What is Cloud Data Security?

Cloud data security refers to the technologies, policies, services and security controls
that protect any type of data in the cloud from loss, leakage or misuse through breaches,
ex-filtration and unauthorized access. A robust cloud data security strategy should
include:

 Ensuring the security and privacy of data across networks as well as within
applications, containers, workloads and other cloud environments
 Controlling data access for all users, devices and software
 Providing complete visibility into all data on the network

The cloud data protection and security strategy must also protect data of all types. This
includes:

 Data in use: Securing data being used by an application or endpoint through user
authentication and access control
 Data in motion: Ensuring the safe transmission of sensitive, confidential or
proprietary data while it moves across the network through encryption and/or other
email and messaging security measures
 Data at rest: Protecting data that is being stored on any network location, including
the cloud, through access restrictions and user authentication

EXPERT TIP

The cloud is a term used to describe servers — as well as any associated services,
software applications, databases, containers and workloads — that are accessed remotely
via the internet. Cloud environments are typically divided into two categories: a private
cloud, which is a cloud environment used exclusively by one customer; or a public
cloud, which is an environment that is shared by more than one user.

How secure is the cloud?

Theoretically, the cloud is no more or less secure than a physical server or data center so
long as the organization has adopted a comprehensive, robust cybersecurity strategy that
is specifically designed to protect against risks and threats in a cloud environment.

And therein lies the problem: Many companies may not realize that their existing
security strategy and legacy tooling, such as firewalls, do not protect assets hosted in the
cloud. For this reason, organizations must fundamentally reconsider the ir security
posture and update it to meet the security requirements of this new environment.

Another big misconception about the cloud is that the cloud provider is responsible for
all security functions, including data security. In fact, cloud security fo llows what is
referred to as the shared responsibility model.

Hence, cloud security — and, by extension, cloud data security — is a shared

responsibility between the cloud service provider (CSP) and its customers.
Why should businesses store data in the cloud?

Organizations have shifted to the cloud because it is a key enabler of almost every digital
business transformation strategy. When it comes to cloud data storage, specifically,
organizations can unlock valuable benefits, such as:

 Lower costs: Cloud storage is generally more affordable for businesses and
organizations because the infrastructure costs are shared across users.
 Resource optimization: Typically speaking, in a cloud model, the CSP is responsible
for maintaining cloud-based servers, hardware, databases or other cloud infrastructure
elements. In addition, the organization no longer needs to host or maintain on-
premises components. This not only decreases overall IT costs but allows staff to be
redeployed to focus on other issues, such as customer support or business
modernization.
 Improved access: Cloud-hosted databases can be accessed by any authorized user,
from virtually any device, in any location in the world so long as there is an internet
connection — a must for enabling the modern digital workforce.
 Scalability: Cloud resources, such as databases, are flexible, meaning they can be
quickly spun up or down based on the variable needs of the business. This allows the
organization to manage surges in demand or seasonal spikes in a more timely and
cost-effective way.

Business Risks to Storing Data in the Cloud

Though storing data within the cloud offers organizations many important benefits, this
environment is not without challenges. Here are some risks businesses may face of
storing data in the cloud without the proper security measures in place:

1. Data breaches

Data breaches occur differently in the cloud than in on-premises attacks. Malware is less
relevant. Instead, attackers exploit misconfigurations, inadequate access, stolen
credentials and other vulnerabilities.

2. Misconfigurations

Misconfigurations are the No. 1 vulnerability in a cloud environment and can lead to
overly permissive privileges on accounts, insufficient logging and other security gaps
that expose organizations to cloud breaches, insider threats and adversaries who leverage
vulnerabilities to gain access to data.

3. Unsecured APIs

Businesses often use APIs to connect services and transfer data, either internally or to
partners, suppliers, customers and others. Because APIs turn certain types of data into
endpoints, changes to data policies or privilege levels can increase the risk of
unauthorized access to more data than the host intended.

4. Access control/unauthorized access

Organizations using multi-cloud environments tend to rely on default access controls of
their cloud providers, which becomes an issue particularly in a multi-cloud or hybrid
cloud environment. Inside threats can do a great deal of damage with their privileged
access, knowledge of where to strike, and ability to hide their tracks.

6 Cloud Data Security Best Practices

To ensure the security of their data, organizations must adopt a comprehensive cyber -
security strategy that addresses data vulnerabilities specific to the cloud.

Key elements of a robust cloud data security strategy include:

1. Leverage advanced encryption capabilities

One effective way to protect data is to encrypt it. Cloud encryption t ransforms data from
plain text into an unreadable format before it enters the cloud. Data should be encrypted
both in transit and at rest.

There are different out-of-the-box encryption capabilities offered by cloud service

providers for data stored in block and object storage services. To protect the security of
data-in-transit, connections to cloud storage services should be made using encrypted
HTTPS/TLS connections.

Data encryption is by default enabled in cloud platforms using platform-managed

encryption keys. However, customers can gain additional control over this by bringing
their own keys and managing them centrally via encryption key management services in
the cloud. For organizations with stricter security standards and compliance
requirements, they can implement native hardware security module (HSM)-enabled key
management services or even third-party services for protecting data encryption keys.

2. Implement a data loss prevention (DLP) tool.

Data loss prevention (DLP) is part of a company’s overall security strategy that focuses
on detecting and preventing the loss, leakage or misuse of data through breaches, ex-
filtration and unauthorized access.

A cloud DLP is specifically designed to protect those organizations that leverage cloud
repositories for data storage.

3. Enable unified visibility across private, hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Unified discovery and visibility of multi-cloud environments, along with continuous

intelligent monitoring of all cloud resources are essential in a cloud security solution.
That unified visibility must be able to detect misconfigurations, vulnerabilities and data
security threats, while providing actionable insights and guided remediation.

4. Ensure security posture and governance.

Another key element of data security is having the proper security policy and governance
in place that enforces golden cloud security standards, while meeting industry and
government regulations across the entire infrastructure. A cloud security posture
management (CSPM) solution that detects and prevents misconfigurations and control
plane threats is essential for eliminating blind spots and ensuring compliance across
clouds, applications and workloads.

5. Strengthen identity and access management (IAM).

Identity and access management (IAM) helps organizations streamline and automate
identity and access management tasks and enable more granular access controls and
privileges. With an IAM solution, IT teams no longer need to manually assign access
controls, monitor and update privileges, or deprovision accounts. Organizations can also
enable a single sign-on (SSO) to authenticate the user’s identit y and allow access to
multiple applications and websites with just one set of credentials.

When it comes to IAM controls, the rule of thumb is to follow the principle of least
privilege, which means allowing required users to access only the data and cloud
resources they need to perform their work.

6. Enable cloud workload protection.

Cloud workloads increase the attack surface exponentially. Protecting workloads

requires visibility and discovery of each workload and container events, while securing
the entire cloud-native stack, on any cloud, across all workloads, containers, Kubernetes
and serverless applications. Cloud workload protection (CWP) includes vulnerability
scanning and management, and breach protection for workloads, including containers,
Kubernetes and serverless functions, while enabling organizations to build, run and
secure cloud applications from development to production.