Data collected by cloud solution providers indicates that an increasing number of businesses in Europe and North America are using these services and applications in their operations. Successful implementation leads to consistent growth and a significant decrease in resource requirements. Today’s cloud solutions provide extensive features at a reasonable cost, allowing small and medium-sized business owners to benefit from this technology.
With the fast rise of cloud technology, another worrying trend is starting to appear – there aren’t many ways to verify how trustworthy a specific provider is, which poses an immediate risk to the security of sensitive data in your organization. A recent analysis of cloud adoption and risks shows that between 10% and 50% of cloud applications are not visible to IT, and on average, 86% of cloud applications are not approved.
The large percentage of unsanctioned cloud applications is massive and the conclusion that there is the need of more organizations to enforce data security standards for cloud providers seems really plausible. However, until this happens, your most sensitive business and customer data could be at risk. Vastly underestimated by small and medium sized business owners, the risks of data theft are incredibly high, especially when the data is stored by a third-party service or a provider.
Take Action!
The best approach to data security is prevention, it starts with the creation of a company’s data security policy and continues with educating your employees about their most potentially dangerous online habits. Don’t underestimate the nature of the problem – if you have internet in your office, your computer is part of the world’s network and if unsecured, is exposed to attacks from various sources. No matter how many solutions you use, how big or small are your needs for software solutions, how often you connect online – it’s up to you to secure your all devices you use in your business and establish strict rules for prevention.
Many business owners don’t take any action, because they feel they lack the knowledge to perform such task. The truth is that there are really simple ways to secure sensitive business data, starting with the implementation of strong passwords through setting up firewalls to encrypting business emails. If you still can’t handle it – there are many companies and freelance professionals, who will be more than happy to help you craft data protection policy for your business within your budget.
Data protection is not for large enterprises anymore – no matter what industry you are involved with, you need to protect all data you store your personal and business devices. There is no way around this and the faster you realize it, the faster you will secure sensitive data!