If you search the word 'Cloud', you get synonyms like darkness, fog, gloom, puff, and even pea soup, with verbs like distort, obscure, and puzzle. Those are connotations that I really don’t want to associate with my data. But nowadays, with the Cloud being so popular, I feel badly talking behind its back.
THE TERMINOLOGY
If you are curious about who coined the terms Cloud and Cloud Computing, check out this article from the MIT Technology Review, Who Coined 'Cloud Computing'?, that describes where it all began. In 2011, the term appeared 48 million times on the internet, marking “a historic shift in the IT industry”.
The good thing about Cloud terminology is that everyone now generally understands what it is referring to: it is data storage that does not reside locally or on-premise—essentially a ‘rebranding’ of the internet. Except for vendors and others who use it to describe older or outdated technologies (known as ‘cloud washing’), there are no longer many questions about it. There. Done
THE REQUIREMENTS
I don’t want to disappoint by calling it simple, though, especially when it comes to securing that off-premise data. I use the Cloud regularly—as most of us do, even if we are unaware—and RedLegg has amazing Cloud offerings in its cybersecurity product line. Managed security and testing services such as SIEM Monitoring and Cloud Security Posture Assessments are required in the Cloud age to maintain data integrity and keep attackers at bay.
THE BENEFITS
Cloud SIEM monitoring and management helps keep costs down for remote offices that are necessarily segregated or small-scale, and for medium-sized businesses where a full-on, integrated box configuration is just too much cost to justify or maintain.
- Cloud SIEM allows application of security standards employed at the enterprise level to smaller-scale organizations.
- Cloud Posture Assessments provide that important step back to really analyze where all of your data is located, and how that storage may affect data privacy and customer agreements.
At the end of the day who is responsible for the data that storing? The cloud provider or your company? Not only that, how soon could you detect a breach after it has occurred? New regulations, especially in the European Union, specify a strict time limit on breach reporting.
LOVING THE CLOUD
I must admit that I feel like I should no longer need to create presentations and marketing slicks that define “Cloud”. But I do need to make sure my customers know how I can help them keep their Cloud data secure. So, dear Cloud, I do indeed like you and thank you for all that you do—even though I wish to strengthen you and your concept a bit.
