Existing barriers must be addressed for the security of the cloud platform amongst organizations.

Cyberattacks are a major challenge encountered by organizations while moving to the cloud-platforms. Over the past few years, the industry has witnessed an accelerated adoption of cloud services. As organizations expand their businesses, storing the plethora of generated-data becomes imperative. That’s where Cloud platforms come into the picture.

Organizations and enterprises are moving from the traditional method of storing data to cloud platforms, for inherent security and easier accessibility. Cloud services are a collaborative system of cloud-providers, vendors and customers. Big tech organizations such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are leveraging the cloud services to make the prospect of data storage authentic and feasible. Three types of services are offered by cloud providers: Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Cloud services are designed to offer easy and affordable access to applications and resources without any dependency on the hardware or internal infrastructure.

As businesses are expanding their operations, they are opting out of the above-mentioned services to manage their resources. However, despite the countless security measures taken, ransomware and malware are the primary concerns thwarting the transition of businesses from traditional practices to the cloud environment. And with COVID 19, this concern has been amplified. With remote working becoming the new normal for organizations, a surge of 630% in cyberattacks is reported by McAfee labs. Another report by KPMG concludes that 92% of the leaders surveyed admit a bridge between cloud adoption and the company’s existing program. This implies that even though cloud adoption is outpacing the services and demands, cyber threats remains a pressing concern amongst organizations.

Henceforth for a secure skeleton in cloud services, the organizations must take cognizance of the inherent barriers propagating cyberattacks. This article focuses on techniques that can aid in propelling the security standards amongst organizations.

Analyzing the existing organizational infrastructure

Before switching to adopt any cloud service, the organizations must strategically plan out the focus areas and reasons for cloud adoption. This implies that organizations must observe changes and imperativeness that is demanding cloud adoption. The organizations must also comply to calculate the risk of ensuing cloud adoption. Before integrating the cloud services, the organizations must assess the areas which are prone and vulnerable to cyberattacks, ransomware, and malware. The vendors or the cloud-providers must be notified by the CSO about the security plans. Once cloud services are integrated, end-to-end secured services can be deployed in organizations. This also means that the organizations will not be burdened to provide enhanced security network and the responsibility will be shared equally between the organization and the vendor.

Additionally, organizations must also implement mobility management tools to eradicate easy access to cyber attackers and hackers. Before adopting the cloud, stricter policies must be implemented regarding the type of data that can be uploaded or shared, the sources/domains that can be emailed, and monitoring the internal infrastructure so that notorious events can be identified. By integrating a data loss prevention tool, anomalistic behavior can be thwarted.

Moreover, organizations must also take into cognizance the accessibility of employees and improving password security. By integrating the multi-factor authentication tool, the user will be able to apply both a static password and a smart card or token for logging into the network. Furthermore, only a few employees must be given access to cloud services, multiple access areas are an easy target of cyberattacks.

Also, before adopting a cloud infrastructure the organizations must always carryout a pen-test to observe whether the existing cloud service is suitable for the organization. Often there are incidents where the cloud infrastructure has discrepancy after adoption in an organization. This means easier access to hackers and cyber attackers. To avoid this, a pre-test will enable organizations about the type of measures to need to be taken for cloud adoption.

Taking advantage of Security Improvements in the Cloud

Before moving to adopt cloud applications, the organizations must compare the redundancy that can be avoided between the data center and cloud services. Automation of cloud services is another option that eliminates human involvement and in extension the risk of cyberattacks and malware. It also mitigates the communication and network breakdown, incidents of data loss, and hacking attempts.

Configuration with AI and ML

The organizations often have data-sets that are malicious and pose risk to the cybersecurity of the organization. These are not identified by organizations. By integrating AIops algorithms, it would alert the user regarding the potential trouble spot impacting operations.

Moreover, by integrating cloud-based machine learning service the user behavior can be detected.