One of the largest trends in IT seen over recent years has been public Cloud adoption. Gartner predicts that the market will reach $206.2 billion by the end of 2019. Reasons to cite for the shift from on-prem or private Cloud environments include lower cost, high flexibility, and scalability among others.
Understandably, financial institutions have taken a cautious approach to public Cloud adoption. Security and compliance are at the forefront of IT needs for financial service institutions. With regulations dictating how data is processed and stored, the idea of a multi-tenant environment can raise questions about security. Before heading to a public Cloud, consider using a partner that will create a customized roadmap to address your security concerns.
A reliable partner should be able to assess your current environment, evaluate your compliance needs, and create a secure migration path for your applications. One question to ask a managed service provider is, “who will oversee my environment?” To maximize your business’s security, employ 24x7x365 monitoring and management as resource to block sensitive data from being exposed to threats. Breaches often go undetected for months at a time. Ensure that your IT department or a trusted third party is routinely scanning your network for vulnerabilities to mitigate as soon as they arise. Cyber security is not a one-size-fits-all solution, so be sure that your requirements are being met before making the journey to the Cloud.
Compared to an on-prem solution, Cloud infrastructure’s redundancy is more reliable in the face of disaster. All public Cloud environments are backed up through multiple sources of electricity and generators. Not only does this provide ease when devising a business continuity plan, it can also fulfill any compliance requirements you may have regarding your data storage. Be sure to find out what compliance standards the data centers that host your environment contain. Does it comply with SEC or FINRA requirements? If your auditors require multiple copies of data, third party oversight of your security or incident response planning, a quality Cloud provider will be able to meet your exact expectations.
Many public Cloud environments also provide valuable communication tools that make it seamless for teams within your organization to collaborate effectively. With increased levels of file sharing, plan to implement email security measures such as detection and filtration software that will help spot malware, phishing attempts and illegitimate email. While this detection software is very helpful, one of the best methods to protect your data is end-user training. According to Verizon, email delivers 96% of social attacks. Transitioning to the public Cloud is an opportune time to implement training, testing and phishing simulations into your cyber security plan. Users can identify a bad actor in their inbox is a great line of defense for protecting the entire business.
Thrive is a trusted technology partner in the financial space. With nearly 20 years of dedicated support experience, we understand that each business has unique IT needs. If your institution is considering a transition to the public Cloud, our consulting services team can help create your customized roadmap. Contact Thrive today.