Cloud security, configuration and a sound investment

As a leading cloud services provider in the UK, Cloud Heroes is always looking at ways to improve, develop and provide an awesome customer experience.

One way to do that is to follow thought leaders like the NCSC. They provide valuable insights into how cloud services work, the challenges they face and how to secure them.

The latest cloud security guidance they provide is a case in point and reflects our own approach to providing cloud services.

We won’t repeat their guidance here but we do want to add our own take on offering cloud security and why ensuring a robust configuration is so important.

How Cloud Heroes views cloud configuration

Ensuring a robust cloud configuration is a critical investment. It can help to protect your data, applications, and infrastructure from a variety of threats.

All while allowing frictionless access to your favourite applications.

Common threats can include:

• Data breaches: Cloud environments are often targeted by hackers because they contain large amounts of sensitive data. A robust cloud configuration can help to protect your data from unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, or destruction.
• Malware attacks: Malware can infect your cloud environment and damage your data, applications, or infrastructure. Secure cloud configuration can help prevent malware from entering your environment and can also help to detect and remove malware that has already infected it.
• DDoS attacks: DDoS attacks can overwhelm a cloud environment with traffic, making it unavailable to legitimate users. A well-designed cloud configuration can help to mitigate the effects of DDoS attacks.
• Infrastructure failures: Cloud environments are complex and can fail for a variety of reasons. A high availability cloud configuration can help to minimize the impact of infrastructure failures by ensuring that your data and applications are backed up and can be restored quickly.

With the core threats identified, we can consider some of the primary ways we can mitigate against them.

We’re not going to give all our secrets away but we can share some of the protections we use to protect Cloud Heroes customers.

Some of the most common protections include:

• Data encryption: Data encryption is one of the most important security measures we can use to protect cloud services.
• Access control: Access control allows us to control who has access to cloud services, data centres and anywhere data is stored. This can be done by assigning permissions to users and groups and controlling physical access.
• Vulnerability scanning: Vulnerability scanning can help us identify and fix security vulnerabilities in cloud services.
• Incident response: Incident response plans help us respond to security incidents in a timely and effective manner.
• Data loss prevention (DLP): DLP solutions can help prevent sensitive data from being accidentally or intentionally leaked from any cloud service.
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA): MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to enter a code from their phone in addition to their password or use an authentication app to verify identity.
• Web application firewalls (WAFs): WAFs can help protect cloud services from common web-based attacks. It’s the first line of defence in a layered approach.
• Managed security services (MSS): MSS providers can help organizations manage their cloud security posture by handling many of the core security tasks for you.

It is important to note that no single security measure can guarantee the security of cloud services.

Instead, we use a layered approach that includes a variety of different security measures. We’ll only mention a few of them here. We need to keep some secrets after all!

What you can do to keep your cloud service secure

Working in the cloud is a two-way street. We do everything we can to keep you and your users safe, but you also need to do your bit.

Here are some specific steps you can take to ensure a robust cloud configuration:

• Choose a reputable cloud provider: Not all cloud providers are created equal. Do your research and choose a provider that has a good track record of security and reliability.
• Use strong passwords and authentication: Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication for all cloud accounts.
• Keep your software up to date: Cloud providers regularly release software updates that include security patches. It is important to install these updates as soon as possible once tested.
• Back up your data regularly: Regularly back up your data to an off-site location. This will help you to recover data in the event of a data breach or other incident.
• Monitor your cloud environment: Monitor your cloud environment for suspicious activity. This includes monitoring for unauthorized access, changes to configuration settings, and unusual traffic patterns.
• Have a disaster recovery plan in place: Have a disaster recovery plan in place in case of an infrastructure failure or other incident. This plan should include steps for restoring your data and applications.
• Educate employees about cloud security: Employees should be educated about cloud security best practices, such as how to create strong passwords and avoid clicking on malicious links.

By following these steps, you can help to ensure that your cloud configuration is robust and secure.

Work with Cloud Heroes and between us, we can create a safe, secure working environment in the cloud. Contact us to learn more!