Common Misconceptions About Data Protection in Cloud Productivity Platforms
Productivity suites available through the cloud have revolutionized how businesses and enterprises work. While these suites, such as Microsoft 365, provide unprecedented levels of collaboration and productivity, many IT managers still struggle with the concept of shared responsibility. This means that while the software company takes care of their servers, you still remain completely responsible for your own data. Unfortunately, many critical misunderstandings of this concept still threaten many networks and businesses today.
The Myth of Native Data Backups
Many businesses believe that their migration into the cloud world automatically qualifies their business for eternal data retention. This is far from true. In actuality, the platform providers’ first and only concern is making sure their servers remain online and accessible. This leaves many businesses relying completely on their native recycling bin for backing up their data. This is why investing in comprehensive Office 365 backup services is still an essential requirement for building a robust and comprehensive business network.
Availability and Recoverability
Having an application available simply means that it works, and your employees can log in without issue. On the other hand, having recoverability of your data means that your employees will be able to recover a database that has been compromised, or access an email inbox from six months ago. Many IT managers get these concepts mixed up. While many application providers guarantee ninety-nine percent uptime, this does not mean that you will be able to recover your historical data.
Rethinking the Internal Threat Landscape
External cyber threats are constantly the top story in the information technology industry. Ransomware attacks and sophisticated phishing attacks are certainly threats that require a solid defense on the perimeter. However, internal threats are quietly responsible for a massive amount of cloud data loss. Mistakes are being made on a daily basis, such as employees accidentally overwriting crucial data. Some employees are also deleting crucial data before leaving the organization.
Some cloud administrators are also misconfiguring sharing permissions, allowing private cloud data to be accessible on the public internet. Your overall strategy for cloud data protection must address these mundane, everyday threats as much as it does protect against external hackers.
The Hidden Threat of Third-Party Integrations
Integrating third-party applications into your cloud environment is certainly a great way for any organization to increase productivity. However, it does increase the overall risk profile of the organization. When users are haphazardly granting read and write permissions for third-party applications, they are potentially allowing cloud data to be accessible on the public internet for any third-party server. This could potentially allow hackers to steal cloud data hosted in the organization, even if it is as heavily secured as it is in this scenario.
Your organization’s security team must take a very active role in ensuring third-party application permissions are being monitored and the way these applications interact with cloud productivity data.
Securing Your Cloud Environment
Operating on the assumption that cloud vendors are responsible for protecting all cloud data is a recipe for disaster. Your organization is potentially leaving itself open to a catastrophic data loss event. It is only through a complete understanding of the role cloud vendors play in protecting cloud data that any organization can build a highly secured cloud environment!
