Answers to Your Cloud Security Concerns

Cloud safety was once the subject of frequent debate. Cloud-based data isn’t stored in the hard drive of your phone or desktop; it’s in servers owned by big companies and made available to you through the internet. That concerns a lot of businesses. Why should we trust our important documents and data with these outside servers?

Despite these apprehensions, the number of companies migrating their enterprise software to the cloud has grown exponentially, and the trend isn’t slowing down. That’s because cloud computing is a cost-effective option that stores large datasets and offers mobility for users on the go. But few people know about an additional benefit of the cloud: data security. Businesses should trust the cloud, because their data is likely to be safer in external servers than in-house hardware. We’ll explain how the cloud secures your data and provide methods to further protect your enterprise software instance.

What Makes Cloud-Hosted Data Secure?

Cloud vendors know about all the skepticism surrounding cloud security, so they pay a considerable price to protect data with advanced encryption. As a result, data is safer in the cloud than on-premises. Users don’t have to spend time on encryption and updates—cloud vendors will do that for you, ensuring that data is safe and the system is running the latest version with proper patches in place. Plus, what if a natural disaster tears through your office, destroying your hardware? You can at least rest assured that your data remains safe in the cloud.

Additionally, since Epicor offers flexible deployment options, businesses can choose from different methods of cloud hosting, allowing them to make the decision that works best for their specific security needs. However, the easiest, safest option is often the public cloud. According to Alert Logic, the public cloud experiences the fewest security threats. Public clouds provide phenomenal scalability and flexibility. By hosting all clients through the same system, the public cloud offers a large amount of overhead. Some platforms, such as Microsoft Azure, also make considerable investments in security and maintenance.

But What About Those Reports of Data Leaks?

We’ve all heard a report about data stolen from cloud servers at some point, but when you investigate behind the headlines, it turns out that the cloud itself isn’t always to blame. In the first place, nobody’s data is 100 percent safe. There’s always the possibility of hacks, but as we’ve already touched on, the possibility is actually lower when you host software in a public cloud.

Additionally, whenever a business implements software, whether on-premises or in the cloud, it must also put together a strategy to maintain security. Failure to do so can prevent even the top cloud vendors from keeping your information safe. So the next question is. . .

How Should Businesses Develop a Cloud Security Plan?

Even as more and more businesses move applications to the cloud, far too many intend to handle network security just as they handle on-premises operations. Such a plan could prove disastrous. The cloud is different from on-prem systems, so how can users expect to manage security the same way for both?

To help you get started with your cloud security plan, we’ve provided a few recommendations:

• Conduct risk vs. value assessments for each application to understand the internal risks your company might incur when moving to the cloud.
• Deploy security tools that are native to the cloud and capable of protecting web apps and cloud workloads. Other security tools fail to protect users from the sources of the vast majority of cloud attacks.
• Research cloud providers. Working with a company that has an immense record of data breaches puts your company at risk.
• Block access to unknown, potentially harmful programs by whitelisting, a process which identifies the applications that are approved to run in a software instance.

Wrap Up

Still wary of moving to the cloud? Datix has your back. In over 20 years as software leaders, we’ve worked with many manufacturers and distributors to ease them into cloud-hosted systems. Additionally, we go the extra mile by providing cloud-hosted software integrations through our flagship integration solution, Unity. Unity connects a variety of software—including ERP, CRM, eCommerce and Marketing Automation—into a streamlined system that enhances efficiency and transparency.

Don’t fear the cloud. Contact Datix’s expert consultants today, and discover why the cloud is the future of enterprise software!