The cloud has many advantages, including lower capital expenditures, greater IT flexibility for business efficiency, and competitive advantage. However, the switch to hybrid cloud environments can pose security risks. Leo Lynch, Vice President APAC at Arcserve, outlines three principles of security in hybrid cloud environments.
Organizations are increasingly adopting hybrid cloud solutions that combine cloud and on-premise services. According to research by Telsyte, 65% of Australian organisations currently use hybrid clouds as they shuffle a mix of workloads, while 85% intend to choose hybrid cloud going forward.
A hybrid-cloud approach is preferred by companies because it offers many more benefits than relying solely on third-party vendors. It is possible to host an on-premises data center in a cloud-like manner using many tools. Hybrid clouds offer a unique level of flexibility and balance, but they can also be extremely difficult to manage.
It is particularly challenging to implement security, backup, disaster recovery and security in hybrid cloud environments. Companies that use hybrid cloud environments face the risk of data loss and data breach.
1) Security is a shared obligation
One common misconception about cloud security is that it is inherently secure. Cloud security is a shared responsibility of the cloud service provider as well as the customer when organisations move to the cloud.
Cloud service providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure typically protect the core infrastructure and services of their customers. It is the responsibility of the customer to secure operating systems and platforms as well as data.
This information will not be made public by cloud providers. The terms and conditions of the cloud provider’s agreement contain legal language which clarifies that they are not responsible for any damage to customers data. The customer, and not the cloud provider, is responsible for recovering data from any source, including accidental deletion, data corruption, security breaches, or accidental data deletion.
It is their data, and therefore their responsibility. The cloud provider is protected from lawsuits, but the fine print does not protect the customer organization from data loss and financial consequences.
2) Making clouds be nice is hard
More clouds can also indicate more complexity and greater problems. The more complex your environment is, the harder it will be to blend them.
Telsyte’s research also found that businesses use a median of 3.3 public cloud services and 3.0 private cloud services. Multi-cloud usage increases with increasing organisation size. These cloud services operate in very different ways and have very different interfaces. Customers may be able manage each cloud environment seamlessly. Monitoring and supporting multiple cloud platforms can be challenging and it can be difficult to get them all to work together.
There are other issues with storing data in a hybrid cloud environment. These include compliance and regulatory concerns. It’s difficult enough to establish comprehensive compliance in one cloud. Hybrid clouds bring additional complexity, which raises the stakes. This is a challenging issue because every industry changes their rules according to security and certifications.
3) Every cloud has a security solution
Security and compliance must be taken into consideration early in the implementation process. It is possible to be late and play catchup, which could lead to costly consequences. The right backup and recovery solution can help organisations address both. It should provide complete protection and control over your data.
Cloud storage that takes continuous snapshots and offers multiple recovery points to protect your data ensures that it is always secure and allows you easy access to your data.
Some data protection solutions are specifically designed for multi-cloud computing environments, such as hybrid and private cloud computing environments. The solution chosen should include ransomware detection and security controls. It should also provide data protection to ensure security across public and private cloud environments. It should also offer backup and disaster recovery services that include protection for cloud, virtual, and physical workloads.
Organizations must take responsibility for their data storage requirements and backup requirements. They can’t trust only cloud providers. Implementing a data recovery and protection strategy can make all the difference between successfully resolving an adversity, and being destroyed by it.
