The adoption of cloud solutions has changed the way enterprises view disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) management. Most enterprises and IT leaders will vouch for a completely cloud-based DR and BC infrastructure, or a hybrid solution comprised of cloud DR and on-premise infrastructure.
The cloud offers a cost-effective alternative for data recovery solutions, mitigating the risks of power outages, operational and on-premises hardware failures. With cloud computing based on virtualization, the organisation can expect faster data and server recovery times as opposed to the conventional approaches.
However, moving your disaster recovery management plan to the cloud involves a few notable risks. We look at the most obvious, involving cloud security.
When it comes to cloud security, confidential data and privacy needs of data-sensitive organisations should become a top priority. The control over sensitive data is best suited for the private cloud as opposed to the more security vulnerable public cloud infrastructure.
Follow the Data Trail
Make sure you can pinpoint the data centre and server your information is stored on. For increased security, dedicated hardware with stringent controls over data is a must. Private clouds with dedicated servers allow for increased security over sensitive data, as opposed to the public cloud where more organisations can access the same server. Knowing at all times where your data lives is crucial in the data recovery process.
Discuss Cloud Security Protocols
Be aware of the security guidelines provided in the cloud. The most common are firewalls, data encryption, and intrusion detection. Your cloud solutions provider should be able to offer managed services on dedicated managed servers to make your business more resilient in the face of a security breach. Choose a complete disaster recovery solution with off-site storage and managed security.
Enlist Backup Automation
Automated processes such as secure data backups in the cloud are essential in the face of data disasters, yet are sometimes overlooked. Our research shows that less than 50% of companies are sufficiently backing up their data, while 53% can tolerate less than an hour of downtime before they experience a significant revenue loss or another adverse business impact. Always backup your data, and make sure your cloud solutions provider can assist with a highly protected backup automation tool.
Perform On-Demand Testing
Test cloud security capabilities as often as possible, and dedicate time at least quarterly to make sure the sensitive data on the network is secured. Also, check out how a data recovery process handles vulnerabilities. Any disaster recovery service should allow you to test the network assuming various scenarios. While it is not unheard of enterprises with highly sensitive data to test security provisions by hiring skilled hackers, the chances are that vulnerability scans and security protocols testing will suffice.
