Following the massive global digital transformation in the past two years, remote-working has become common across companies. But as employees work from home, they need to access cloud resources via personal devices, which expands the risks of a data breach.
Here are some causes and mitigation methods against data breaches:
How Does Cloud Data Leak?
Hackers are especially using phishing and brute force mechanisms to prey on employees from whom they steal login credentials.
In most cases, cloud service providers have top security infrastructure, which is hard to penetrate, leaving human flaws as the only vulnerability.
Even as information is transferred from the cloud to different gadgets, data packets can be spoofed and subjected to brute force password cracking methods.
Still, it is almost impossible to prevent employees from using public wifi, spreading their vulnerabilities to the services accessed.
How to Prevent Cloud Security Breaches
While a company may not fully control employees and customers, it may implement several measures at the organizational level to prevent most of the pitfalls.
Implementing an Identity and Access Management(IAM)
IAMs help prevents data interference, either by unauthorized employees or hackers. They help organizations limit specific resources to selected members, narrowing the risk of a cyber attack or employee error.
Besides, when sensitive data is only accessible by a few members, an organization may provide specialized training or precautionary rules to guide its handling.
Limiting Access by Departed Employees
Departed employees are often not cautious with their activities once they leave a company. For example, they become less careful with storing login credentials or who gains access to their devices.
Organizations should terminate data and intellectual property access by former employees quickly to minimize intrusion risks.
Devising a Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Due to the increased security concerns, MFAs have become so common that it would be irresponsible not to have them on an organization’s cloud infrastructure. It is one of the cheapest to employ despite its effectiveness.
MFAs make it harder for hackers to gain access using basic login info.
Real-time Activity Monitoring
Even if hackers gain access to a company’s cloud infrastructure, early detection of unfamiliar activities such as new login locations can help stop them before they cause damage.
Organizations should conduct a risk assessment to determine the proper infrastructure as different businesses have different security needs.
Continuous Anti-Phishing Training
Most hacking is facilitated by employees, who unknowingly give access to hackers. Therefore, providing continuous training against new hacking pitfalls can help mitigate most risks.
Still, the employees will gradually learn to identify unfamiliar social engineering tactics without necessarily having to be warned.
Regular Back-up
Most of the time, hackers would encrypt a company’s data worth billions to ask for ransom. Failure to comply with their terms might lead to a virus release on the data or permanent deletion. Sometimes, even employees can accidentally delete data.
But brands that regularly back up their data will have less to lose in such instances. One of the best options is to get a Cloud-to-Cloud backup.
Loss of data is not only costly but also a risk of regulatory compliance. It might cause a company to lose customers’ trust, which is hard to recover.
