Enterprises are leaping onto the cloud bandwagon, and it comes as no surprise today. That is because cloud storage provides an ever-increasing versatility. These popular and powerful tools meet the growing computing needs of business houses and get rid of their storage needs. In contrast, at the same time-saving thousands of dollars, would otherwise be required to meet the expenses of the business IT needs. With cloud services offering a plethora of services like affordability, easy usage, and remote accessibility, it has high demand among organizations looking for storage solutions. But with good things comes the apparent disadvantages and cloud services are no different. Using cloud storage and file-sharing apps have its inherent security risks, and that is aptly put forward by the IT experts who have forewarned of the impending dangers and cloud security risks in the adoption of these cloud services by enterprises worldwide.
Top 7 Cloud Security Risks
Here we list out some of the cloud security risks that need to be addressed by organizations opting for cloud services
- No Control over Cloud Data: The enterprises have quickly and happily accepted cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc., as a part of their routine business activities, but what they are not aware of is the loss of control over sensitive data. When the data is pulled out of the office, or IT premises through the means of third-party file-sharing services, then there is an imminent risk of data leakage that is much beyond the control of the organization.
- Data Leakages: The organizations are aware that the cloud is a shared resource, and it is a multi-user environment, there are chances that the data may be leaked. Also, since it is a third-party service, most businesses fear that their data may be at potential risk of being viewed or mishandled.
- Malicious Insiders: Disgruntled employees in any organization are the leading cause of the highest percentage of reported data leaks, and it so happens because the companies are in the dark about their employee activities. An employee, either for money or a personal grudge, may steal the data. It can be copied to a particular storage device and sold to rivals, thus exposing the vulnerable side of using cloud services.
- Security Risks Due to BYOD Work Culture: Bring Your Device (BYOD) is something that every company has to adapt to provide flexibility to the employees and hence increase productivity. But with the implementation of BYOD came the risk of data security through weak passwords and misused or stolen devices. Also, one primary concern in the case of BYOD is the difficulty in tracking and monitoring the employee devices without which there is every possibility of a data breach.
- User Credentials in Cloud: The main draw of using cloud services by organizations is the unlimited storage it offers. But this draw has a drawback too; that data is stored in a shared environment, and there is every possibility of data breaches through third parties. Though there is strong security in the form of user credentials, the fact is that even the user credentials are stored in the cloud. So if the individual users’ password habits are weak, then this may lead to a compromise in the credentials, thus resulting in data leaks and putting the enterprise security at stake.
- Identification Numbers: Passport number, Driver’s License, Patient-Identification number, social security number, credit card number- all these form the PII through which a person can be identified.
- Any Compliance Violations and Other Regulatory Actions: Many of the organizations that store personal customer data fall under the gambit of industry regulations like HIPAA for private health information and FERPA for private student records. It is a must that the concerned organizations follow strict compliance procedures and audits to adhere to the security protocols. But sometimes BYOD implementation puts the security at risk, which may have severe repercussions on compliance measures.
How Can CASB Help?
Considering cloud security risks, immediate action is needed by enterprises to curtail their ill effects. CloudCodes CASB solutions have come to the rescue of many such firms, who have deployed customized CASB solutions to combat any such cloud security issues.
Cloud Access Security Broker is currently a necessary bit of any organization’s cybersecurity framework. Organizations utilizing cloud applications for efficiency, coordinated effort, and capacity inevitably undergo a certain set of challenges for working in the cloud. Using CASB resolves vast numbers of these difficulties by giving unequaled security, visibility, and access command to conduct cloud applications.
Over a while, CASB has been able to successfully resolve security issues that enterprises are encountering while storing their data on cloud computing.