Finally, the truth is out that the data stored in cloud storage platforms are more exposed to cyber attacks than the data stored in the server farms of organizations. Well, this was discovered in the latest survey made by McAfee.
McAfee report divulges that the data stored in a cloud, SaaS collaboration and PaaS/IaaS platforms are prone to configuration mistakes which can expose data to cyber crooks. The conclusion was made after analyzing billions of events in various cloud deployments.
The American security software company says that in today’s world nearly 1/4th of the data stored in the cloud can be classified as sensitive, which could put an organization into risk- if in case the data gets stolen or leaked.
Researchers discovered that Cloud providers only secure the cloud platform, not the customer data. Thus, the onus of protecting the data falls completely on the customers using it, says the report.
However, a source anonymously reporting from Amazon Cloud says that Cloud Service Providers(CSPs) do their job well of protecting the entire platform. The source adds that CSPs also indulge in the work of protecting their customer data against cyber threats across the spectrum of SaaS, IaaS and PaaS platforms.
However, some security errors creep in when customers do accidental/uncontrolled sharing, become prone to collaboration errors in SaaS cloud services and commit other mistakes when on IaaS/PaaS cloud platforms.
So, what’s the solution?
In order to get ahead of compromised accounts, organizations should understand how cloud services are being used by them. They can do it by tracking down anomalous behavior, such as when the same user accesses an account from two different locations which could mean an account getting compromised or Insider threat.
Furthermore, as soon as a business gets a visibility of what type of data is being stored by them on cloud storage platforms, how file-sharing is being done, and what apps are being collaborated they can ensure that appropriate security measures are put in place to secure the stored info to the core.
From then on, it is simple to apply access controls on the data, both from external access and from possible insider threats and stolen accounts.
Isn’t that easy to say than to implement….?
