10 Ways to Secure Your Cloud Data
By TOI Staff September 30, 2023 Update on : September 30, 2023
Today’s businesses can’t function without cloud computing. It has simplified distant data storage for enterprises and ushered in a new era in data processing. Online backup services eliminate the need to carry along a physical hard drive or other portable media player. Cloud solutions, such as Google Drive and Dropbox, allow you to store data online and access it from any device with an Internet connection.
But does this cutting-edge technology come with risks? When storing data in the cloud, how can you ensure its security? These are critical questions that have triggered a lot of companies.. While the seeming ease of using a cloud service provider is appealing, there are several security considerations that should be considered before making any uploads. However, safeguards are available. If you’re concerned about cloud privacy, here are 10 ways to safeguard your data.
Cloud Data Security Best Practices
Your company may feel safe using any of the many different cloud service options available. If you’re concerned about keeping your cloud data safe, consider the following seven points.
1. Encrypt Your Data
If you really care about keeping your data safe, you should look for a cloud storage service that uses both local and remote file encryption. Your information is safe from both the service providers and the administrators thanks to the double layer of encryption. If you don’t want to utilize a cloud service, you may encrypt the data using a standalone program.
Before uploading your files to the Cloud, you may safeguard them with a password and create secret key sequences using a cloud-protection program. While using an encrypted cloud service is the best course of action, it doesn’t harm to encrypt your data again just in case.
2. Create Secure Passwords
Your password is the equivalent of the front door key to your home; you wouldn’t leave it lying about if someone asked for it. I think we’ve all used a post-it note to jot down a password at some time. It’s critical to break the pattern and make sure you’re not contributing to the problem. More than 75% of assaults are the result of insufficient passwords, so take care while developing your own.
Passwords should be at least eight characters long and should not include personal or identifiable information such as your name, date of birth, business name, or the names of close friends, family members, or pets. Passwords should never consist of only letters. Include both upper- and lowercase letters, as well as numerals and other characters.
3. Implement Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication (2FA) provides an additional safeguard against hackers gaining access to your account using stolen passwords. Two-factor authentication (2FA) necessitates an additional step, performed on a different device, once a user enters their password to get access to their account. This will guarantee that your information is secure even if your password is compromised.
4. Get Malware Protection Now Program
When utilizing cloud storage, information is sent and received online. There is a lot of malicious software and viruses hiding around here. Put in place a reliable anti-malware program as a preventative precaution. Such software will assist in stopping any suspicious downloading or hitchhiking that may occur.
If the server ever goes down, you won’t have to worry about losing your work since you’ll have a backup copy. You may accomplish this by making your own copies of the data on external hard drives. Working with companies that specialize in backing up data is another option. NETdepot’s Disaster Recovery Services are a solid option. Office 365 and other services are among those safeguarded by this solution.
5. Examine Data and Modify Your Content Management System
One of the best features of cloud storage services is how simple it makes sharing files with others. The risk of unauthorized access to your data increases. Bad actors may quickly get access to your data if they discover the connections to them.
That’s why it’s smart to use file auditing for anything you’ve ever shared. Eliminate dormant shared folders to reduce exposure. You may utilize expiration dates and folder permissions to protect your active files. Password-protecting your links is another optional precaution you may take.
6. Check Your Cloud’s Linked Apps, Accounts And Devices for Malware
Cybercriminals are always on the lookout for new entry points into your cloud data. If they are unable to access your cloud storage account, they may try to get access using a different account. Consequently, you should log out of any inactive accounts that are associated with your cloud storage. It would be simple to add them back in if the necessity arose. Meanwhile, eliminating potential avenues of entry for hackers will reduce the risk of intrusion significantly.
When switching to a new device, it’s imperative that you remove the old one from access to your cloud data. This protects your data on the cloud from any attempts by their inheritors. When it comes to account security in trading, Additionally, AI bots like British Bitcoin Profit help humans secure their personal and financial account information allowing them to concentrate on their trading activities without worrying about their data security.
7. Enable Email and Text Message Notifications
Almost every cloud service out there has an alert system that notifies you of critical account changes. They may notify you of any login attempts made to your account.
In any case, you must activate such options. You’ll be able to spot any strange activity on your account using this. You should also sign up for services that will alert you to certain events occurring inside your account. In this manner, you can keep tabs on any shared folders that are added or deleted.
8. It’s Time for an OS Upgrade
Most consumers don’t bother to upgrade their operating systems when they should. However, doing so is essential if you want to reduce the chances of system failure or infection. These patches fix vulnerabilities in the system that might compromise your cloud.
Ignoring them will cause problems, such as increased waiting time. Therefore, it is important to regularly upgrade your operating system for maximum security.
9. Consider a Plan B
It is still important to make backups even when keeping data on the cloud. Data should ideally be kept locally as well as in one or more cloud services. A cloud specialist can help you figure out how often and at what degree of redundancy you should be backing up your data. To protect our data, for instance, we have several backups and redundancy in place for our Hosted Cloud service, which is used by BAASS. If you have backups, you won’t lose as much data if anything goes wrong with the main server.
10. Configure Per-User Permissions
To make sure the right people have access to the right files in your cloud solution, role-based access control must be available. If a user’s account is compromised, strict management of the access levels might offer another layer of security.
Bottom Line
Your company can avoid a data breach caused by human mistakes and insufficient data protection. Whether you’re just getting started with the cloud or have been there for a while, you can rest certain that your company’s data is safe if you and your staff adhere to these best practices.
Read more: 10 Ways to Secure Your Cloud Data