How Hosting Your Data in The Cloud Can Be More Secure than In-House
Despite the many advantages of the cloud for businesses (not just large enterprises, but small and medium businesses as well) security is the chasm which has defied many companies from migrating their data away from their premises. The perception of risk sometimes seems justified when a high profile security breach takes place. Yet if you look at many of these hacker events, the fact remains that most of these events target companies for whom managing servers and data isn’t their core business.
Securing Inside the Firewall
Another common trend in information breaches is that many data loss events are often the result of the actions of internal employees, not necessarily from external hackers. Creating safeguards and policies inside your firewall is usually just as important, if not more so than where the “data at rest” is located.
In some cases there are inside purposeful breaches, or in others a computer is lost, or a mobile device. These are events where the cloud can mitigate, not accelerate the damage done by the breach. You can lock down user account access and “brick” devices, preventing them from being able to access cloud hosted databases. Cloud hosting makes data available anywhere, so the need for portable media is drastically reduced.
Constant Vigilance, Rapid Response
Cloud hosting providers like ServerMania have Network Operations Centers (NOC’s) in data centers with best-in-class security including:
- Firewalls
- Intrusion Prevention Systems
- Vulnerability Management systems at the perimeter of the network
- Regular penetration tests
- Multi-layer physical security defenses
- Security Event Monitoring system
- DDoS protection systems
- Malware protection systems
To a small business owner, all of these layers and forms of security technology seem overwhelming, or maybe even redundant. Yet, instead of trying to figure out what systems and/or services are most suitable for your systems, shifting your data management entirely to a hosting service provider can take the guesswork out of how to ensure your data is protected.
Do a Gut Check on Your Security Posture
If a data breach were to occur today, would you know how to mediate it, or even know that it had occurred? Server Mania’s NOC alerts us to any attempted penetration of our network, and we have people, processes and technology in place to make sure your information is safe.
If you are a visual person, check out this Cyber Threat Map to see how many attacks occur around the world in a single day. Many threats come from overseas, targeting businesses who underestimate the risk their data is at. As well as attempts at compromising your network, businesses should also consider the ramifications of a power outage or telecommunications failure in their area.
Hosted web applications and Database as a Service offers redundant power supply and telecommunications infrastructure, which for a small business could be crippling financially. Dedicated backup servers which are complex and expensive for businesses to deploy on their own can be provisioned in our data centre without operation.
Making Technology Work for Your Business
If providing web based services is vital to your business, but isn’t your business exactly, the opportunity to outsource hosting can reduce costs and improve your operating margins. Further, service performance for companies like game server hosting, foreign currency traders or digital media providers can focus on meeting your customer satisfaction objectives, as we deliver their content securely and at the speed which will keep them coming back for more.
Our infrastructure and services have been certified against the most thorough industry standards such as PCI, SSA16 and SAS70. Our Support Fleet constantly rises to the occasion to ensure your content is available when you need it.
If the news of the latest retail or financial services industry data breach is keeping you awake at night, or if a recent power outage is raising your stress levels, contact Server Mania today.
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