Data security critical for cloud-
based solutions
Stephen Garbett, MD of
Decision Inc UK, explores why
organisations adopting a cloud
first strategy must prioritise
data security.
raditionally, data used to be
a physical asset that required
on-site protection. However,
in the digital age, data can be located
anywhere in the world thanks to the
adoption of cloud solutions. Of course,
this does not mean its security should
be any less of a priority as data has
become the lifeblood of an organisation.
T
This requires a different mindset
as security today is as much the
responsibility of the cloud service
provider as it is of the business using it.
In the past, many businesses struggled
with keeping their cybersecurity
measures up to date, making them easy
targets for hackers and malware to
compromise their systems.
In a cloud environment, security is one
of the foundational priorities. Service
providers need to meet stringent Service
Level Agreements and build their
offerings on their reputation to safeguard
data whether threats come from hackers
or elsewhere, such as natural disasters. personal information safe. And from a
data security point of view, companies
understand they must get their houses
in order to ensure they do not fall foul
of legislation.
After all, if a business stores its data
in the cloud, it has the added peace of
mind that redundancy is on hand if, for
example, the office should burn down. Increasingly, multinational providers
are rolling out data centres in new
territories throughout the world.
More recently, South Africa saw the
introduction of two Azure data centres
that will likely speed up adoption and
growth of cloud technologies across
business sectors irrespective of
company size in that country.
And yet, it has still taken time for
decision-makers to trust the cloud
as a safe and reliable place to store
organisational data.
Legislatively-driven
The General Data Protection Regulation
of the European Union is driving the
impetus to view data and its storage
requirements differently. Regulatory
requirements today are focused on
ensuring the integrity and security of
data on an individual level.
Thanks to the pervasiveness of
mobile, people are connecting
to systems in different ways and
accessing information irrespective of
location, time, or even device used.
Numerous local and international
data breaches have made
people increasingly aware of the
implications of not keeping their
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Issue 13
However, the increasing global adoption
rates of cloud services will put even
more pressure on businesses around
the security aspects of data. For
example, in the UK things like cost-
savings and availability of data are
underpinned by security measures
and how best to balance all the
requirements for a digital age.
And yet, despite technology innovations
around the cloud, there will not be that
much of a shift happening around the
cybersecurity focus of it all.
Instead, service providers and
businesses will likely cement practices
that have been put in place. It is
all about tying up loose ends and
ensuring all entries into the business
are protected.
So, from a technological level, not much
is expected to evolve but businesses will
certainly grow in their adoption and how
they use the cloud for their data storage
and analysis requirements. u
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Furthermore, the growth of the
Internet of Things is seeing
information being recorded in
different ways and used for a variety
of things from customised marketing
to identifying sales trends.
Adoption rates