One word, yes!
OK… you and your clients need more information than just a simple yes. But, for those busy people with a To-Do list a mile long, there’s your answer; yes, the Cloud can help with the cybersecurity and physical security of your clients’ technology infrastructure and important data.
Now, for those people who crave more information, here it is. Back to the question at hand. Can the Cloud help with your client’s IT security?
Here’s What You Can Tell Your Clients About The Cloud & Security
Before we dive into this topic a bit deeper, let’s make sure that your clients understand what the Cloud actually is. For the 5 or 6 people reading my articles for the very first time and wondering, what is this Cloud that Jeanne speaks of?…
Well, tell your clients that the Cloud is just a fancy, industry buzzword for a technology infrastructure that resides in a central location; it can be private (for no one else but your client) or multi-tenant (that they share with others).
The Cloud is a collection of computing devices that reside outside of their office or off their physical computers. Pretty simple? Trust me; us IT people can make things more complicated. We want to keep this simple for your clients.
How Does The Cloud Help With Security?
Here are some of the main ways; there are many, but we’ll keep it to just the top ways the Cloud will help keep your client’s data and information safe.
- The Cloud Is Professionally Managed: Cloud infrastructure services are managed by a team of professional technical experts. Did your clients hear about the recent Capital One data breach? It was human error that caused that massive data breach; a misconfigured open-source firewall. If they trust their IT infrastructure to a team of professional cloud experts, these issues become a thing of the past.
- The Cloud Enhances Business Continuity: Not all security issues can be avoided. After all, there is no such thing as 100% security. We like to think we come pretty close, but nothing can be 100% secure. The bad guys out there will always find a way in. A few years ago, the San Francisco Municipal Railroad lost millions in revenue from a ransomware attack. How do you protect against issues like this? A professionally managed cloud service will have enhanced business continuity measures in place to ensure if a breach occurs, it can be locked down quickly and restored even faster.
- The Cloud Provides Better Physical Security: Keep the bad guys out. Not just over the Internet, but physically keep them out. Serious players in the cloud services community invest millions of dollars in physical security from secure locations, biometric security solutions, locked cabinets, facial recognition systems, and much more. I’m sure we all heard the saying “secure as Fort Knox.” Many of the world’s top cloud service providers are as secure as Fort Knox or more.
What Else Can You Tell Your Clients About Security In The Cloud?
Private Clouds. Private cloud services are protected behind a firewall for enhanced security. They’re dedicated to your clients’ organizations only. They’ll still have complete control over their cloud solutions. This is an attractive option for companies that store sensitive data.
Backup Data To The Cloud. Your clients should back up their data frequently to the Cloud and test the ability to recover it. They need a backup copy of their data if it’s stolen or accidentally deleted. They should back up to both an external drive in their office and a remote, secure, online data center in the Cloud. If their external drive is corrupted or damaged, they will always have access to their backup in the Cloud.
They Should Consider Using Microsoft Office 365 In The Cloud. Office 365 is a platform that’s built with industry-leading security features including encryption as rest in transit. This is reflected in more compliance certifications worldwide than any other productivity platform. Building upon this platform, Office 365 offers additional features like Advanced Threat Protection, multi-factor authentication and data loss prevention, giving your clients the power to further secure their environment.
Cloud-Based Wide Area Networks Increase Security & High Availability. Inform your clients about innovative Wide Area Networks (WANs). These are broadband connections supplemented with software overlays. They are called SD-WANs or Hybrid WANs; and they provide security (encryption and segmentation), redundancy (for high availability) and centralized control (for maintenance and management).
Along With The Cloud, Your Clients Also Need Employee Security Training. Just ask AT&T about the importance of training and trust for their employees. Recently a Pakistani man was charged with bribing AT&T employees to plant malware on their devices. How do you protect your clients against this? One way is to make sure that their staff undergoes cybersecurity awareness training, and they practice the “see something, report it” security mindset.
These are just a few ways the Cloud (and more) help keep your clients’ businesses secure. Remember, nothing is 100% secure. But having their technology investments in the Cloud is 100% more secure than keeping them in their office or the basement of their home. Tell them that they should invest in the protection of their business IT systems starting today.