Cloud Security Explained: Protecting Your Data Like Your Front Door
Introduction
What's going on everybody, this is Neadom Tucker, owner of Kotori Technologies.
I've got over 20 years in the IT industry and I have a passion for helping people and their businesses.
Today, we're gonna talk about the cloud and how secure it is.
This is one of the most common questions I get—more than anything else—from any of our customers or would-be customers when we're talking about the cloud.
Now again, we've got a lot of videos about what the cloud is, so we're not gonna really cover that.
We're gonna just talk about how secure and safe it is today.
How Secure is the Cloud?
Wow, what another great question.
So this is the one that people really think about:
“I have access to my data on my PC. It's here. I see it. Are you implementing two-factor authentication?”
Your computer is just as safe as the cloud is—as long as you lock your front door, have a password on your computer, and you've got an alarm system.
There are three ways that I have to get access to the data on your computer: those three things.
I want that same level of security in the cloud, right?
A good password, a good username.
Two-factor authentication to make sure that I've got something else to authenticate myself against.
And I just want to be smart about where I put my data.
You don't want to put your data on public pieces.
You're not gonna take your PC and stick it on the side of the road and say, “Oh, my data is safe.”
The cloud is safe—as long as you protect it like you would protect your information on your PC.
Accessing Your Data
Accessing your data in the cloud is something that could be up in the air.
It really depends on what type of information you're storing in the cloud.
If we're talking about a website—typically web developer stuff—that's one thing.
But when we're talking about your data, like your files—things like Dropbox, ShareFile, OneDrive, or Google Drive—
Typically, the organization that is hosting your data has that data sitting encrypted, and they don't have access to it.
It is something you need to ask.
This is a question you need to ask the provider that's storing your cloud data or your partner:
How does your data sit at rest?
Make sure that somebody in the data center of choice doesn't have access to just open up your data and get into it.
Typically only you and people you allow access to your data have access to your data in the cloud.
Storing Your Data
I'm gonna say this one at your own risk.
It's not that it's not secure or not safe.
But again, if I say “Yes, store your sensitive data,” I don't want you to hold me liable.
Let's talk about what we're storing up there.
If we're doing good practices—having two-factor authentication, a good password, a good username—then yes, you can store sensitive data up there.
If you're being willy-nilly with your information, I wouldn't store sensitive data.
In fact, I wouldn't even store sensitive data on your PC if you're being willy-nilly that way.
It's all about what you, the user, decide to do.
This goes back to every security principle that is out there today.
Most security measures are completely crippled by the end-user—by you, the user, or your employees.
Sensitive data can be stored in the cloud.
What you want to make sure of is that the data is stored encrypted.
That means it's encrypted at rest.
And in transit—meaning the communication between your PC and the cloud—that tunnel is encrypted as well.
If someone is monitoring your system or has some sort of man-in-the-middle attack going, they still can't see that information.
Making sure that your information is encrypted—that is the key to storing sensitive data in the cloud.
If you're still unsure about moving your business to the cloud or want expert guidance on securing your data, reach out to Kotori Technologies today.
We’ll help you assess your current setup, implement best practices, and ensure your cloud environment is as secure as your front door.
