Security is always a major focus for any cloud deployment. With the consequences for failing in this area higher than ever - both financially and reputationally - making this a top priority is an essential part of any company's IT strategy.
While SaaS solutions are often at the heart of these efforts, as they’ll be the tools handling firms' most sensitive and confidential data, it's also vital that the underlying infrastructure isn’t overlooked.
Indeed, IaaS tools are increasingly important to many business' cloud environments. They provide virtualized computing resources, networking and storage services at a low upfront cost with high agility and scalability, making them an ideal fit for many firms in the current fast-evolving business landscape.
IaaS systems may become a more tempting target for criminals as they play increasingly prominent roles in many businesses. According to Gartner, this is the fastest-growing form of cloud computing, with the sector seeing a 37.3% increase in investment in 2019 to reach a value of $44.5 billion.
Demand for such services is also likely to have been boosted by the events of 2020. Sid Nag, research vice-president at Gartner, observed that many firms were forced into adopting public cloud services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and are unlikely to return to on-premises alternatives now they have experienced the benefits. He said:
This is likely to mean many more opportunities for hackers to exploit, especially as companies unfamiliar with the security requirements of the services come to the technology for the first time. Therefore, having a comprehensive plan for securing these tools is a must.
To secure your IaaS infrastructure, there are a range of areas that must be addressed, including cutting out common mistakes and taking a granular approach to who is allowed to access services. Here are a few best practices to keep in mind.
Any time data is moved between cloud environments, or from cloud to on-premises services or vice-versa, it could be vulnerable to interception or other unauthorized access. Therefore, tough encryption is vital, so even if data theft does occur, the information will be useless. Yet this is often something businesses fail to do. According to Palo Alto Networks, 43% of cloud databases are unencrypted.
There are a range of solutions for encrypting data that use IaaS systems. It can be done on-premises or in the cloud itself, using either the firm's own keys or those offered by IaaS providers. It's also essential that data is encrypted both at rest and when in transit.