Security Considerations for Cloud Architecture 
Moving your business to cloud architecture requires different thinking then some traditional IT On-Premise or Data Center based models. The top concern of most business executives and IT professionals is how to effectively secure cloud solutions.
Before adopting Cloud Solutions an organization should first understand the security considerations specific to Cloud Architecture. Below are six areas of high-level consideration or questions that an organization must ask themselves before moving cloud based solutions.
Compliance – Will my organization maintain its compliance obligations? E.g.: Specific Industry Standards, Vendor Standards, Customer Standards, Etc.
Risk Management – Is my organization exposed to any additional risks and are they acceptable and manageable? Some considerations are; location, shared IT resources, does the service provider have mature policies and procedures, SLA’s, Incident Response, etc.
Identity and Access Management – Identity is main control factor and consideration for cloud solution security. E.g: Access Control, Federation, RBAC, Two-Factor Authentication, SSO and Profile Management.
Data Protection – You will need to identify all data you must protect. The includes data at rest on user devices and data at rest at your premise or the cloud provider. It also includes data in transit to and from those devices and their locations. E.g: Redundancy, Encryption of; communications, protocols, storage, databases, key management, etc.
Operational Security – An organization will need to map many of their internal processes to the cloud and potentially increase coverage in areas specific to their business or exposure. These processes or applications might include auditing and logging, security monitoring, access control, use of the providers threat protection services or consideration of IDS or IPS and/or Layer 7 inspection servers or devices.
Endpoint Protection – The topic of IT Security tops most organization concerns when considering the cloud. End-users are the weakest link in the security chain. It is very important to use utilize top-tier endpoint security software because your end users will become more exposed to the internet and possible consume resources from multiple cloud service providers.
SkyByte’s highly experienced staff can help your organization prepare and migrate to cloud services offerings such as CSPs, Microsoft Azure or AWS through a comprehensive Cloud Adoption Framework.
