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Don’t Overlook These Information Security Basics
/in Blog, Security /by lindsayThe reason companies fail at information security isn’t because they aren’t installing the latest high-tech defensive software. It’s because they aren’t taking care of the security basics, like installing patches on time. What are some of the other information security basics you might be overlooking?
Managing employee access
Employee access rights shouldn’t be permanent. As job functions change, you should review and revise their access to match the responsibility of their roles. While ideally you’ll do this as soon as they take on a new role, at least review access privileges annually. Even more important, when employees leave the business, you should be sure to disable their access immediately.
Changing default passwords
Admin/admin? Everybody knows that login and password, including the bad guys. It’s easy to overlook changing passwords after you install new software, but it’s necessary in order to keep your systems secure. Use a unique admin password on all your systems in order to ensure you’re protected.
Reviewing security logs
Don’t just review log files after a breach occurs. Log files should be reviewed on an ongoing basis in order to spot breach attempts before they succeed. This doesn’t have to be a purely manual effort; there are good analytics tools to help identify suspicious behavior.
Enforcing secure mobile device usage
It’s convenient to have employees use their mobile devices to conduct business, but it also can be risky. Develop your “bring your own device” policy, teach employees safe mobile computing practices, and consider using mobile device management software to enforce your policies.
Protecting the cloud
Relying on your cloud provider for security of your data in the cloud is a mistake. Information security in the cloud requires both your organization and your cloud provider to take steps to protect your data. In addition, employee “shadow IT” usage of cloud resources can lead to security risks you aren’t aware of; consider using tools that help you detect unauthorized usage of cloud services.
Learn more in 6 Ways to Keep Your Cloud Secure.
Verifying configuration settings
Many security vulnerabilities, especially in the cloud, are the result of incorrect system configuration. Don’t rely on default settings, but make sure you explicitly set them to the values you need. Limit the ability to modify configurations to authorized employees, and use tools to detect configuration changes so they can be reviewed and verified. Use automation to ensure configurations are deployed consistently across all your resources.
Performing risks assessments
There are too many potential security threats to address all of them at once. In order to get the most value from the actions you take, it’s important to assess the risks you face so you can prioritize your responses.
Securing information resources requires implementing basic and advanced controls at multiple levels, including the network, the cloud, and endpoints. CCS Technology Group offers IT security services to help you comprehensively address your information security needs. Contact us to learn how our services can help protect your critical systems and data.
Additional Security Resources
Closing the Most Common Cybersecurity Holes
Is Your Network Safe From Cyber Attacks?
Ransomware 101: Keeping Your Organization Safe
6 Ways to Keep Your Cloud Secure
/in Blog, Cloud, Security /by lindsayThe simplest way to migrate to the cloud is to lift and shift your applications, migrating them exactly as they are. That doesn’t work for security, though. To make sure your cloud resources are properly protected, you need to review the security features offered by your cloud provider and make sure you implement them properly. You should check out the following:
1. Cloud provider compliance certifications
Meeting your own security standards is easier when the cloud provider offers a strong base. If the cloud provider offers infrastructure certified to meet the compliance standards relevant to your industry, be sure you deploy to that environment.
2. Encrypt your data
Store data in an encrypted format to keep it protected. You can usually easily turn on database encryption in the cloud. It’s simpler to allow the cloud provider to manage the encryption keys, though you’ll gain additional security if you manage them for yourself. Depending on how encryption is implemented, encrypting stored data may not require any application changes, making it compatible with a lift and shift migration.
3. Use identity and access management controls
Identity and access management (IAM) lets you limit access to your cloud resources. You may be able to use the same IAM tools in the cloud as in your data center, allowing you to lift and sift this security control as well. In either case, make sure privileges are set properly.
4. Don’t adopt default cloud configurations
The default configurations established by many cloud providers are not security conscious. Don’t assume they’re set the way you need them. Make sure these settings are appropriate for your applications and modify them when they are not. Where possible, use templates or base cloud images that have the settings you need built in to create all your cloud instances.
5. Separate production, test, and development environments
Because cloud lets you create and shut down instances as needed, you may see recommendations to speed production deployments by turning the “test” instance into production and creating a new test instance the next time you need it. The problem with this is that test environment configurations are often not as secure as those needed in a production environment. You’ll lose a little deployment speed but gain a lot of additional security by keeping the distinction between environments.
6. Don’t forget about the devices that access cloud
Securing your cloud resources requires more than just securing the cloud; it requires securing the devices that access the cloud. Don’t forget about tools such as firewalls to protect your network, and consider mobile device management software to protect your cloud from mobile device risks.
CCS Technology Group’s cloud services ensure your cloud provides a cost-effective, efficient, and secure environment that meets your IT needs. Contact us to learn more about building and using cloud safely.
Additional Cloud Security Resources
Closing Common Cybersecurity Holes
7 Common Mistakes That Place Your Data in Danger
Protecting Your Business Against Phishing Emails
Overcome the Challenges of Hybrid IT With Managed Services
/in Blog, Managed Services /by lindsayThere’s no doubt your data center is a mix of technologies. Hybrid IT is the way the world works today. It’s not about hybrid cloud, though that might be a part of it—it’s about choosing the right environment for each application, whether that means public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, or purely in your data center. It means having multiple cloud providers as you match each workload to the most appropriate service. It means complexity that allows you to deliver tremendous business benefits but can leave your IT team struggling to keep the environments under control.
Challenges of Hybrid IT
Some of the challenges of hybrid IT come simply because the complexity means there are more choices and more decisions to be made. When you use a single technology, when the business comes to you with a request, you know the tools you’ll be using. When you support a hybrid environment, you need to spend additional time understanding the business requirements in depth so you can deploy it most effectively. This means spending more time talking with the business before you start implementing their technology.
Hybrid IT means you’ve got to develop a multitude of data migration strategies, one for each environment. Although the environments may be isolated, it’s likely they’ll need to share data, so migration, or at least synchronization, isn’t a one-time effort either.
Keeping the data secure and in compliance is also challenging, because each of your different environments has its own controls. Bringing them all into alignment with your own policies can be time-consuming. Assuring consistency across the environments requires ongoing monitoring and the assistance of automation to promote policies.
With multiple types of technology in use, it’s harder to keep an eye on costs. Usage statistics and spending details come from multiple providers and offer differing levels of granularity. Hybrid IT can result in silos that hide the overall spending picture. Consider using tools that bring multiple bills into a single dashboard and make it easier to monitor spending. Analytics can identify opportunities to reduce spending through consolidating and shutting down instances.
Monitoring multiple systems is difficult, too, again because it’s hard to get an overall picture of how your infrastructure is functioning. You also have to manage multiple vendors, track multiple contracts, and interface with multiple contacts to resolve issues. It’s difficult for your team to have the expertise needed across all platforms to keep your entire infrastructure operating at a high level of performance.
Managed Services Address Hybrid IT’s Challenges
Hybrid IT is unavoidable; there are too many benefits from having the ability to tailor each workload’s infrastructure to match its requirements exactly. Managed services can help you get control back over this complex infrastructure, bringing in a team that’s experienced with all the technologies you use and overseeing daily operations. Contact CCS Technology Group to learn how our managed services can help you take better advantage of your hybrid IT infrastructure.
Interested in learning more about the benefits of partnering with a managed services provider? Check out our guide How Managed Services Make the Difference.
Additional Managed Services Resources
5 Tips for Getting the Best Results from a Managed Services Provider
Choose the Right Managed Services Provider for Your Business
6 Big Benefits from Using Managed Services