Table of contents Cloud Computing has Changed the World of Data Storage, Processing, and Management Business simply cannot survive without the cloud. Whether it’s the apps, the databases, the backups, your customers’ vital information, or your financial data and workloads, they all rely on cloud servers. Having said that, uploading your data to the cloud comes with some major security risks.
Encryption is the conversion of your sensitive data into a form that cannot be viewed by anyone without your key. When used properly, encryption technology can be an effective security solution that could prevent the theft, loss, interception, or misuse of your sensitive data.
How does it work? If your company uses the cloud then understanding encryption and where to use it throughout your process is an important first step.
What Is Cloud Data Encryption?
What is Cloud Data Encryption? Cloud data encryption refers to the method used for transforming data into an incomprehensible format, whether stored or transferred over cloud systems.
This original data is known as the plaintext. Encryption Algorithms: Encryption algorithms are used to scramble the plaintext into cyphertext using an encryption key. This data can then only be unscrambled back to plaintext by the decryption key, assigned to a user, application or system.
If, for instance, you have customer databases on the cloud, then encryption is one way to protect them against unauthorised storage access.
AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud are just a few cloud providers that offer a wide range of encryption features which can be leveraged by your organisation.
Why Is Encryption Important for Cloud Security?
Cloud environments can contain highly sensitive business information, including:
- Customer and employee data
- Financial information
- Business documents
- Application data
- Database records
- Password and authentication information
- Intellectual property
- Backup files
- Confidential communications
If not appropriately protected with access controls, access to this information could lead to a data breach, financial loss, damage to reputation and regulatory compliance issues.
Encryption protects against the use of stolen or intercepted data.
Encryption Protects Data at Rest
Data at rest is stored data on cloud servers, databases, storage systems, and backup systems.
For instance, a business might keep documents in cloud object storage or customer data in a cloud database. Encrypting data at rest makes it so that if someone gets access to the underlying storage, they can’t read the data.
Encryption at rest can be applied to:
- Cloud storage
- Databases
- Virtual machine disks
- Backup systems
- Snapshots
- Application data
Numerous cloud platforms offer encryption capabilities which enable companies to encrypt the information they store without having to develop their own encryption infrastructure from scratch.
Encryption Protects Data in Transit
When data is transferred from user to user, between applications, servers, and the cloud.
Encryption in transit is all about protecting information in transmission — between you and the web host, between servers, or even from client to server. If you access your work app via a browser, for instance, the transport layer security (TLS) protocols can encrypt your connection.
Encryption in transit is particularly important when:
- Employees access cloud applications remotely
- Applications communicate with APIs
- Databases communicate with applications
- Businesses transfer files between systems
- Customers submit information through websites
Using HTTPS and properly configured TLS certificates is a fundamental part of protecting web-based cloud applications.
Encryption Protects Data During Cloud Backups
Backups are crucial to business continuity and disaster recovery. But backup files may contain a full copy of your critical business information.
If backups are not well protected, they also can be a risk.
Use encryption for cloud backups Implementing cloud backup encryption guarantees that data will stay safe while they are maintained in a backup locations. In addition, a backup encryption policy should take into account any archives, copies or snapshots.
A backup plan is adequate when Encryption is integrated with access control, monitoring, retention and recovery testing.
How Encryption Keys Work
However, encryption is reliant on keys. The encryption system uses a key to encrypt and decrypt information.
These keys must be well managed by the organization since for lost keys the encrypted data may become useless whereas if the key is misplaced or obtained by an outsider, it could be used to compromise the secure data.
Cloud platforms commonly provide key management services that help organizations:
- Create encryption keys
- Control access to keys
- Rotate keys
- Monitor key usage
- Disable compromised keys
- Apply permissions to specific users or applications
Proper key management is therefore just as important as selecting an encryption method.
Encryption and Access Control Work Together
Encryption should not be treated as a replacement for other cloud security measures.
A secure cloud environment typically combines encryption with:
- Identity and access management
- Multi-factor authentication
- Network security
- Firewalls
- Security monitoring
- Vulnerability management
- Backup and disaster recovery
- Security logging
- Least-privilege access
For example, encrypting a database protects the stored information, while access controls determine who is allowed to access the database in the first place.
Together, these controls create multiple layers of security.
Encryption Helps With Compliance
There are different restrictions in place, and each industry have controls on how to retain sensitive information. A business can also be subject to financial, industry, healthcare, privacy, or data protection legislations.
That encryption could help companies demonstrate that they are meeting their responsibilities in putting the correct technical controls in place to protect their information.
But encrypting your information won’t necessarily help you comply. Companies should assess their overall security designs, processes, access controls, monitoring and data management practices to requirements.
Common Cloud Encryption Challenges
Although encryption provides strong protection, businesses still need to implement it correctly.
Common challenges include:
Poor Key Management
If encryption keys are not properly protected, attackers may be able to access encrypted information.
Incorrect Access Permissions
Overly broad permissions can allow unauthorized users or applications to access encrypted resources or encryption keys.
Unencrypted Data Transfers
A business may encrypt its databases but overlook data transmitted between applications and services.
Lack of Monitoring
Organizations should monitor access to sensitive resources and encryption keys to identify suspicious activity.
Configuration Errors
Cloud security often depends on configuration. Incorrect storage, database, identity, or encryption settings can create unnecessary risks.
Best Practices for Cloud Encryption
Businesses can strengthen cloud data protection by following several best practices:
- Encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit.
- Use strong and well-supported encryption technologies.
- Implement centralized key management.
- Apply least-privilege access to encryption keys.
- Rotate keys according to security policies.
- Monitor key usage and access activity.
- Encrypt backups and disaster recovery copies.
- Regularly review cloud security configurations.
- Use HTTPS/TLS for applications and websites.
- Combine encryption with IAM, MFA, monitoring, and network ecurity.
How Avertech Can Help With Cloud Security
Everyone’s talking about encryption in the cloud But not all encryption is created equal. When it comes to the cloud, there are several things companies need to understand about their data, how it’s stored and transported and who has access.
Avertech Cloud security and cloud migration: what we do Good in the cloud with our migration, backup and disaster recovery, cloud security, cost optimization, Dev Ops and managed cloud infrastructure.
If your organisation is migrating workloads to AWS, Azure or the cloud in general, a cloud-enabled security architecture can be put in place that safeguards your business critical data and supports existing performance levels and service levels.
Conclusion
Encryption, one of today’s main cloud security principles, can help mitigate the risks caused by a loss of a data in transit or stored data. Encryption could mitigate most of the risks of data being compromised, intercepted etc.
However, you need an all-of-the-above approach to cloud security. Encryption is only a part of the solution — add in identity, access controls, monitoring, backups, network security, and a secure policy, and you’ll be ahead of the game.
For organizations adopting or expanding their cloud environment, thinking about encryption and key management early on can be a solid baseline for building a more resilient cloud.
