According to Cybersecurity Ventures, the annual global cost of cybercrime is expected to reach $8 trillion in 2023. This enormous figure is significantly underestimated. During 2021, ransomware attacks alone caused U.S. financial institutions to lose nearly $1.2 billion in costs. As enterprises were struggling to keep afloat in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic and disruptions of business and supply chains, they could not pay enough attention to data breaches, ransomware attacks, and major IT outages. One of the outcomes was Log4j attempted cyberattacks reached an all-time high in Q4 2021 . Government/military and communications were the sectors that suffered the most attacks.
Data security is becoming increasingly vital to every enterprise, regardless of its size or domain! Thus, the next question is: What strategy should enterprises adopt to ensure effective data security?
- Should organizations use a cloud security vendor that manages and hosts their network offsite?
- Would keeping physical servers in their office as part of an on-premises security system be beneficial?
- Perhaps a hybrid approach is the best option for enterprise companies?
The following are the four most important things to keep in mind when implementing a data security strategy.
- The risk of losing data:
Data loss can be caused by various factors, including human error, hardware failure, or software malfunction, and its consequences can be severe for businesses. In fact, studies have shown that up to 60% of small and medium-sized enterprises that experience data loss never recover from it. In addition, organizations that lose customer data may face legal action and fines for failing to comply with data protection regulations.
To prevent such losses, many organizations have turned to cloud storage and adopted Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP) systems. These systems ensure that sensitive data is encrypted before being sent to approved applications in the cloud. Typically, DLP measures remove confidential information before files are uploaded to the cloud, thus protecting data during transfer and storage. Additionally, most cloud providers offer policy-building capabilities that enable enterprises to safeguard their information against accidental loss.
- Scalability:
Organizations that rely on on-premises infrastructure often need to enhance their security measures, which can be a costly and resource-intensive process. In contrast, cloud solutions provide greater scalability and cost savings, as many companies have turned to external backups, segregated storage, and replicated virtual machines that are more affordable than building and maintaining an in-house infrastructure. - Data Compliance:
In regulated industries like healthcare, finance, and legal, utilizing cloud computing requires adherence to strict regulations. Failure to comply and subsequent data breaches can result in financial losses and damage to the organization’s reputation. To protect cloud data in such scenarios, encryption, access control, endpoint security, and monitoring can be easily implemented.
To assist customers in meeting compliance requirements such as HIPAA, CCPA, GDPR, and others, several cloud providers have developed multilayered security strategies. These strategies enable customers to comply with regulations and avoid costly audits while keeping expenses lower than if they had commissioned their own security audits.
- Increased availability:
By transitioning to the cloud, data is dispersed across multiple geo-independent data centers, providing system redundancy. Instead of replicating data in a single data center, it is spread across numerous data centers. This ensures that in the event of a data center failure, the data is automatically transferred to a backup data center. Failover switches occur to a backup database, server, or network when the primary system fails or is shut down for maintenance.
Cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure offer availability protection through virtualization, which allows them to rapidly move virtualized servers from one data center to another if a failure occurs. On-premises systems, on the other hand, usually rely on two physical servers that are swapped out in the event of a disruption. These measures would be rendered ineffective in the event of a wider network outage or fire.
To maintain the effectiveness of backups, many cloud storage vendors conduct regular and automated data integrity tests.
In terms of securing enterprise data, cloud computing seems to be the best approach.
Get started now with your cloud and data security journey
Exciting news for enterprises looking to move to the cloud! The Azure File Migration Program has made data migration a breeze. In partnership with Data Dynamics, the program enables zero-license cost migrations into Azure, allowing organizations to securely migrate their unstructured files, Hadoop, and object storage data into Azure without incurring additional costs. This means no separate migration licensing is needed! Check out our website to learn more about this exciting program.
But that’s not all! With Data Dynamics’ Insight AnalytiX 1.4, an enterprise can enhance their data protection and security processes. The upgrade includes flexible and scalable data discovery, deep analytics, and reduced data vulnerability, providing maximum accuracy in PII/sensitive data discovery and upgrade remediation functionality. Learn more about the latest functionalities of Insight AnalytiX here.
For any queries or interests, feel free to reach out to us at solutions@datdyn.com
