Cloud Hosting

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A common misconception in the IT industry is that traditional on-premise systems are inherently more secure than those hosted in the cloud. There are many benefits of cloud hosting, like eliminating the time and effort associated with infrastructure maintenance while also providing enhanced security to your organization. In this piece, Ill focus on the security aspect to relieve any concerns organizations may have about updating to a modern cloud-hosted system. While some of what Ill cover here is specific to how we provide hosting services, the vast majority are standard across the industry.

Before we delve into standard cloud security practices, lets talk a little about the perception that on-premise systems provide greater security. Its understandable; its a system your organization controls, and control gives the illusion of security. Theres a sense of safety behind your organizations firewall, but security at the perimeter does not protect against internal threats. Whether that means a deceptive email that shouldnt be opened, a disgruntled employee, or a vulnerability created by lack of updates, there are plenty of opportunities to wreak havoc from within.

Reason #1: Constant Vigilance

A good comparison to the cloud hosting industry is the autonomous vehicle industry. Both are relatively new technologies that are subject to heightened visibility in the public eye. In the same way a self-driving car accident sets back the entire industry, a large-scale security breach of a cloud hosting service could cause major damage to how the technology is perceived. Additionally, the security of cloud-hosted systems is inherently questioned rather than inherently trusted like it typically is for on-premise systems. For these reasons, security is always part of the conversation and a top priority for cloud-hosted systems - which leads us to the next point.

Reason #2: Hosting Provider Accountability and Expertise

With cloud-hosted systems, security accountability and expertise responsibilities are transferred offsite. Keep in mind that your on-premise IT infrastructure is only as strong as your own IT professionals. Joe in IT is really great, but if he gets the flu and crucial updates dont get applied as a result, that could spell disaster for your important data. With cloud hosting, youre utilizing a team of professionals dedicated to protecting your information at all costs through your hosting services provider. Youre also protected by public cloud providers like Amazon Web Services that have top-notch physical security and network security including many built-in features such as mechanisms to prevent Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks.

The Scale of AWS:

As I mentioned earlier, on-premise systems are typically highly focused on ingress and egress points to protect from external attacks. That leaves systems open to internal issues. Its like the human body; it doesnt matter how thick your skin is, if someone at the heart of your organization clicks a link or opens an email they shouldnt, everything can fall into chaos. The security philosophy in cloud-hosted systems is usually more holistic than on-premise; access to internal systems even from other internal systems is highly restricted.

Info Tech takes a number of actions to ensure security within our cloud hosting services. These elements arent necessarily universal, but the following are actions we take to ensure added security within its cloud hosting services:

Hopefully, this information helps correct the common misconceptions about security in a cloud-hosted system. If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to me at marty.provost@infotechfl.com.

Read the rest here:
3 Reasons Cloud Hosted Systems are More Secure Than You Think - Engineering News-Record