What is Cloud Security?
Cloud Security is the collection of measures, policies, tools and services to protect activity, cloud applications, data and infrastructure in multicloud environments. It’s a fast-growing area of concern for organizations because of the many threats and challenges associated with securing cloud data, such as data breaches, data loss, misconfigurations, unauthorized access, sophisticated malware and ransomware, compromised Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and stringent compliance requirements.
The traditional network perimeter is disappearing, and securing cloud data requires a new set of skills. For example, when data and applications move to the cloud, they often reside on multiple servers of a single cloud service provider, like Amazon Web Services or Apple’s iCloud storage. This can lead to a lack of strict data segmentation, which opens up the opportunity for attackers to get into your cloud environment by gaining access to other clients’ data on the same servers. This also raises concerns about the ability to comply with international data privacy laws such as GDPR.
Another key challenge is the need to secure remote connectivity frameworks and end-user hardware, including laptops, mobile devices and IoT gadgets, that connect to a cloud environment. In addition, a range of software and hardware can be hosted in the cloud, from operating systems to runtimes to middleware and other core components. Some providers manage the bulk of this, while others split responsibilities with their clients. These responsibilities vary widely by vendor and may include securing backend development against vulnerabilities, as well as providing policies for proper service configuration, safe use habits and protecting end-user devices and networks.