Security Challenges to Consider Before Adopting a Hybrid Cloud Strategy for Your Business

Cloud computing has brought numerous benefits to companies. However, putting all data on the public cloud is something that a lot of IT admins are concerned about. This is why a number of businesses have opted to utilize a hybrid cloud environment. This allows them to store some data in the public cloud and others in an on-site cloud storage.

However, the hybrid cloud isn't perfect. There are several security problems that companies should watch out for. Here are five security issues to keep in mind:

Inadequate Data Redundancy

Cloud storage service providers commit a substantial amount of resources to ensure the infrastructure is accessible and open whenever end users need it. Unfortunately, problems will inevitably arise. Some well-publicized outages like those involving Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure have underlined the risk of running applications using just one data center. Cloud architects need redundancy across data centers to lessen impact of such outages.

 

This lack of redundancy can end up being a major security risk to a company's hybrid cloud, particularly if redundant data is not distributed across various data storage centers. Cloud architects can work around this by implementing redundancy via numerous data centers from one provider, using several public cloud providers or a hybrid cloud.

Data Compliance

Maintaining and showing data compliance can be more challenging with a hybrid cloud. Aside from having to ensure that the public cloud provider and the hybrid cloud you're using are in compliance, you also have to prove that the means of coordination between the two is also compliant.

Poorly Assembled SLAs

Public cloud providers work hard to ensure that they meet all the conditions listed in their service level agreement (SLA). Businesses should also make sure that their private cloud can also live up to the same expectation. Otherwise, the company might need to develop SLAs based on the outlook of the lower of the two clouds, which could be your private cloud.

It's best to gather data on your private cloud's availability and performance under pragmatic conditions. Watch out for possible issues with integrating private and public clouds that could hinder service. For instance, if a vital business driver for the private cloud is storing confidential and sensitive data on-site, then your SLA should reflect the limitations to which the company can utilize the public cloud for certain services.

Risk Management

From a business point of view, information security revolves around risk management. Cloud computing, especially in hybrid clouds, entails the use of new application programming interfaces (APIs), demand advance network configurations, and pushes the boundaries of a conventional system administrator's abilities and knowledge.

Unfortunately, these factors can lead to new types of threats. While cloud computing is just as secure as internal infrastructures, the hybrid cloud has a more complex system that IT admins have limited experience in handling, and this can create problems.

As with any technology, problems do arise. Luckily, several traditional IT and security vendors are already working on improving their products in order to support hybrid cloud issues. There are also third parties that can deliver niche tools to bolster particular security configurations.  

[Featured image via Pixabay]

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