Cloud Source

Taking a Multi-Pronged Approach to Cyber Security

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Given the preponderance of data in the cloud, cyber security has become a hot topic. Organizations developing cyber security strategies are on a mission to not only protect their data, but also to make the IT environment a little less complex.

One approach involves an overarching theme: don’t trust anything without first establishing strict verification standards. This is a wise approach because there are too many variables (mobile devices, IoT, etc.) involved in which cyber criminals can access information that can be damaging to your organization. What has emerged is a “zero trust” architecture that ensures data, network-wide, is protected through carefully monitoring identity and location, and inspecting network patterns and traffic logs.

Insider Threats

While organizations do everything they can to protect from outside threats, insiders must also be accounted for. Some of these issues are related to malicious intent, but many are associated with a basic lack of understanding of how cyber criminals are targeting employees, which leads to the mistakes that let them in.

If you’re not managing digital identities correctly, insider threats become much more of an issue. The same can be said of partners and contractors, the behaviors of whom must also be monitored. What cyber security teams seem to struggle with is educating individuals, continuing that education as the security landscape evolves, and integrating applications for safety that won’t negatively impact workflow. Access and control, therefore, become the sticking points.

With the right ratio of validation and insight, organizations can more easily authorize users while monitoring anomalies related to insider activity.

Finding the Right Tools

Among the top proactive and preventative measures you can take to bolster cyber security is multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA requires the user to present two or more pieces of evidence before they can log in to a system. Basically, it’s a process that makes you prove you are who you say you are. One of the more commonly utilized MFA solutions sends a random code to the user’s mobile phone, which is required during log in to provide access. This can make it exceedingly difficult for a cyber criminal to gain access to your cloud data.

Another method being used to protect data is micro-segmentation, which involves setting up perimeters in your network. Each zone of your network will be independently secure, meaning each zone will have different access requirements. This can stop a hacker, who might have broken in to one zone, from accessing the entire network.

At Cloud Source, we’re actively involved in assisting our clients with their cyber security protocols. We are your safe, secure place for all your technology needs, and we also provide disaster recovery services. Contact us and let’s talk about how we can help you develop a secure environment.

The Importance of Cloud Security in a New Era

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You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in an organization that says machine learning technology hasn’t benefited them in one way or another. At the same time, there has to be some caution practiced when using this technology due to the inherent threats it can open you up to. Cloud security professionals are developing new ways to combat these threats.

IT teams are already pushed to the limit by keeping their environments secure, but due to the fact that artificial intelligence technologies use a broader data source, cloud security professionals have to be more aware of the risks associated with the ways applications work. For example, attack vectors are still being revealed, and they can end up corrupting systems, and algorithms can be lost or stolen.

Addressing Protections

One of the best places to start is to consider how your most sensitive data is accessed and stored. What restrictions do you have in place, and do you have tracking mechanisms for seeing who accesses your data? This is something that has to be high on your list of priorities because knowing how your data is collected and accessed is critical in getting the most out of your artificial intelligence technology, but it’s also critical in protecting you from threats.

For your sensitive data, which when corrupted or stolen could result in significant business losses, you need to have alert systems in place and prioritize added layers of security for this data.

The Knowns and Unknowns

More than one cloud security professional has commented that there is no codified security testing mechanism in place for machine learning technology. However, knowing which attacks are most likely can be of use for a better approach to cloud security strategies.

First, consider how threats are able to get around a spam filter. Your employees rely on the spam filter to weed out the bad stuff, giving them a sense of security that when an email hits their inbox, it’s likely safe to open and click on links. This is among the more common threats that attackers have the most success with.

Next, your machine learning is built to work with specific data in specific ways. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have figured out how to work their way into your algorithms and make the technology work in ways you don’t want it to. Often, the attack happens when a model uses the data you’re capturing from end users and other public sources.

A third area to look into involves encrypting data because attackers are stealing it from model storage that is unsecured. Cybercriminals are also reverse engineering through a barrage of queries, which gives them a pattern to follow. Rather than stealing something, they’re actually able to build predictable models of their own.

Working with a trusted agent can help you develop more robust protections. At Cloud Source, we work with you to take the burden of security off your shoulders and supply you with strong cloud security solutions. Contact us and let’s discuss how we can keep your environment more secure.

How to Improve IoT Security

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The Internet of Things (IoT) has a nondescript moniker for a reason. Consider how many “things” are connected to your network today — even light bulbs are part of the global connected web. They might seem insignificant, but the smallest of things with an IP address needs to be secured, which is why IoT security has to be a higher priority.

The reason for making IoT security a priority is that when your “things” have an IP address and are connected to your network, they might also connect to your core business processes. While many of the items that are considered an IoT device are appliances, some will offer up more than typical appliance data — they’ll store data that is personally identifiable. If these are hacked, it could spell big problems for you, not only in fines, but also in damage to your reputation — which leads to losing trust from your clients.

Yet despite the importance of cyber security measures today, IoT devices have slipped through the cracks of an otherwise well-balanced security detail. Often, there is no oversight, no analysis or monitoring of IoT devices.

Where IoT Security Should Focus

Perhaps one of the reasons IoT devices tend to fall outside of the purview of traditional penetration testing is that they’re not as resilient as servers and other network infrastructure systems. Regardless, they need to be part of the process, so each device needs to be tested separately and with an eye on resiliency, which means taking a more cautious approach should be considered.

Integrating IoT Security

You’ve got security standards and controls already in place for your traditional system, so getting your IoT security standards to fit alongside might be a challenge. For example, it could be that you’ll have minimum requirements for alerting, passwords and other areas that are a non-issue with traditional systems, yet they become a stumbling block for your IoT devices.

Realigning your security standards might be the most efficient way to proceed. In many cases, this will include taking a fresh approach to your business continuity and disaster recovery process.

If you haven’t integrated monitoring and alerting to your strategy, now is the time, as having insight into what’s going on in your system is more important now than ever, especially considering that many attacks are so subtle and discrete they go undetected for months without a proper monitoring system in place.

Looking for an agent that can assist you in connecting to all the tools and services needed to bring your IoT security strategies to a better place? At Cloud Source, we’re that agent. Contact us and let’s talk about your unique needs and how we can address them.

Why You Need to Address Application Security

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In the age of constantly changing cyber security threats, enterprises are tightening up their prevention efforts. From training employees to recognize a phishing email to enforcing complex password requirements, each organization prioritizes their security approach differently. Some might count on keeping data within robust network firewalls, while others rely on managed service providers to handle security. What’s often not addressed is a strategy for application security.

Surprisingly, many enterprises don’t consider software applications to be a significant source of risk. While it’s the critical business applications that often sit at the center of what needs protecting in order for the company to continue to operate, the applications themselves often go unchecked.

The biggest risk related to application security is that applications often haven’t been examined for security flaws. Many mobile, web and client/server applications are used without any initial or regular monitoring for problems.

Why would such a critical set of tools go unnoticed in a strategic security plan? In many cases, IT may assume that the software is only an internal application or that it’s not storing or processing a set of critical data. They may also underestimate the importance of certain flaws, such as web server misconfigurations.

Additional security issues include remote file inclusion as well as login mechanisms that are poorly designed. Even when an enterprise does address software application security, it may be flawed, using quick vulnerability scans or suffering the limitations of manual analysis.

Another problem is that in cases where an organization has a plan for application security, they may not adequately use the tools they’re employing in their efforts. For instance, a security plan may only use one web vulnerability scanner, looking for weaknesses but failing to employ a web browser, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) proxy or other tools. When they don’t find any vulnerabilities using this approach, they may consider the application safe. The system is not without vulnerability; they simply didn’t look hard enough.

In other situations, application security falls through the cracks because nobody has been specifically assigned the duty of managing it. IT and security teams assume that the developers have fully vetted the solution, while developers assume that security is there to catch any problems they may have missed.

The following are some guidelines for creating a more secure software application environment:

Communicate the security goals: Ensure that everyone involved in the application development and life-cycle has a clear understanding of security goals and the role they play in supporting those goals.

Invest in training: Build awareness around the risk of unsecured applications and train employees on the proper ways to test and secure software applications.

Look for patterns: Do any problems seem to surface regularly or repeatedly?

Look for such patterns and develop policies and tools to address them.

Assign responsibility: Between security, developers and IT, determine who is responsible for testing application security and conduct regular reviews of policies and procedures surrounding software security.

For more information about securing your software applications or for guidance surrounding your comprehensive cyber security strategy, contact us at Cloud Source.

Five Steps for Securing Data in the Cloud

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Companies like yours are increasingly investing in cloud solutions, attracted not only by reduced costs, but also by the flexibility, agility, scalability and outsourced support they offer. While the potential benefits of migrating to the cloud can seem endless, there’s a big consideration that many teams neglect to address before the move. Securing data in the cloud requires a unique approach.

The cloud significantly broadens the security plane of any organization, particularly as it is often incorporated as a way to allow remote workers to log in from anywhere. You not only have data traveling outside of your network to the cloud solution, but it’s also being accessed from a fleet of mobile devices, introducing new vulnerabilities.

From a hacker’s perspective, the cloud is a tempting opportunity to snatch the data of companies that haven’t planned adequately for securing data in the cloud. Here are the steps you should include to prepare for a cloud migration:

Look at your existing security policies. Examine your comprehensive strategy for your in-house data servers, networks and other systems. What protections do you have in place for securing data? Create a plan to replicate that protection in the cloud.

Talk with your cloud provider. While you and the provider will likely share security responsibility, remember that it’s your data, and you don’t want to rely too heavily on someone else to protect it. Make sure your contract states security policies, including who is responsible for damages in the event of a breach. You should include your auditors in this conversation to determine what will meet their requirements in terms of security policy stringency.

Encrypt your data. Most companies are diligent about encrypting data that’s in their storage, and it’s likely encrypted in the cloud server as well. What often gets missed is the encryption of data in transit. Make sure you encrypt items as they move between your network, your cloud provider, and any third parties.

Secure endpoint devices: Whether it’s a smartphone, tablet or an Internet of Things (IoT) device, be sure that your devices are secure. Add complex passwords and multi-step authentication. You should also invest in appropriate training for employees, building awareness around cyber security and the importance of reporting a lost or stolen device.

Utilize best practices: The Cloud Security Alliance offers helpful guidelines for securing data in the cloud. Working systematically through a checklist can provide a way to prioritize measures, beginning with the broadest and most critical protections.

Implementing these five key steps can help your company make important strides toward securing your data in the cloud. For more information about successful cloud migration, contact us at Cloud Source. We can help you leverage the best solutions while also integrating a robust security strategy to protect your customer data and proprietary information assets.

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Chicago, IL 60661
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