Cloud security for the enterprise: best practices and tips

76% of consumers do not trust enterprises with their data, but consider sharing it as a ‘necessary evil,’ confirms a PwC report. And to boost the business revenue, your organization must overcome this ‘trust crisis.’

Wondering how? Well, there is a whole series of actions for you to follow.

So, let’s begin.

Cloud Security Best Practices for your enterprise

Though it is hard for SMBs and large-sized business ventures to manage and safeguard organizational and customer data while upholding transparency, there are various Cloud security best practices to counter cyber threats and prevent losses successfully.

Here is a quick list:

#1 - Carefully select your Cloud Provider & Cloud security services

Adopting Cloud for its scalability and performance? Very good, but did you ask them about their security and compliance deployments, for example -

Where do their servers actually reside? Which security protocols and recovery methods are they utilizing? How do they protect your data assets? What level of technical support is the provider willing to provide? What about the PenTests, encryption, or data-at-rest and data-in-transit? Which authentication methods are supported?

The above will not only help you gauge the efficiency of your Cloud provider but will also help you specify the scope of work for your Cloud security services provider or platform. Also, it is better to have a central security mechanism/system for the overall network.

#2 - Comprehend the shared responsibility model

If you went through the previous point carefully, you must have understood that security is a shared responsibility. So, it is better to understand the role of your Cloud Provider, Managed service provider, security platform, internal team, and your customers in the process.

Having insights about shared responsibility will help you play your part well and assess how other components of the ecosystem are doing. You can also avail of Cloud security consulting services to comprehend your organization’s Cloud infrastructure from a security perspective.

#3 - Automate Cloud Monitoring

As your Cloud might have enormous data, its manual monitoring is not a feasible plan. It is suggested that your organization automate user activities and service performance monitoring like operations. Collecting logs, enabling monitoring tools, and creating analytics reports can surely help.

#4 - Enforce Cloud security policy and follow the Industry’s Compliance

Spoiler: This point actually has 8 Cloud Security tips for your enterprise.

Every organization should create a detailed policy that could guide your internal (and external) users on how to use the Cloud and how to treat the data. Additionally, your team should figure out your industry's customer data privacy and security compliance to make sure that you adhere to the same.

And besides adhering to the above 2 practices, your business should also:

• Have a good Data Loss Prevention (DLP) mechanism. It will help you backup and recover data in case of attacks or mishappenings.
• Take all security measures for your data and devices. So, **encrypt **your channels for the data in motion as well as encrypt your Cloud storage’s data at rest.
• Add security implications for your devices and operating systems, considering BYOD (Bring-your-own-device) culture. It will help you ensure an enhanced endpoint security for your Cloud and enterprise network(s).
• **Strategize for minimizing a compromise’s impact **in advance. For example, your organization should have a way to clear compromised devices’ data from remote. It will help reduce the breach’s impact in case you are the victim.
• Be serious about audits, logs, tools and Penetration Testing. Your team should opt for the best Cloud security tools and technologies to remain safe in the digital world.
• Treat zero-day vulnerabilities seriously. Because if you don’t do that, the chances of a real exploit are really high.

#5 - Implement an Intrusion Detection And Prevention System (IDPS)

IDPS tools are very useful for enterprises. In fact, it won't be an overstatement to call them the most useful and effective aids in the Cloud Security domain.

These tools can help you discover, monitor, analyze, and remediate the threats present in your network traffic without involving humans in the process. And for trickier threats, they can alert your security professionals in time, allowing them to take quick action.

Your business can use IDPS tools for 24/7 threat monitoring, sending real-time notifications to admins, blocking unusual activities instantly, and automating your various security operations with ease. Their presence can prevent sophisticated attacks against your organization and save a fortune.