How Cloud Migration affects Data Privacy Practices

In my previous article, I discussed how nine out of every ten of our customers, who are better at engaging with modern technologies than traditional enterprises, are cloud-native. What about the other ten percent that profiles our customers??

I want to share some views regarding data privacy practices during cloud migrations for organizations often integrating hybrid clouds to become more flexible, competitive, and secure.

How Cloud Migration affects Data Privacy Practices

Cloud migration has accelerated dramatically in recent years. Migrating businesses to the cloud want better security, data management, flexibility, compliance, and privacy. On the other hand, migrating to the cloud presents its own set of challenges. Among them are business downtime, migration costs, extensive planning, and data privacy concerns. More than half of respondents cite security as the primary concern when migrating from legacy infrastructure to cloud, according to a Denodo report published in early 2019.[1]

Let's see how Cloud Migration affects Data Privacy:

Violation of Data Protection Laws

Most of the laws woven around data protection are country-specific, dictating how entities and/or individuals collect, store, and use that data. However, these laws may expose a multinational organization operating on different continents to data protection law violations if they run from one country while their employees are in another and the cloud migration vendor operates in another part of the world. While migrating to the cloud, it is critical to maintaining compliance with local laws and regulations.

Unauthorized Data Access Risks?

As a result of cloud migration's complexity and the sheer value and cost of data, businesses are often vulnerable to granting unauthorized access to data during the migration process. During data migration, organizations should follow the thumb rule of providing the least amount of permission and setting appropriate permissions on the target cloud servers to ensure only authorized personnel has access.?

Decrypted 'In-Transit' Data

Another serious threat to data privacy during cloud migration is data breaches during the transition process. After data has been migrated and stored in cloud servers, cloud platforms provide enhanced security and privacy. As a result, organizations must be vigilant in protecting data by implementing enhanced network security controls and encrypted network protocols.

Data Sanitization

If not done properly, data sanitization can have an impact on data privacy. Inadequate sanitization can cause issues when residual data is not disposed of properly, reducing data visibility or even data loss. As a result, organizations should be cautious about their online activities and ensure that they have the necessary IT Asset Management (ITAM) and IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) procedures in place.

The bottom line

Cloud migration introduces numerous vulnerabilities that can lead to data loss. The majority of organizations on legacy infrastructure and who want to migrate to the cloud do not have the in-house expertise to anticipate data migration challenges. As a result, companies should develop a cloud migration strategy and collaborate with vendors[2] to ensure smooth and accelerated cloud migrations while maintaining robust data access control, stringent data oversight, security, and compliance with international privacy laws.