Here at Intercontinental Communications, we offer a wide range of cloud-based solutions to help your company keep up with the changing world of business. Cloud-based solutions have become the norm recently, offering advantages such as greater flexibility, greater scalability, and pricing packages that change with your needs. If your company is just beginning to use cloud-based solutions – or even if you started a while ago – it’s important to think about your cloud security strategy.
The Importance of Cloud Security Strategy
Cybercriminal organizations scan the internet every day looking for vulnerable targets. If you don’t have a cloud security strategy – and the training and policies in place to support that strategy – your company could be the next target the cybercriminals select.
Your strategy should involve a mix of policies, training, and technology. Simple antivirus software is a start, but many companies use endpoint detection and response solutions to detect the threats an antivirus program simply can’t catch.
Security Policies
The simplest cloud security strategy you can use is also one of the most effective. Set up your system so that no employee can access any area of the system except the area they need to access to do their job. In other words, salespeople should have no access to anything that isn’t essential to the sales team. Research and development should have no access to anything except the R&D files. No one other than administrators should have administrative permissions.
Why is this cloud security strategy so effective? Because it prevents one of the most common tactics cybercriminals like to use, which is to get access to a relatively unimportant part of the system and then “move laterally” until they succeed in getting administrative permissions. Once they have those permissions, they have control of the entire system, so it’s especially important to prevent this from happening!
It’s also an effective strategy against insider threats. More than one company has suffered a major data breach because an employee intentionally exported data they had no legitimate reason to even have access to. It’s also important to revoke network access immediately for anyone who leaves the company. A disgruntled former employee can do a lot of damage!
Security Training
One of the most important policies you can institute is to train employees to recognize common threats such as spear-phishing attacks. A spear-phishing attack seems like a legitimate email from a trusted contact and may even include a personal message – along with an attached document. If you open the attachment, it turns out to be a piece of malicious software. Training your employees in common cyber-attacks is an important aspect of any cloud security strategy.
While security will always be important, cloud-based solutions present advantages many companies simply feel they cannot ignore. Contact Intercontinental Communications today to learn more about the cloud-based solutions we offer!