Companies and businesses are relying more and more on the capabilities of cloud technologies to ensure both security of their files and having those files easily accessible in an easy-to-locate system. The existence of cloud storage has changed the business landscape entirely, but it does not come without its own challenges and downsides. One major factor is associated with the risks of maintaining a cloud system.
A cloud risk assessment is pivotal to maintaining the security of your cloud system. A risk assessment means that you are investigating the potential risks that are incorporated into using your cloud. Computing risk management can be difficult to do on your own. We at Trava offer a cloud risk management service as part of our services that can assist you in locating areas of weakness in your cloud’s security systems.
We will assess your system by providing you with an overall scan of your cloud’s security system. This would also include an assessment of overall cybersecurity threats that could potentially impact your and your business’s private information. This works by ensuring that all areas of your areas of cyber security are up to date, especially for your cloud. Computing risk and mitigation is completely done by us, so it is one less thing for you to be concerned about.
Cloud computing risks and mitigation are not a new concepts that have just occurred out of nowhere, but has become more popular with the increase in cloud computing and storage systems. However, no one else is doing risk assessment for cloud computing like we are. Our model is based on three criteria: assess, mitigate, and insure. Without hitting each of these criteria, important information can fall through the cracks, so we ensure we look at each one carefully.
Questions?
We can help! Talk to the Trava Team and see how we can assist you with your cybersecurity needs.
Cloud Risk Assessment Checklist
Having a cloud risk assessment checklist can assist you in making sure that you are securing the exact areas of risk you want to focus on. While a cloud risk assessment template can be found online just by Googling it, it is important to note that the needs of your organization may be slightly different than the generic template can offer. We specifically focus on your needs when handling an assessment of your cloud.
The cloud risk management framework focuses on approximately 7 ideas for making sure that your cloud is secure. This includes policies and procedures, access management, networking, backup and data recovery, security patches and updates, logging and monitoring, and data encryption. All of these focus on the importance of security for your cloud. A cloud security risk assessment checklist like this is a beneficial tool to have saved for reference when looking to determine the areas of focus you want for your cloud’s security.
Perhaps the most important one on the checklist to consider is the policies and procedures aspect. In a worrying statistic, Gartner estimates that “through 2022, at least 95% of cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault.” Having comprehensive policies and procedures in place and followed will help eliminate this area as a threat. You may be able to rely on your employees to know the risk factors, but it can be difficult to navigate these risk factors when it is in the hands of your consumers. Without having these security procedures in place, there is little merit in attempting to do any other form of security because it will ultimately fail due to the lack of a baseline attempt to keep the cloud secure in the first place.
Cloud Risk Assessment Framework
A cloud risk assessment framework will focus on maintaining the security of your cloud’s storage and files. The framework will also make sure that you are meeting compliance requirements that are in place to ensure that your business information is properly protected. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (or NIST) has a framework completely laid out for just this purpose. The NIST cloud risk management framework has guidelines that are structured to ensure proper security measures are being implemented into your cloud systems.
A risk management in cloud computing pdf is available here. This document is specifically for the compliance of cloud computing and cloud systems. Part of your services with Trava will include a risk assessment in cloud computing, and ensuring that the standards that are laid out by the NIST are followed to the T. The NIST framework and compliance standards are updated constantly so that you can rest assured that they have you and your business’s best interests in mind.
If it was not for a framework such as this, there would be little to no thought put into the security of your business and its private information. This is also important because of the increase in cyberattacks that are targeting businesses. Without the implementation of compliance standards laid out in the NIST framework, it would be extremely difficult to keep cybersecurity standards up and keep your business protected from any potential cybersecurity threats.
Do you know your Cyber Risk Score?
You can’t protect yourself from risks you don’t know about. Enter your website and receive a completely free risk assessment score along with helpful information delivered instantly to your inbox.
NIST Risk Assessment
The NIST cloud risk assessment framework offers you tools that you can use to evaluate the true security of your cloud systems and see the potential areas of improvement that need to be investigated. The NIST risk assessment can also be used in other areas of technology that you would like to look into, but we will be focusing on the cloud assessment specifically. They offer a 3-hour course that is geared towards teaching you the specific guidelines of their assessment framework. You could potentially look into getting a cloud risk management certification by taking this course.
However, included in our Trava services is a cyber risk assessment that follows the same guidelines that are set out by the NIST and makes sure that your technology and data systems are aligned with their complicity standards. Our cloud and web application scans are directly aligned with the standards that the NIST has set out, and we make it our mission to ensure that your business is not only following those complicity guidelines, but also making sure that it is secure from any potential threat of cyberattack.
The risk management in cloud computing pdf follows the standards for NIST 800-53 compliance, which is specifically targeted at cloud computing and cloud storage systems. We follow this compliance as it is laid out in the pdf file, and make sure that you and your business are doing the same when conducting our analysis of your cloud’s security. If you still have confusion regarding this specific compliance as it is laid out by the NIST, they also offer a FAQ page on their website to provide you with some clarifications.
AWS Shared Responsibility Model
You may have heard of AWS as it is owned and operated by Amazon. AWS offers its own cloud computing services, as well as provides some resources for operating and maintaining a cloud triage system. They have an AWS assurance program as well as an AWS risk and compliance program. These programs fit into the AWS risk management framework, and that framework is focused on security and maintenance of your existing solutions.
AWS has a particular model that they work with to ensure they are meeting compliance. The AWS shared responsibility model focuses on “security of the cloud” and ensuring that there is AWS compliance at the forefront of each section of the model. They work to ensure that each person that has access to the cloud is responsible for the maintenance and security of the cloud.
We follow a similar model to ensure our complicity standards align with the NIST. The tools provided by AWS are ones that are complementary to ours. Their learning and resources sections provide detailed descriptions of tools that can be used to assist you in ensuring that you are complying with the NIST compliances, as well as ensuring that your data is safe within your cloud system.
If you want to keep up with competition that is also using similar technologies and tools as you, it is important that you ensure that your tools are safe and protected from the potential threat of cyberattack. Without that level of security, your consumers will quickly lose trust and faith in your business and swiftly take their business to your competitors that are ensuring that level of security. We at Trava are here to help and make sure that does not happen. Our services are dedicated to keeping your systems up to date with the latest compliances and keeping you safe from the dangers of the online world. If you would like to learn more about how Trava can assist you, book a free demo with us today!