Will Your Cloud be at Risk?

The Cloud is both compelling and alluring, offering benefits that entice many organizations into rapid adoption. The attractiveness of lower operational costs, powering new service offerings, and adaptability to cater to varying demands makes it almost irresistible to rush in.

But caution should be taken. 

Leveraging cloud technologies can offer tremendous opportunities, with the caveat of potentially introducing new security problems and business risks.

These risks can include vulnerability to cyber-attacks, jeopardizing the confidentiality of data, and potentially undermining the integrity of transactions. Care must be taken to understand these challenges in order to properly design the environment and establish sustainable management processes to maintain a strong security posture. Information assurance is required.

How can you mitigate risks in the Cloud?
1.  Be informed by understanding both the benefits and risks of cloud adoption.
2.  Know the threats and types of attacks that put your cloud data and services at risk.
3.  Establish practices to cover the Top10 assurance categories for cloud.
4.  Build a quality plan by leveraging expert resources.
5.  Establish accountability across the lifecycle.
6.  Don’t be afraid to ask. Nobody gets it right alone!

I recently presented strategic recommendations for cloud adoption to a community of application and infrastructure developers. The first step of the journey into the Cloud resides with teams pursuing the benefits and those accountable for maintaining the environment. It is important to follow a path of practical steps for cloud adoption in order to manage the risks while accessing the plethora of benefits. To be successful, teams must understand the security challenges, leverage available expertise and establish a comprehensive plan across the service lifecycle. 

Interested in more?  Follow me on Twitter (@Matt_Rosenquist) and LinkedIn to hear insights and what is going on in cybersecurity.