What is good cloud migration security?
September 5, 2022
Fortinet
Cybersecurity, Cloud, Tipps
Cloud adoption continues to be important for many companies as they transform the way they do business in today's digital world. In addition to the many benefits associated with cloud adoption, the security aspects must not be overlooked if businesses are to fully embrace the cloud.
What is cloud migration?
Cloud migration is the transfer of a company's data and applications from local servers to a cloud infrastructure. A cloud infrastructure allows businesses to access data storage requirements and computing capacity when they need it.
Instead of building on-site IT infrastructures or renting data centres, companies can rent cloud infrastructures and the computing capacity they need through third-party providers. This can result in cost savings for a company's operating budget as there is less expenditure on energy costs, IT staff, hardware, servers and software needed for a physical data centre.
Other key benefits of cloud migration are agility and flexibility. Cloud infrastructures are highly agile and flexible as they are self-managed and allow users to set up new services and make changes within minutes. This allows companies to focus more on business and profit aspects rather than IT matters.
Cloud platforms and infrastructures work through a process of abstraction, such as virtualisation. The aim is to separate resources from the physical hardware on which they are normally installed and move them to the cloud. These virtual resources are deployed in cloud environments using tools such as automation and management software, so that users can access the resources on demand from any location.
Cloud infrastructures are highly agile and flexible because they are self-managed and allow users to set up new services and make changes in minutes.
Three types of cloud architectures
When we talk about cloud infrastructure, we are referring to the tools used to build a cloud environment. When we talk about cloud architecture, we are referring to the design or blueprint of how the different technologies are connected together to create a cloud computing environment. There are three types of cloud architecture:
- Public
- Private
- Hybrid
Public cloud architecture uses third-party cloud providers to make cloud resources available to multiple customers over the internet. These providers operate multi-tenant environments that reduce the cost of data storage and computing power for customers. Public clouds can have one drawback: Privacy issues for organisations handling sensitive data or personally identifiable information (PII).
In a private cloud architecture, the cloud infrastructure is only used by the organisation. The private cloud architecture can be built, developed and maintained by an organisation's own IT teams or provided by external vendors. Private clouds, as the name suggests, solve the data protection drawback of the public cloud.
A hybrid cloud model is considered the best of public and private architectures. The hybrid approach allows private and public cloud infrastructures to interact within a connected but separate system. This is ideal for organisations that handle sensitive information and personal data, as they can store their critical data in private clouds while keeping less sensitive data in public clouds. With a hybrid cloud architecture, organisations can maintain their private environments while taking full advantage of public cloud services for other computing tasks and storage.
Three Types of Cloud Migration
- On-premises
- Cloud-to-cloud migration
- Reverse cloud migration.
When you move data hosted on on-premises servers to the cloud, you typically use a technique called "lift and shift". This involves transferring (or "rehosting") an exact copy of your current environment without making extensive changes.
This is the fastest and easiest way for a business to take advantage of the cloud. Moving data between public and private clouds is usually done because you want to keep it more secure. In the rare cases where data is no longer important or obsolete, reverse cloud migration can be used to free up storage space and archive it to a local storage device.
To save time and money, cloud migration experts recommend performing some procedural tasks before migrating data. These include conducting an audit and deciding which data and applications should be decommissioned and which should be retained and migrated to the cloud.
What are the security risks of cloud migration?
In the process, companies have to overcome several security-related challenges, including compliance breaches and malware. As the cloud continues to evolve, some providers will be able to handle the changes well, while others will not. If a cloud provider ceases operations or undertakes a drastic restructuring, any business using its services may be at risk due to the upheaval.
Another risk with cloud migration is its dependence on the internet, i.e. "any cloud solution is only as stable or reliable as the network connection it is built on." It is difficult for a business and its users to accept downtime when applications and services are inaccessible. Cloud infrastructures must have reliable connections and networks supported by service level agreements (SLAs).
A cloud migration security strategy must also take into account that data control is being transferred from the enterprise to a cloud service provider. For the strategy to be effective, it must have buy-in from the company's executives. They must accept the trade-off of reaping the benefits of cloud computing while having less or limited control over access to applications, data and server-based tools.
A recent cloud survey revealed some of the concerns IT leaders have about cloud migration. Lack of visibility, high costs, lack of control and lack of security were cited as the biggest unforeseen factors slowing or stopping cloud adoption.
Best practices for creating a security strategy for cloud migration
Key components of a solid security strategy for cloud migration should include:
Enabling access control
Cloud migration security solutions must provide access control across cloud infrastructures to protect applications and ensure access management and connectivity between data centres and the cloud.
Apply automation to avoid misconfiguration.
A viable cloud migration strategy must incorporate security with continuous assessment of configurations across regions and public cloud types, while dynamically analysing activity in the public cloud infrastructure to identify potentially malicious activity. Organisations should look for highly accurate and automated solutions based on machine learning on the device, as well as flexible form factors from containers to virtual machines to SaaS.
Priority visibility across the cloud environment
Organisations need a single view to gain visibility and enforce consistent security policies across the cloud infrastructure to effectively manage risk. Cloud migration security solutions need to provide visibility across the entire cloud infrastructure and allow administrators to see both inline security and cloud configuration security to gain a comprehensive view of risk.
Determining who is responsible for what
Assigning responsibilities for cloud migration tasks is a prerequisite for the security of the process.
Protecting connectivity
Cloud strategies are only as successful as the networks and security that connect and protect the cloud computing environment - whether private, public or hybrid. As organisations deploy cloud infrastructures and move to multi-cloud, secure connectivity between these different environments is critical for better user experience and business outcomes.
Networks, security and computing need to work together. So consider how to optimise access and security from the outset, rather than as an afterthought when you adopt the cloud.