Even though cloud computing is a more convenient, cost-effective, and superior means of storing and accessing data, it is not free from attacks. With boys advancing their hacking skills by the day, greater focus on Cloud Security is necessary to secure your company’s cloud storage technology if you want to reap the best out of it. But how can you beat the thugs in their own game?
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One of the ways of securing your cloud computing infrastructure is the installation of an SSL certificate. With its ability to withstand multiple threats, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) provides you with the much-needed security by encrypting your data transfer between two points.
Understanding an SSL Certificate
Before proceeding and delving into more details regarding the role of an SSL certificate in Cloud Security, let’s understand it. An SSL certificate is a technology that encrypts private interactions on the Internet. The system encodes and ensures that the information transferred between a browser and a server remains secret and secure so that a third party does not access it. The certificate has two keys with the public one encodes data while the private one decodes it.
But what are the attacks?
Even though it is famous for its convenience of access and storage, cloud computing is still vulnerable to multiple attacks. Due to the availability of large amounts of data stored in the cloud, its security should be an urgent priority for any organization. Below are some of the most dangerous threats that can face your cloud computing system.
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Flood attacks : Flooding is one of the most common attacks your system can face. Here, malicious fraudsters overflow your cloud computing service with falsified requests intended to increase the size of actual requests send to the system. When this happens, the system is bloated leaving no little for valid requests from your clients. In the end, you pay unnecessary charges to your cloud service provider for requests that never came from your clients.
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Data loss : Another potential threat that faces cloud computing systems is the loss of data
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Hacking : Cloud computing is also vulnerable to hackers since they can attack the system by tampering with data, manipulating data, and phishing.
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Malware : Malware also presents a serious threat to cloud computing. The bad boys out there can infect your data with malicious software that can damage and corrupt both the user’s system and hardware.
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Breaching data : Storing uncoded information on the cloud is a disaster in the waiting. The reason is that hackers are tirelessly looking for loopholes to access and steal such information.
After looking at the potential risks that cloud computing is vulnerable to, let us see how an SSL certificate comes into the equation.
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It restricts unauthorized access to information
Though cloud computing allows you to store away mountains of data, one of the biggest challenges that come with that storage is that it is no longer under your direct control. The first two things you lose are that you no longer have a voice over where the data is stored and who should access it. But when you use an SSL certificate, you keep your information safe from suspicious eyes which may want to read your data. This Cloud Security measure is effected through the encrypting power of SSL and also its ability to authenticate the identity of the server and device seeking to access the data.
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No accidental disclosure
During the stay of our data on the cloud, it is possible for the accidental disclosure of your private data to take place. But with SSL’s encrypting power, you no longer need to worry about this issue.
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Safe transit
With cloud computing, you lose control over the physical location of your data. This loss of control means that unless you protect your data, it is possible to compromise its safety during transit. However, the availability of a SSL certificate makes it possible to transfer your data safely.
There are many types of SSL Certificates with each certificate having their own advantages. Among which EV SSL Certificate provides hightest validation with green address bar. The EV SSL Certificate is only issued after proper identity verification of the Individual and the company, confirms its legal, operational and physical existences. Also the trusted SSL Certificate authorities will not issue the SSL certificate to the server located in banned countries.
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Secure data back-up
Just as it is with any other data storage system, cloud computing is not exempted from potential crashes. When such unfortunate occurrences take place, the service provider is under a legal obligation to give you a recovery of your sensitive data from their duplicate servers. In such cases, an SSL certificate gives you the assurance that the duplicate repository used to back up your data is legitimate. Additionally, the SSL certificate will provide you with a secure and encrypted channel during the transfer.
Choose your SSL Certificate with these factors in mind
After looking at the potential dangers that your data can face during its stay on the cloud and the solutions a SSL certificate can offer to keep it safe, let us look at something else. All SSL certificates come from providers, and the certificate you receive is just as good as the provider. This section will share with you some ideas on how to choose an SSL Certificate Provider that meets your cloud security needs.
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Trust : You should choose an SSL certificate provider with a good reputation for offering watertight security
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Support for a higher encryption : Your provider’s SSL should support at least an AES 128-bit encryption and above
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Stringent audit :The SSL should require a stringent annual audit of the authentication process
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Stable recovery systems : The provider must run high-quality disaster recovery sites designed to protect your data
Final thoughts
Though it is a convenient way of storing and accessing data, cloud computing is still vulnerable to numerous attacks. But the good news is that you can take measures to secure your valuable data on the cloud. One of the ways by which you can secure the storage and transfer of your data in the cloud is installing an SSL certificate. That is why you need to choose an SSL service provider carefully because their efficiency level will affect negatively or positively the protective power of your SSL certificate.
