Achieve Data Security even with a heterogeneous cloud setup

Globally, organizations are rapidly innovating to meet the increasing demands of digital transformations. Coming at the head of these transformations is cloud migration. Cisco predicts that by 2021 cloud data centers will process 94% of all workloads.  

Transforming to cloud services and platforms is becoming an imperative for businesses to thrive in a challenging economy. Cloud companies have stepped up by providing customers with a host of solutions, with each platform bringing its own uniqueness to the table. When enterprises are spoilt for choice, they mix and match to come up with the solution that best suits them – which in many cases could be a combination of cloud instances – in other words, a heterogeneous cloud. With so much emphasis on being cloud-ready, how are organizations managing the security of the data they save in these environments?  

First off there are a few common misconceptions that need to be dispelled. 

One common misconception is that cloud workloads are already “backed up” somehow by the cloud provider.  Another is that Ransomware doesn’t attack cloud infrastructures. The truth couldn’t be farther from these assumptions. In a survey, conducted by Wakefield Research for data protection firm Veritas, the average US company uses 16 cloud services but suffers from the complexity of managing the security of the heterogeneous infrastructure, with 42% of companies experiencing a ransomware attack, according to survey results. Being on a heterogeneous cloud adds an extra layer of complexity when it comes to data management.  

First off, it’s important to get a couple of things clear:  

• Understand that your cloud(s) destination are not doubling up as backup. Backing up your data is a separate task. 
• Understand that data redundancy does not equal data backup.  In other words Replication is not equal to Backup.  Say that to yourself, again! 

With those simple pointers, let’s look into some important and effective ways to secure your hybrid cloud backup and recovery – 

1. Backing up cloud data – Now that we have established that cloud doesn’t equate to backup, while backing up your cloud data, ensure that you’re saving it in an alternate cloud, or perhaps even on-premise. Backing up your data ensures that even if you are infected by Ransomware, you can still recover from it and not be held hostage by a nameless attacker. Take advantage of the heterogeneity you have to backup data to alternate cloud targets.   

1. Identify a backup solution that is cloud agnostic and works with equal facility on your workloads across cloud providers 

1. Encrypt your data. Use the strongest possible encryption mechanism when data is at rest.  For data in motion, make sure all traffic is flowing on https using TLS 1.2 with strong ciphers.  Identify a solution that not only encrypts the backup payload, but also gives you complete control over the encryption keys. 

Securing data in a heterogeneous setup may require a bit more planning, but isn’t really rocket science.  Common-sense rules apply here as well. Backing up your cloud data ensures you save costs on hefty compliance fines, ransomware costs and increases productivity.  

Parablu has worked with organizations across verticals, and across cloud providers. Talk to our experts today to learn how we can help you!