5 Compelling Benefits of Cloud Security

More and more businesses are choosing to protect their websites, applications and data centres through cloud security. In an environment where online threats are increasingly prevalent, there are strong and compelling reasons for doing so. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime is projected to cost businesses across the world $6 trillion dollars annually by 2021.

Given the scale and significance of these security issues, we wanted to share some of the benefits of choosing a cloud security solution for your business.  

1. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Protection

One of the most common types of cyber threat comes from the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS). This is the type of cyber-attack where hackers essentially flood a server with huge amounts of traffic to slow its service down or (in the worst-case scenarios) bring it down altogether. The damage caused by these attacks, both in terms of revenue and reputation, can be devastating and can last anywhere from a few hours to days, if not weeks.

A cloud-based security solution can help mitigate the severity of these denial of service attacks. This is because the vast nature of the cloud computing network allows attacks with large volumes of traffic to be distributed across the network as and when they occur. With a traditional server setup, an organisation would be limited by the number of servers it has within its premises making them especially prone to such attacks. A reputable cloud security system on the other hand typically has a global network of computing power behind it.

2. Preventing Data Leakage

The ability to protect and prevent data leakage has been one of the biggest challenges of cybersecurity in recent years. Preventing intruders from gaining access to your systems given the sophisticated and constantly evolving nature of different types of malware (in particular) is a threat you can never take lightly.

One of the main reasons why cloud security solutions are so effective is to do with scale and scope. Cloud computing networks are huge and house a large number and wide range of online assets. These assets, owned by a variety of companies in different sectors, get attacked in just as wide a range of ways. The cloud computing networks, therefore, need to be protected to cover all these potential security threats.

The obvious advantage is that when they develop against one type of threat (that may be specific to an individual organisation in the first instance) the whole network will get protected so other sectors/companies don’t get damaged by the same threat. This structure allows for the most comprehensive and complete type of protection.

3. Increased flexibility and support

Another great reason for opting for cloud security is the flexibility and support that comes with it. Cloud computing networks often support clients/businesses across many different international markets. Because of this, their support teams need to be active 24/7, 365 days a year.

In the context of cyberattack activity, this is hugely important, given attacks can happen at any time of day or night. As is the case with most threats, the sooner they are dealt with, the less potential damage inflicted. If your business is a global one, this is arguably even more important.

On a cloud network, your patch management and updates against malware will essentially be automated and rolled out in real time as and when they become available.

4. All-encompassing user protection

Another great feature of cloud security, that flows on from the above point on flexibility, is that cloud users, no matter where they happen to be accessing and irrespective of the device being used, get the same level of protection.

This is particularly important and useful when considering the way in which work and the workforce are changing. More and more users are using a variety of different devices for work including workstations, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. Cloud security offers protection across the board for these where traditional servers would require individually configured setups for each.

The same goes for the location, which via cloud security, is not a factor that will put a user at risk. Those who work from home and/or at various locations cannot compromise a network given the protection cloud security affords.

5. Reduced cost and infrastructure protection

One of the most pleasing benefits of cloud computing security systems is that it can reduce your costs and provide additional protection against things typically beyond your control.

With cloud security, the costs of maintaining your own hardware, be it servers or otherwise, to cope with all the different types of threats described, doesn’t exist as it’s done by the cloud security company. You’ll also no longer have to constantly pay for the upkeep/upgrade of this hardware as technology advances. The same is equally true for software and the programs protecting your systems which can also become quickly outdated and incur substantial redevelopment costs.

You also don’t have the risk of losing data due to damage of servers by any unexpected physical breach/accident (i.e. theft, fire, natural disaster) that might occur at your premises. The servers hosting the cloud networks are often afforded the highest level of security available given the vast quantities of data and sensitiveness of the information they are responsible for. Given most cloud networks also backup the data in multiple locations, there is also an added layer of protection on their side too.    

Cloud security is the future

As you can see, cloud solutions when it comes to the security of your data makes a strong case for itself for businesses going forward. NEC has a long history in cloud computing and security providing complex solutions since the 1990s and will continue to lead the way and offer support to the increasing number of businesses that are utilising these services.