assets are actually in their inventory.

Less Control: Often enough, data and applications are hosted on third party infrastructures meaning that organisations have less control over what and how their data is being accessed and shared.

Inconsistent Coverage: Many organisations find that multi-cloud and hybrid cloud better meet their business needs but the issue becomes that different provider offer different levels of coverage and capabilities. This easily leads to inconsistent data protection.

Stringent Compliance Requirements: Organisations are under pressure to comply with stringent data protection and privacy regulations, which require them to enforce security policies across multiple environments and demonstrate strong data governance.

Distributed Data Storage: Storing data on international servers can provide lower latency and greater flexibility. However, it can also raise data sovereignty issues that might not be an issue if you were operating in your own data centre.

Cybersecurity Threats: Its no secret that cloud databases and cloud data storage are prime targets for cyber attacks. This is especially true as organisations continue to learn how to handle and manage data in the cloud.

---

---

So, how can organisation overcome these challenges and take action

When trying to overcome these challenges, its good to keep in mind that cloud data security best practices follow the same guiding principles as information security and data governance:

Data confidentiality: Data can only be accessed or modified by authorised people or processes. In other words, you must ensure that your organisation’s data remains private.

Data integrity: Data is trustworthy – in other words, it is accurate, authentic and reliable. The key here is to implement policies or measures that prevent your data from being tampered with or deleted.

Data availability: While you want to prevent unauthorised access, data still needs to be available and accessible to authorised people and processes when it’s needed. You’ll need to ensure continuous uptime and keep systems, networks and devices running smoothly.

These three broad pillars represent the core concepts that form the basis of a strong, effective security infrastructure – or any organisation’s security programme. Any attack, vulnerability or other security incident is likely to violate one (or more) of these principles. Therefore, security professionals use this framework to assess the potential risk to an organisation’s information assets and overcome the challenges mentioned above. An additional step organisations can do is to ensure that their cloud solutions are compliant.

What it means to be compliant

Being compliant in the context of the cloud requires that all services and systems protect data privacy according to legal standards and regulations for data protection, data sovereignty or data localisation laws. Certain industries, such as healthcare or financial services, will also have an additional set of laws with mandatory policies and security protocols that must be followed.

That’s why it’s important to consider cloud service providers and evaluate their cloud security carefully. Reputable cloud service providers will not only strive to ensure that their services and platforms are compliant but should also be willing to work directly with you to understand and address your specific regulatory and risk management needs.

The shift to cloud computing necessitates a reevaluation of traditional security strategies.

In conclusion, securing data in the cloud era presents a multitude of challenges that organizations must navigate carefully. However, these challenges are not insurmountable. By adhering to the core principles of data confidentiality, integrity, and availability, organizations can build a robust security infrastructure. In addition, organisations must implement best practices and maintain a vigilant approach to data governance thereby enabling greater workforce agility and operational efficiency in an increasingly digital world.