Head in The Cloud(s)

Who wouldn’t want to be able to access and share information freely from a place of endless storage?

Cloud computing has become a household name, with businesses moving either to the cloud or they are there already.  A place where you can store, share and keep important data. How or where the hardware and software is located doesn’t matter to you, as long as you can access, add and store your information, you as the user, are in internet bliss. This way of storing information has become the way forward due to it being available “on-demand”. Cloud providers have options for public or private access, depending on what you are using it for.

Some people like the security of having something tangible i.e. a hard drive or server.  This is no longer the way to go because how many hard drives do you need to make a backup of a backup? And what if they all stop working? It’s too risky.

Others believe that a system that has a couple of servers is an improved solution for the business compared to a cloud-based solution.  Owning a couple of servers that are onsite doesn’t guarantee security. Onsite systems are large and this makes them pricey.  They can be accessed by many people and unless you are connected to that network, you would need to physically be there to access it. Cloud systems are accessible almost all of the time, from anywhere and you can provide different levels of access to staff, as required.

Many businesses don’t have any risk management, disaster recovery or business continuity plans for when things go horribly wrong. Maybe this is driven by ego, acting as if what they have in place is the best and nothing can top it. Businesses, no matter what system they are using, need to have a strong disaster recovery plan in place. This does not need to be overly complex and does not need to be expensive. The cost of not having a plan can be far more costly to your business, especially the SME. If you do not have the skills in-house, the partner with a reputable company that can offer practical and professional help. Thunder storms can happen at any time, and one needs to be prepared.

One of the benefits of the cloud is disaster recovery and business continuity.  A cloud focused data recovery solution can be the most cost effective, save you time and allow immediate access on-demand. Working with the right partner also means that will have access to professional recommendations and assistance as part of the deal.

It would be a bad decision for businesses to not take advantage of the cloud and all the benefits that come along with it. Cloud computing supports growth and allows more opportunity than the traditional IT infrastructures. No matter the size of the business, the future is in the cloud.

Cyber attacks remain the biggest danger to our cyber way of life and there are constantly new methods to deploy malware and steal your data.  In order to stay on top of these criminals, cyber security specialists need to constantly try and stay two steps ahead and be quick off the mark to stop an attack from taking place. They also need to learn and evolve from past breaches, there needs to be some rain in order to learn and grow.

How do we do this you ask?  With the assistance of the right tools to provide visibility to identify anomalies and changes in your cloud and on-premise deployments, global threat intelligence, correlation, automation and monitoring and analysis our cyber security specialists are able to collect and analyze unfiltered endpoint data and use this to identify problems based on real behavioural monitoring. Known and unknown attacks often present with similar behaviours and being able to see this allows you to take preventative measures to identify attacks as they begin and stop future attacks. 

In a nutshell, you need to think like a cyber criminal. By ensuring that there is not only a policy, but action, we ensure that the gap between cyber defender and cyber attacker is closed. We will strive to create an almost impenetrable security program, using the best of the cloud, automation and the human element for your business.

Just because you are using the cloud doesn’t mean your head needs to be there, be cyber smart and chat to the J2 Cyber Security Centre team. #letsgetreal

Olivia-Hannah Coetzee