Employ Data Encryption Key Management
You should encrypt your data, of course, but you should use a central key management system to keep your data secured in a single, centralized point. This automated solution streamlines your data security and allows your employees to focus on business decisions instead of dealing with encryption manually. In encryption key management, algorithms encode your data as ciphertext. You, your employees, or an application can decode the ciphertext only with the necessary data encryption keys. You can implement key management software that runs on a virtual cloud server or a dedicated physical server. This software will control and maintain your encryption keys for you, and it can generate, store, destroy, and replace them if necessary. If you decide to use encryption key management, you should develop a unified policy for your business’s data encryption and key management.
Use Multi-Factor Authentication
This type of authentication requires two or more factors to grant a user access. Multi-factor authentication combines two or more independent credentials, such as a password, a security token, and a biometric verification, according to TechTarget. Requiring a password and a PIN is an example of multi-factor authentication. Requiring users to provide these credentials will give you tighter control over your cloud infrastructure. With tighter authentication measures in place, you can prevent security breaches before they happen.
Keep Track of Users With Cloud Access
Make sure that when an employee leaves your business, you remove their cloud access rights through a comprehensive “off-boarding” process. Doing this will prevent them from taking your information with them when they leave. One quick way to do this is to employ centralized access management that will consolidate all of the user’s data into a single identity you can turn on and off. That way, your company’s administrators don’t have to check whether the departing employee’s access has been removed from each application they used. The off-boarding process prevents your employees from performing one last download, deletion, or modification that could expose or remove your business’s information. While you may want to trust your employees, taking this precautionary step will protect your business for the long run.
Train Your Employees
How much do your employees know about cloud computing and cybersecurity? You can assess how much they know, then provide training to fill in their knowledge gaps. They should learn how to identify phishing emails and similar scams that could cause security issues for your cloud environments. At Hi-Tek, we offer Security Awareness Training that covers these problems, and we send post-training assessments to your employees to check how effective the training sessions were.
Long Island IT Support
If you’re ready to take these steps to securing your cloud infrastructure, contact us today. We’ll work with your Long Island or New York City business to make sure your cloud services are safe from any security breach. Our managed IT services also can train your employees to identify security threats, and we can augment your IT department by sending you staffers who can help keep your data safe.
