In spite of the huge transformation of the digital era, many executives still worry about moving their data to the cloud. The following post emphasizes on one of the over-hyped issues of cloud computing, i.e. Security.
Migrating to the Cloud is no longer an academic decision. According to Public cloud migration survey “The public cloud is going to rise at 5% year-on-year for the next two years. While on the other hand, managed/ on-premises hosting will decrease by 2% during the same period.” Before implementing or adopting the cloud technology, one needs to understand what exactly it is and how it is beneficial?
In a layman’s language, cloud computing is computing based on the internet. In the earlier days, people would run applications or programs from software download on physical computer or server in their building. Presently, cloud computing technology allows people access to the same kind of applications without the need for downloading through the internet. For example, as soon as a user updates his Facebook status, everyone gets a notification then and there. This is due to cloud computing. There is no doubt in the fact that the technology is becoming the new normal.
Factors driving cloud adoption
Medium to large enterprises often faces hassle especially when it comes to hosting, varying departmental and corporate-wide infrastructure requirements, high traffic websites and so more. The technology can simply lead to quantifiable improvements in their businesses
- Fresh software – By using SaaS, the latest version of applications can be available in the market right after its release. Immediate upgrades make workers more and more productive.
- Less is more – Many software development companies revealed that cloud computing can successfully reduce the size of companies own data centers or eliminate their data center footprint altogether.
- Flexible costs – Cost of the technology is quite flexible than traditional methods. Companies simply need to pay for the server and infrastructure capacity as when it is needed.
- Available 24*7 – The connection is always on which makes cloud providers extremely reliable. As long as workers have a strong internet connection, they can get to the applications they need anytime/anywhere.
- Improved collaboration – With the rise in cloud applications, collaboration has been improved to a great extent. More and more dispersed groups of people tend to meet virtually and are capable enough to share information in real time and via shared storage.
In the age of cyber-attacks and online security threats, user privacy and data security have become the major concerns across IT infrastructure. As the cloud computing market continues to mature, different voices with opinions emerge. And it’s not surprising at all, that the technology has so many myths attached. Hence, it is important to dispel some of the most pernicious cloud security myths.
Myth #1 Data is less secured when stored in the cloud
Security is one of the prime concerns for companies of all sizes. The rise in cyber-crime has successfully made several companies believe in the misconception that data is more secure when it’s on-premises. As a result, they need to manually deliver each patch and security update and make sure that any unauthorized access isn’t gained.
On the contrary, Cloud computing does the patching and security monitoring for you. Moreover, transferring data storage to cloud better secures company data by reducing stress on internal IT departments. This doesn’t account for potential natural disasters such as earthquake, fires, and floods that may strike a company. Which means if the data center is hit by earthquake nothing happens to the information stored on-premises.
It may quite interest you to know that around, 69% of organizations are relying on cloud-based cyber security to reduce risk and create better security.
Myth #2 Data can’t be controlled, once stored in cloud
Although this is a justifiable concern regarding the geographical storage location of data, you are still in control of where your data travels. In addition to this, Software developers often suggest connecting with providers to know where the data lives or travels and how it is protected in both ways at rest and in transit.
Myth #3 Cloud tenants can easily spy on each other
A public cloud comprises of multiple tenants share processing, storage, and other computing services within a cloud service provider’s data centers. It might make you think that it’s easy for one tenant to steal another tenant’s data due to the concept of shared resources but in actual it’s not. On the contrary, virtualization provides a strong partition between tenants which makes them effectively isolated from each other.
Myth #4 Cloud security is too difficult to maintain
Facing difficulty while maintaining the cloud is one of the most common myth. And as a result, more and more companies compromise security in the name of business requirements or refrain from using the cloud for critical applications. However, the basic level monitoring security on the cloud us no different from maintaining security on LAN. Chances are there you may require dealing with terms such as SQL injections or DDoS attacks, firewalls but it’s all worth the effort. At last, you will be relieved in terms of security.
Myth #5 Cloud still run on Machines
The development of Virtualization has given rise to get more efficiency and effectiveness from servers while VMs still depend on physical resources. Like it or not, unless you haven’t built your own data centers and your own private clouds, you have to trust someone to take care of your confidential data.
In a nutshell
Fears in regards to cloud computing technology are largely based on myths. And putting them aside will automatically enable you to see an array of advantages such as lower cost, smarter resource usage, expanded capacity, etc. Always remember, advancement in technology is a new game where a large number of immature and suspicious players are emerging all the time. So, play wisely!
So this is it for now! Keep watching the space to know more regarding the same.
dhrumit-shukla