How Secure Are Cloud-Based Services?

Cyberattacks are on the rise because more of us are spending more time online — surfing, chatting, scrolling, shopping, banking and working — and criminals are devising more ways to break into networks and our computers to steal our personal data. While the world's focus this year has been firmly on coronavirus, another pathogen, of the digital kind, has been infecting machines all over and causing mayhem and financial loss. 

Cybercriminals are unleashing an arsenal of malicious tools each day that are designed to exploit weaknesses in companies' systems, gain entry and wreak havoc. They include viruses, trojan horses, worms and an array of other nefarious methods used to snatch data, such as phishing, ransomware and man-in-the-middle attacks. 

They can bring a network to a crippling halt by taking over people's computers and turning them into "zombies" that are used in a distributed denial-of-service attack that overwhelms and paralyses servers. 

All told, these and other kinds of attacks on companies and organisations are costing billions, and they’re happening all the time. Companies everywhere are racing to protect themselves from these very real risks, which can include enormous fines for failing to protect personal data, and many are wondering if cloud-based services are the best solution. 

What Are Cloud-Based Services, and Why Should We Use Them?

Millions of companies have shifted their on-site IT networks and systems to the cloud, using such services as Microsoft's Azure to operate in and store and backup their data. They're using everything from cloud-based email to office-productivity software — that staff located in different parts of the world can use to collaborate on in real-time — to the many programs and apps that companies need, such as those for time-keeping, accounting, messaging, sales-tracking and others. 

The direct advantages are of flexibility, far lower costs and ease of scalability without having to incur large capital outlays. Staff can access the apps they need to work from wherever they happen to be, and they no longer have to go to a physical location (an office) to use a computer and do their job. 

There's no need to purchase programs and apps and download them to on-site machines, as you pay a fee to use cloud-based apps and programs and they're hosted on the remote servers that collectively comprise the cloud. And when you have more sales and orders and you want to rapidly expand, the cloud gives you the ability to do just that, allowing start-ups the kind of market access that firms many years ago could only have dreamed of. 

But how secure is this beneficial way of working that countless companies and organisations have adopted in recent years?

Security in Cloud-Based Services

Trying to keep up with the latest threats to an in-house IT network can be a full-time job and a real headache. It can also be expensive, as you need to employ costly IT staff to monitor the network for threats and fix it when something goes wrong. 

With cloud-based services, the costs and effort are practically eliminated, as solutions like Azure do it all for you. Microsoft, for instance, spends around $1 billion a year on its cloud services to ensure they're secure from hackers, and it employs thousands of people around the world to monitor and protect its network and client data. 

And if you use a cloud provider like Azure, you'll be better positioned to be in legal compliance with measures to protect consumer and client information because Microsoft is leading the industry with more than 90 regional and global compliance certifications.

How We Can Help

Why struggle with your own IT security, potentially putting your company at risk, when you can vastly benefit from the might of cloud-based security to keep hackers at bay? How secure is your IT system? Are there steps you can take to better protect it, including using cloud-based services?

Get in touch for a free consultation with the experts at ITRM today and find out.