Whether you are considering cloud computing for personal use or you want to use it for business operations, these are some of the main risks that you should be aware of before making the transition.

Limited Visibility
When you have things onsite, on your own hardware, the management of the network operations is completely in your hands and it is your responsibility alone. When you shift these things to the cloud environment the responsibility shifts to the cloud service provider. In doing so you also lose access to those network operations.

Depending on the service that you choose the degree to which this change in responsibility happens will vary. However, you will need to devise new ways to monitor network infrastructure and use something that will work with the cloud computing solution that you use.

Malware
One of the biggest problems for both private users as well as business clients is that their data or their systems get infected with malware. Attackers realize that most people are now shifting to cloud solutions and that when they attack a cloud solution, they are able to target a much larger amount of data rather than attacking a single entity.

When you are shifting large amounts of data onto the cloud there is a much higher risk of malware infection. Therefore cloud security against such infections is very important.

Compliance
Another major challenge with data management today is data privacy. In order to enhance this privacy and provide people better protection, there are various compliance protocols available. This includes things such as HIPAA and GDPR or NIST, among others. Making sure that your assets are compliant with these regulations is key in ensuring better security but with cloud computing, it can get very difficult to monitor access controls.

Your ability to see who has access and what they are able to do with that access is compromised. Therefore to ensure that you have tabs on user behavior it is important that you have the right access control measures in place.

Data Loss
When you are handing data over to the CSP you are essentially giving some rights of that data to the cloud service provider and you are also sharing some of the responsibility of the data management with the CSP.

Moreover, cloud service providers are the best target for attackers and since you don’t have any control over how they secure their systems, your data is completely at their disposal and depends entirely on their abilities to defend it. What’s worse is that in the case that the data is stolen or something goes wrong with the CSP due to data that you had stored on their services, you too are partly responsible.

Considering all these different angles of cloud computing businesses and private users need to think twice before they go for a cloud solution. Even though there are many benefits to cloud solutions in how they help increase efficiency and reduce costs, there are some risks involved as well. However, there are solutions to these risks and with a balanced management solution, everything can be don’t in a secure manner that neither risks the CSP nor the client.

There is no doubt about the fact that digital security is a growing concern for both private users as well as businesses. Whether that is through traditional computers or through smartphones, any device that is connected to the internet is at risk of cybercrime.

Ideally, a user or a business should employ a variety of security solutions to guarantee their safety. However, we will look at a few things that can be done internally to really take security to the next level.

Communication
Just as solid surveillance of a physical property is required to detect any intrusions, in the digital landscape a business also needs to keep a keen eye on detecting changes in the system, collecting this valuable data, analyzing and investigating the changes, and then sharing this with the concerned departments. This requires quick and efficient communication from all parts of the business to ensure that security is the top priority.

Response Management
Security surveillance is only as good as the reactive measures that are in place behind that monitoring. As soon as an anomaly is detected or in the case that a breach happens a business needs to have a solid strategy to cope with that situation.

Ideally, the aim should be to divert the attack and protect the organization from any harm however if this is not the case then it should be a priority to minimize the impact of the attack. This requires a thorough understanding of both the attacks that can happen and the capabilities of the organization itself.

Dealing With Insider Threats
As so many organizations now work in a collaborative format where people from all over the globe are remotely accessing the business resources and they are all coming from various devices and networks, it is critical to ensure that the internal assets of the company are not posing a threat. This is a twofold process where the machinery and the software that they use to interact with the business is evaluated and together with that there should also be a system to check the background of the person themselves.

Especially when you are hiring people from across the world who you might never meet physically, it is very important that you are hiring the right people. Similarly, it is important that the center of control is diverse and that no single person or small group of people has too much control over any area of the business.

Manpower
At the end of the day, all your security solutions need to be managed by people and the digital hygiene practices of the employees themselves also go a long way in dictating the security of your business. One of the best investments that you can make is to train the team itself about how it should conduct itself and also how they should manage the various security solutions to ensure the wellbeing of the business.

This includes everything from security training to understanding their roles and responsibilities and knowing what they can do to be the first line of defense for the business.