Every time you upload a file to the cloud, you expose sensitive business data to a cybersecurity risk. More than likely you’re among the 94% of companies that are using private and/or public clouds. While the cloud may offer increased flexibility, productivity, and reduced costs, the fact of the matter is that when you upload a file to the cloud, you hand over sensitive business data to a third-party service that may not be working with your best interest at heart.
And if you don’t believe us, the numbers really speak for themselves:
- 79% of companies have experienced at least one cloud data breach in the last 18 months
- 43% have reported 10 or more breaches in the same time frame.
Additionally, the cloud isn’t as secure as you think. While the cloud has become an engine that drives many companies, it has inherent vulnerabilities. Mitigating these vulnerabilities frequently requires expensive security tools, consistent maintenance, and a team of experts to manage it. In short, while on the surface a cloud migration brings many benefits, there are behind-the-scenes concerns that may not make the cloud as an attractive option.
Before storing data in or doing business via cloud it’s important to be aware of three common threats. Erasing the risk posed by these threats is hard, however protecting your files by putting them in an EB Control vault is a great first step to retaining control of your data in the event one of these vulnerabilities comes to pass.
Three common threats to your data in the cloud
Threat 1: Data Breaches and Unauthorized Access
All data in the cloud is vulnerable to whatever threats the cloud service provider may face. Unauthorized access, whether through insufficient accessibility controls or the misuse of employee credentials, can leave vital business data exposed to hackers and bad actors. The negative consequences of a cloud data breach might include impact to the reputation and trust of customers or partners, loss of intellectual property to competitors, regulatory implications that could result in monetary loss and brand impact that might cause a market value decrease.
Threat 2: Cloud Misconfiguration
At a basic level, cloud misconfiguration occurs when an administrator or user improperly implements a cloud platform’s security settings, resulting in a variety of issues. This spectrum of issues might include inadequate access restrictions, inactive data encryption, default passwords and mismanaged permission controls. These misconfigurations are often the result of insider threats, such as negligence or a lack of security awareness among employees.
Threat 3: DDoS Attacks
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks occur when a cybercriminal aims to make a system or network resource unavailable to legitimate users by indefinitely disrupting the services of a host connected to a network. Most commonly, these criminals will employ multiple sources to flood a business’s network with requests in an attempt to prevent legitimate requests from being fulfilled.
How can you help your business weather the storm?
These three common threats have the potential to expose your organization to a wealth of sophisticated cyber threats. As you see the cloud isn’t always sunshine and rainbows and operating in the cloud may leave your company open to risk. However, you don’t have to let cloud-related security concerns rain on your parade. If you want to mitigate the risk of the cloud, look to secure your data by storing it where you always have control of it.
Taking a data-centric approach to your security puts data security where it belongs: at the forefront. If you protect the data at the source and retain complete control over it during its entire lifecycle, you can proactively mitigate many of the threats posed by the cloud.
EB Control gives provides military-grade encryption without you needing to be an expert about data security or encryption. With EB Control, you decide who can access your business’s data, when and where it’s accessed and what can be done with it. Trust no one, not even the cloud, and retain control of your data forever. Try EB Control for free today.