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5 ways private cloud enhances data privacy for businesses

✇CyberTalk
By: slandau

Contributed by April Miller, Senior Writer for Rehack.com.

Businesses rely on data, but much of this information requires privacy. Whether you’re dealing with proprietary trade secrets, customers’ personally identifiable information (PII) or financial data, you need to ensure that only authorized parties can see or access it. A private cloud is one of the best storage solutions to provide that confidentiality.

When thinking of the cloud, many people think of public clouds, which use the same resources, servers and networks for multiple clients. In contrast, a private cloud offers the same remote data storage and access, but you get your own dedicated server, network and resources. That setup has several advantages. Here are five of the most significant.

Reducing third-party risks

One of the biggest benefits of a private cloud over a public one is that it minimizes third-party vulnerabilities. Third-party breaches are common and jumped by 17% in 2021, after a history of steady increases. Protecting your data is often a matter of restricting how many parties are connected to it as these risks become more common.

Private clouds don’t remove third parties entirely, as you usually buy these services from a cloud provider. However, with fewer organizations and clients connected to the same infrastructure, there’s less risk of an unauthorized party gaining even accidental access to your most sensitive data.

In a private cloud, your security doesn’t fall to the offerings and standards of the cloud vendor, either. You can establish your own firewall, use security tools and more to prevent even your provider from having too much control over your data.

Providing more control

Relatedly, using a private cloud places control back into your hands. Because public clouds must support a wider range of businesses, they lack flexibility and often lock clients into preset network setups and security practices. With a private cloud, you’re the only client, so you can adapt the system to your needs instead of the other way around.

Different types of data carry unique privacy needs. You’re likely more familiar with these than anyone else, so having complete control over your cloud infrastructure helps you implement the security you need. This also lets you strike the ideal balance between privacy and functionality.

This freedom carries a responsibility, as your organization must understand and implement effective security controls to keep your data safe.

Improving reliability

Suppose you want to keep your data private. Where you host it and the tools you use to access it must also be reliable. On-premise systems may provide some privacy advantages, but are prone to failure. Using a private cloud instead gives you more uptime, preventing disruption-related security risks.

Even though a private cloud offers dedicated servers and networks, you still get multiple servers across which to spread your data and workflows. This distributed approach helps balance workloads to prevent outages, ensuring that your security programs stay online. It can also provide redundancy to further improve reliability and enable automatic backups.

Some private cloud vendors also offer tools like containerization. These data management methods help reduce strain on the network and improve performance, keeping your systems working as they should.

Enabling scalability

Similarly, private clouds offer more scalability over on-premise solutions. As your organization grows, so will your data. Maintaining consistent levels of privacy across those growing databases means expanding your capacity and throughput just as quickly.

This expansion is slow and expensive with on-premise solutions, as you have to buy and install all the hardware yourself. The cloud, by contrast, operates on a usage-based model, so you simply have to pay more to access additional resources. You can also quickly scale down to save money if you consolidate your data.

Complying with regulatory standards

A private cloud will also help you align your data privacy with relevant regulations. Data privacy laws are becoming increasingly common across locations and industries and may restrict where and how you can store various types of information. Private clouds offer the control and insight you need to comply with those standards.

A private cloud gives you more authority over your network’s architecture, storage locations and more, so you can adapt to meet changing regulations. Minimizing potential third-party access will also help meet these standards, which often require more scrutiny over who can see what.

Moving information from on-premise solutions to the private cloud can also boost transparency. When it’s easier to see where your data is and what can access it, it’s easier to recognize and fix vulnerabilities to meet various standards.

Consider a private cloud to boost your data privacy

Data privacy is one of the most important considerations for businesses today. Every organization has unique needs, but private clouds are a promising solution for many environments.

Where and how you store and use your data has a big impact on its privacy. Compared to on-premise solutions and public clouds, private clouds have many advantages in that regard. These systems can help you get the most out of your information while ensuring it stays secure.

If your organization needs to strengthen its security strategy, be sure to attend Check Point’s upcoming CPX 360 event. Register here.

Lastly, to receive cutting-edge cyber security news, best practices and resources in your inbox each week, please sign up for the CyberTalk.org newsletter. 

The post 5 ways private cloud enhances data privacy for businesses appeared first on CyberTalk.

Do you use OneDrive or Google Drive? Watch out for this malware

✇CyberTalk
By: slandau

Contributed by George Mack, Content Marketing Manager, Check Point Software.

A recent report has revealed that OneDrive is responsible for 30% of all cloud malware downloads, a far higher percentage than most other cloud applications. This is a dramatic increase of almost three times the amount from the previous year. This report highlights the need for greater security measures when using cloud storage applications.

Other cloud-based services that have been identified as vectors for malware downloads include SharePoint, which accounts for 7.2%, Gmail with 4%, Box with 3.6%, and Google Drive with 2.8%.

For the second year in a row, OneDrive has been the most widely used service for hosting malware. Hackers take advantage of these legitimate applications to upload and spread malware, as anyone can create an account on these sites. The associated brand recognition of Microsoft helps gain the victim’s trust to download the malware.

Thus, it is essential to scan any files originating from these sites. When a malicious file is downloaded from OneDrive, Drive, SharePoint, ShareFile, Box, or Dropbox, you need to have a security system in place that can detect and quarantine it to prevent it from spreading.

Ransomware is a particularly dangerous type of malware in this saga. Not only can it be delivered through OneDrive, but also to OneDrive, effectively targeting organizations’ data in the cloud and launching attacks on cloud infrastructure.

According to researchers, this approach involves using the built-in user-controlled versioning function to minimize the number of stored versions to one. This setting can be found in the versioning settings under list settings for each document library in OneDrive. However, setting the version limit to zero does not work for an attacker as existing versions can still be recovered by the user. If the limit is set to one, the file only needs to be encrypted twice before existing versions of the content are no longer accessible to the user. This gives the attacker the option of initiating double extortion if the file is exfiltrated prior to encryption.

With these threats in mind, what security solution can best prevent these attacks?

Check Point’s Harmony Email & Collaboration Suite provides a range of security measures to protect sensitive information and detect suspicious activity.

Data Leak Prevention and user behavior anomaly detection work together to identify compromised accounts and logins.

Content Disarm & Reconstruction (CDR) is an additional measure that helps protect end users from zero-day threats. This is accomplishing by removing any executable content from incoming files, rendering them safe for the recipient. All of this is done instantly and efficiently.

CDR is a process that works in real-time to break down files into their individual components, remove any elements that do not conform to the original file type’s specifications, and rebuild a “clean” version that can be sent to its intended destination. This process is beneficial because it removes zero-day malware and exploits, while avoiding the negative impacts on business productivity that come with sandbox detonation and quarantine delays.

Gartner, a leading research and advisory company, has declared that a Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR) system is an essential component of any email security solution. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, it is important for organizations to invest in a comprehensive email security solution that includes a CDR system.

Instances of malware sent through cloud services are rapidly increasing, posing a major risk for businesses. If you are not taking steps to protect these critical applications, then you are significantly heightening the chances of a major attack.

Check Point’s Harmony Email & Collaboration security solution is an invaluable tool for businesses of all sizes. It provides comprehensive protection against the latest email threats, such as phishing, malware, and ransomware. It also includes advanced analytics to detect and respond to suspicious activity. In addition, Harmony helps businesses comply with data privacy regulations, such as GDPR and HIPAA. With its advanced security features, Harmony Email & Collaboration can help businesses protect their data and ensure compliance with regulations.

If your organization needs to strengthen its security strategy, be sure to attend Check Point’s upcoming CPX 360 event. Register here.

Lastly, to receive cutting-edge cyber security news, best practices and resources in your inbox each week, please sign up for the CyberTalk.org newsletter. 

The post Do you use OneDrive or Google Drive? Watch out for this malware appeared first on CyberTalk.

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