5 cloud security basics and best practices – CSO Online

Cloud computing has transformed the way businesses work and continues to disrupt traditional business models. IDC predicts that by 2023 public cloud spending will more than double, growing from $229 billion this year to nearly $500 billion.

Its no secret that migrating to the cloud can deliver significant cost and efficiency gains. You can spin up cloud instances in minutes and can scale up or scale down resources as needed. At the same time, you only pay for what you use while avoiding high upfront hardware costs and maintenance.

Lets not forget. Youre storing corporate data on someone elses computer -- that you control, but its still owned by a third party. Even though your cloud service provider environment is highly secure, whats inside your cloud (applications and data) is your own responsibility.

Cloud computing security is on boardroom agendas as its impact can have serious consequences on corporate reputation and shareholder value. Data moving to the cloud beyond the traditional perimeter has led to the expansion of the attack surface. As more and more sensitive information gets stored on the cloud, cloud resources will be increasingly targeted by cyber criminals.

As organizations move to the cloud, they will have to assume new responsibilities and develop and adapt processes to combat a multitude of unknown threats.

The secret to better cloud security is assuming that there is no security at all while taking stock of your entire security posture.

There are several elements to public cloud security and it can be difficult to figure out where to start. If youre already on the cloud or are planning on moving on to one, here are five best practices you can follow to safeguard your public cloud adoption.

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5 cloud security basics and best practices - CSO Online