Current Trends in Cloud AWS/Security By Benjamin Roussey
Cloud computing has changed the way information stored and shared over the Internet. Even without realizing, we use cloud computing every single moment. Sending emails on the phone, syncing the computer with the car, uploading photos on Instagram – all of these are made possible by cloud computing.
Cloud computing is effective, affordable, and hassle free. It’s got a quick disaster recovery system, easy shareability, and enables remote working. Instead of maintaining local servers, it is far easier to store data on cloud servers. No wonder large organizations have all switched to cloud computing, because of the obvious benefits.
With huge data come huge responsibilities and security concerns (yes, this is from Spiderman but all three of those movies were weak and Spiderman II and III were especially atrocious but let’s not digress anymore). When you upload data to the cloud, the data is stored within secure data centers.
While the data centers could be located anywhere in the world, some countries require the data centers be located in the same country where the data originated. That’s not all. Cloud data storage often comes with a lot of compliance requirements, particularly when storing sensitive information like financial or medical details. Needless to say, with so much personal data stored on the cloud, security is a big deal.
We all saw the amazing Transformers movie when Frenzy was digging into the cloud about information regarding the All Spark when he was on Air Force One. There are threats out there!
Cloud security follows the same basic principles as IT security. But cloud security has a lot of advantages compared to IT security. In IT security, the data centers have to be located in-house. This results in higher costs and slower scaling process, affecting the efficiency.
On the other hand, cloud security can have third party data centers located anywhere in the world, requires minimal to no infrastructure investment, and results in lower cost and higher efficiency.
Several organizations have already shifted from the traditional IT structure to a cloud-based model. In 2018, cloud computing strategies are expected to grow at 20 percent. With such a rapid growth in a short time, organizations are implementing several cloud security features. Trends keep coming and going, changing over the course of time. Some of the currency cloud security trends are as follows:
Artificial Intelligence & Automation
With the growing demands of cloud computing, IT security experts are constantly creating newer and better software, but managing the activity of every software is difficult for a small team to handle. When there are multiple channels with several activities going on at the same time, companies rely on automation to monitor the activities.
Even with automation, it can be overwhelming for both IT experts and end users to keep track of the connections, changes, and threats. This is when automation and artificial intelligence go hand in hand.
When machines are taught to monitor and manage multiple software and their activities, it is a lot easier for the company to focus on other tasks. With machine learning, automation is made possible even when the team is small. Both automation and AI are big trends in cloud security.
Integrating New Security Technologies
Cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are known to provide better security measures than most others. This has been made possible by exceptional third party security solutions that were earlier available separately but are now being adopted by cloud providers. Integrating third party security solutions have become a major trend in cloud security.
Whenever a leading cloud platform notices a brilliant security solution, they adopt it and integrate it into their own platform. AWS has done it with the Web Application Firewall, which monitors all outgoing and inbound traffic and blocks anything which doesn’t meet the guidelines. Azure has done it with Amazon Inspector, a security solution for Windows and Linux.
Ransomware
There is no end to cyber crimes. When one threat is solved, another emerges – just watch the amazing movie Blackhat to know all about that! The cloud security experts are constantly on the lookout for stronger security solutions to make sure the stored data is safe. One of the biggest Internet threats today is ransomware. It is malware that seizes your device and denies you access until you pay a price.
The ransom is usually money, but there is no guarantee that paying the price will give you back your access. The worst part is that there is no way to identity the people behind the menace.
Ransomware is a huge threat to cloud data centers, which store critical information from several clients. If hackers seize the servers, they could not only get access to all the private information, but also demand a big ransom. One of the most vital trends in cloud security, therefore, is to find a solution to ransomware.
There was an episode in The Good Wife in season 6 about this. You need to have Kalinda on your security team!
IoT
The Internet is everywhere. With devices getting smarter, you can now connect your car, your watch, your mattress, your phone, and even your clothes and accessories to the internet.
The Internet of Things – regular devices connecting to the Internet over WiFi – has made private information even more vulnerable to hackers. WiFi networks are hacked and identifying information stolen. Such occurrences are all too common these days. The IoT is another reason why cloud security is working hard to establish certain standards that would keep information secure.
Cloud computing is here to stay, and newer cloud security solutions ensure your information remains safe while you reap the benefits of convenient data storage.