Data security is a concern for businesses across the globe. From startups to large corporations, the implications of a data breach can lead to the demise of a business, both in terms of reputation and financial impact.
In fact, a recent study highlighted the risk, revealing that the average cost of a data breach has risen 6.4% during the last year and now stands at $3.86 million. In addition, a larger breach of over 1 million records could cost somewhere in the region of $350 million.
As such, businesses across the globe are searching for new solutions, from investing in the latest software and security measures to increasingly popular cloud solutions. However, with such a vast amount of sensitive data stored in the cloud, many have started to question just how safe and secure these services are, and whether they can provide the answer that businesses are looking for.
The Benefits Of The Cloud
Undoubtedly, there are a number of benefits for businesses that choose to utilize cloud solutions. This includes:
Lower IT costs: Depending on the service chosen, contracts for cloud services often include software upgrades, reducing the need to pay for maintenance and make ongoing investments.
Promotes business growth: previously, scaling up a business would have required a large investment in infrastructure, but using the cloud allows companies to grow with ease.
Continuous operation: storing data externally ensures that should your business be subject to a power cut or crisis, it can continue to operate remotely, keeping your company open for business.
Safety Measures
However, while offering many benefits, if you do choose to use the cloud, just how safe is your company’s data?
When it comes to the cloud, the major risk for businesses is security. For example, when storing data remotely, there is a chance that it could be lost or stolen. However, cloud providers take steps to protect data, with the first being encryption. Whether the data is being stored or in use, the entire process is encrypted, providing protection at all times. Furthermore, businesses can choose if they would like to control their own encryption access keys.
In addition, cloud providers also regularly practice two-factor authentication for passwords and utilize sharding – a process whereby files are divided into small blocks of data. After being encrypted, these blocks are stored separately. This ensures that should there be a data breach, hackers would only be able to decrypt random chunks of data, as opposed to entire files.
Finally, with institutions across the globe concerned with privacy, many are concerned with trusting an external source to store sensitive data. However, providers are continually working to increase security measures, with advances in AI set to further enhance security.