Cloud Data Security

     Cloud data security is one of the best ways of ensuring that data is safe once a disaster strikes. Once a disaster strikes, everything gets mixed up in the chaos and when the time comes for you to access something in your network storage that might be a problem. For instance, one might need immediate access to a document but the device that one uses to access the storage has been destroyed or compromised in one way or another. Even if your mobile device has been stolen it will be possible for one to access any data that is stored in the cloud.

     Cloud data storage and security has therefore been regarded as the best place to store data. Cloud storage has been credited with several purposes. It can act as a web-based external hard disk. This is especially useful considering the fact that it does not involve all the bulky hardware that is associated with external hard drives. Cloud storage as serves as a back up system where all organization’s data is backed up and can be retrieved at a later time when needed. This is especially useful considering the fact that most of these back ups are usually automated and therefore when recovering data, there is a high possibility that that data will be very recent.

     Cloud storage is also beneficial to organizations and small businesses as well as to individuals because of the fact that since everything is stored in the cloud, file sharing is very efficient, fast and convenient. The ability of an employee to access company data at any place as long as there is internet connection makes it very convenient form of storing company data because employees can work at an offsite location and at the same time maintaining communication with the rest of the employees at the company’s premises.

     Cloud encryption is a way to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information stored in a cloud. It also enhances the security of the outgoing data that is leaving the secured network. The cloud encryption process is a process that is use to protect data that is in storage and in transit whether the data is stored in a network, mobile phones, the internet or wireless systems. The encryption uses an algorithm to change plain text into a form that is not readable which is called cipher text. Decryption decodes cipher text back to readable form. In order to ensure that the data is safely encrypted, a secret key or a secret value is used to either encrypt or decrypt data. In cloud computing, encryption is used to prevent out going data in order to ensure that it is safe once it has left the enterprise’s infrastructure. Data encryption is used in compliance with the industry regulations and one of the forefront methods of ensuring cloud security.

    For a long time, cloud and security has been two words that have not been mentioned in the same breath. For the past several years, asking an IT expert about cloud computing security would have resulted in the guy laughing at you. That was just to remind you that there was no thing as security issues in the world of cloud computing. However, today no one can laugh at such an issue. Despite the fact that there is no foolproof security system, the cloud is no longer the Fort Knox people used to think it was just a few years ago.

    To be fair, the security concerns that many people were fretting over are real. This is according to Amir Naftali, the co-founder of FortyCloud. This is because of the fact that the cloud is made up of many elements that are integrated together in order to provide the cloud services. Therefore, maintaining consistent security across the several entities in the cloud can be a real challenge. In the traditional IT environment, the administrator had full control of the IT infrastructure, the cloud environment has different setting and the control of the cloud infrastructure is diversified making the network structure to become more complex than traditional networks.

     Many people might wonder why cloud encryption matters. The above stated case study should reveal why it is important to encrypt your cloud. Data breaches in the United States attract heavy fines with some even hitting the seven figure mark. The fine might be the least of the problems that an organization that has failed to protect its clients’ data from intruders because such an organization would suffer catastrophic damage to its reputation should it ever come to light that its security was breached and some private data may be on the loose.

     Organizations that have adopted cloud computing have really enjoyed the benefits of the cloud. However, they have also been faced by a new set of problems that they were never experiencing before adopting the cloud technology. Moving into the cloud brings with it new security challenges which cannot be adequately addressed by the traditional security measures. 2013 was full of controversies. Edward Snowden had just blown the lid off the NSA secret spying program and he had exposed them. Snowden had shown the world how the US government was involved in a massive electronic surveillance program. 

      What was even more worrying was the fact that there was more to the spying. The government was not just getting its secrets from mere eavesdropping. It was revealed in the year 2014 that the government had gotten its hands on private data. It was also revealed that the government had placed more than ten thousand requests to cloud service providers to hand them the data.

      When addressing the issue of cloud security, one cannot evade the politics and emotions associated with such an argument. Many people and organizations that have used the cloud for some time can attest to the fact that the cloud is more secure compared to traditional systems. For several years, there are been a notion that the cloud is less secure than traditional IT methods of computing. The belief is fueled by the fact that most people who believe in the traditional means of data storage belief that accessibility is less important compared to the location of the data.