Select Page

An instrumental aspect of IT strategy for companies of all sizes, the cloud allows organizations to boost their efficiency, minimize spending, and do so much more. Despite the many advantages of cloud computing, many users remain focused on the security issues that they may encounter in the cloud.

Application security is one of the biggest concerns among those looking to make the switch to the cloud. Because using the cloud involves servers held off-site, your company won’t have physical custody of your information. Your physical and digital security is only as good as your vendor’s security, so it is, therefore, essential to have an effective security strategy. Thankfully, there are a number of steps that you can take to protect your organization’s applications in the cloud.

Read on to explore a few of the best practices that will help you enhance the security of your cloud-based applications:

 

  1. Do your due diligence

hackingTo best protect your company’s applications in the cloud, you must examine the level of risk that you face by migrating to this environment. If you don’t, then your organization may not be prepared to thwart potential threats until it’s too late. Here are a few of the biggest risks that you could face when utilizing the cloud for application use and storage:

Separation of data—If you’re leveraging public cloud services, then your provider will store application information alongside that of other customers. In cases such as these, your information could accidentally leak between customers or—even worse—become fully exposed to another cloud tenant.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks—This type of threat targets the cloud’s accessibility, making it impossible for you to connect to your stored applications. Should you come up against a DDoS attack, you could experience outages of several hours or more.

Malware—Other users can upload malware to the cloud, which can pose an immense security threat to your own infrastructure and the applications therein. You need to ensure that your cloud environment is equipped with the security measures needed to protect against the spread of malware throughout your applications.

These aren’t the only risks that you can face by housing your firm’s applications in the cloud. Performing your due diligence early on is critical to identifying potential issues and formulating protections long before they happen.

 

  1. Locate vulnerabilities in existing security

Identifying vulnerabilities in your company’s applications will also help you improve your overall cloud security. As such, your goal should be prevention, i.e., stopping attackers from exploiting any weaknesses. Cloud users usually don’t patch their vulnerabilities until they experience a security issue, so it’s crucial to identify weak points as soon as possible and implement the right tools to protect them. Most cloud providers will leverage their own vulnerability testing methods, which can assist you in your assessment.

However, you shouldn’t analyze your cloud application weaknesses only once. Your provider should implement these tests on a regular basis. How often they do will be up to you and your specific security requirements.

 

  1. Use endpoint security measures

Once you gain a comprehensive view of the security threats that your cloud applications may come up against, you can put in place the methods that will provide the best safeguards. By using the cloud, you will require more endpoint security than ever before. Some of the most basic tactics include the use of malware protection and firewalls. There are, however, a few other agile security measures that you should use.

Authentication tools are an excellent way to create a barrier between your company’s most important applications and the attackers who would seek to compromise them. To prevent unauthorized users from guessing access passwords, you should implement two-factor authentication. This method will require all users to input both passwords and supplemental authorization when attempting to connect to your applications. Without these protections in place, you could find yourself facing a data breach.

Encryption is another security measure that you must add to your application security strategy. Though 65 percent of cloud users say that it’s most effective to encrypt application data while it’s at rest, this shouldn’t be your only encryption tactic. In fact, 57 percent of users also recognize the importance of encrypting their data while it is in motion, which is when it is at the most risk of attack. Some cloud providers will offer this service to you, but you should also employ your own encryption tools to protect your applications in the cloud.

 

  1. Incorporate security into your cloud contract

contract

You can build a strong foundation for your application security by adding provisions to your cloud contract. Work with your cloud provider to build an agreement that includes specific security requirements for them to follow and addresses the level of confidentiality to which they must adhere. You can also incorporate a section that requires your provider to alert you to any security breaches that may occur. Should your vendor fall short of your security expectations, your contract will outline the penalties that they will face as a result.

 

  1. Implement effective application security policies

There are many policies that you can put in place to help safeguard your cloud-based applications. Even before you employ cloud services, you should establish a few key guidelines. Who will be allowed to use your cloud services? How will these persons be able to access them? Which applications will you move from on-premises to the cloud? By answering these questions, you’ll be able to implement specific policies to best protect your unique environment.

For example, your security policies should involve staff training. It’s imperative to train every single employee that will have access to your cloud applications. Teach your staff how to identify e-mails that may attempt to phish passwords and how to create passwords that will afford the best protection for their accounts—and your cloud applications.

Even with the most stringent security procedures in place, you may end up facing a situation in which all you can do is attempt to control the damage to your firm’s applications. You can, for instance, enforce policies that will protect your application data. Maintaining off-site cloud backups will protect your firm from permanently losing your applications during both malicious attacks and instances of accidental loss.