A Good Security Regimen can make Cloud Servers Safer than Physical Servers. Cloud hosting is becoming very popular because it helps organizations to save money and improve their overall efficiency. Nevertheless, it is easy to let one’s guard down when working with this sort of networking. Consider, for instance, the massive PlayStation Network outage that occurred in April 2011. That incident compromised the security of millions of accounts. Even the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud system has had a share of major issues that calls the safety of cloud computing into question.
However, it is important to remember that cloud technology is not inherently insecure by any means. With the implementation of proper security measures, these sorts of problems would never have arisen. Cloud servers that are individually managed should be a great deal more secure than those that are managed by third parties. A correctly managed database with an individual server should be more secure than even a public email account from a major distributor.
The data risks involved with cloud applications are greater than those involved with cloud servers themselves. For instance, take an email account that is stored in the cloud with a service such as Gmail. Theoretically, system administrators from Google could access email stored in such an account. Indeed, there were allegations by a former employee of a social networking firm that system administrators at said firm had a master password for individual user accounts.
If the Google organization were ever to do some things that private users did not agree with, or ceased to exist for whatever reason, customers might not be able to export their data from this theoretical Gmail account. It is always important to make sure that data can be exported from cloud applications in an emergency. Individual jurisdiction is important to consider as well. Private data held by Google’s servers in the United States might break guidelines set up by the European Union Data Protection Directive. It also means that authorities in the United States could force Google to hand over data. Hackers and crackers are a more obvious threat.
When it comes to cloud servers, only hackers become a risk. A quality service provider does not provide a root password, so their system administrators would not be able to crack into it. ElasticHosts customers can trust their service provider to be strongly committed to this aspect of security. Allegations about what individual system administrators do with client data at ElasticHosts would never arise because the business is built on honesty and privacy.
Moreover, ElasticHosts customers are able to select whether they want servers in the European Union or the United States. Naturally, servers in the European Union comply with the European Union Data Protection Directive. This provides an extra level of protection for those who are doing business in Europe or based in an EU country.
ElasticHosts cloud server technology helps to crack down on risks from jurisdiction problems, service provider maladies and being unable to export data. Using a strong password for VNC, the control panel and the ssh functions helps to cut back on a major entry point for hackers. Following a good password policy and changing passwords on a regular basis are also genuinely good ideas. Restricting other IP addresses from logging into a system works well to help stop hackers, since it provides an extra layer to prevent computer criminals from accessing data. Setting up a firewall system is also quite helpful.
If all of this advice is put into play, cloud servers can actually be safer than classical server installations. Indeed, removing the physical hardware from the equation helps to improve on data security. Few people think about this, but a number of data leaks have actually come from flash drives. When there is no physical media to be leaked, this sort of a leak simply can’t be an issue. However, adhering to a good password policy is vital. Rules and regulations can’t help anyone if they aren’t followed and put into practice.
Jonathan is writing on behalf of ElasticHosts – a cloud hosting company with servers in the US and UK. This article was written by a guest author. Would you like to write for us?
