Traditional data centers have been around since the dawn of the internet when companies needed a place to store the massive volume of information. However, more and more companies are moving to the cloud as a cheaper, simpler alternative to traditional data centers.
Hesitation Surrounds the Cloud
Despite the many benefits of using the cloud, some businesses are hesitant to leave traditional data centers because they’re concerned about cloud security features. About 40 percent of IT decision-makers have expressed some hesitancy about using the cloud to secure business information.
Mathias Thurman, a tech business owner, shares a common concern that many business owners have when it comes to cloud storage.
“I’m…uncomfortable with the idea that much of our data center infrastructure will be accessible from anywhere on the Internet,” he says in a ComputerWorld article. “Today, if an engineer wants to provision a server, he has to be physically located in one of our facilities or be on our company network. The cloud opens things up so much that a server could be provisioned from an untrusted Internet kiosk in Mexico, for example.”
Thurman, like many other business owners, believes that the cloud has many great things to offer, but wants to see greater security measures in place before jumping in. Thurman mentions the necessity of strong profiles, servers that comply with configuration management policies, disaster recovery plans, robust reporting measures, and restricted access.
The good news is that many cloud data services offer all these security measures and more. It’s simply a matter of educating the public and proving their efficiency.
Cloud Security Is Generally More Secure
Cloud security established somewhat of a risky reputation during its early stages; however, we’re dealing with far more advanced capabilities in security now compared with traditional data centers.
Some of the so-called weaknesses of cloud data centers are actually their biggest strengths.
“In many ways, cloud security is gaining in strength based on a seemingly inherent weakness,” says Andrew Froehlich of InformationWeek. “Cloud service providers are in a unique position to absorb vast amounts of data. Because large clouds are geographically dispersed in data centers around the globe, they can pull in all kinds of security intelligence as data flows in and out of the cloud. This intelligence can then be used to track security threats and stop them far more quickly.”
One of the problems facing early cloud centers was the rapid evolution of cloud technology before cloud security could develop to protect it. However, that gap has been closing rapidly for several years now. Cloud security measures have become mainstream to protect company data.
This even goes for public clouds, which some say have better security measures than those in the private sector.
“What public clouds bring to the table are better security mechanisms and paranoia as a default, given how juicy they are as targets,” says David Linthicum of Infoworld. “The cloud providers are much better at systemic security services, such as looking out for attacks using pattern matching technology and even AI systems. This combination means they have very secure systems.”
The Cloud-Based Data Center Wins
To answer the unique needs of parties seeking cloud security, there’s been a greater demand for new security offered in cloud data centers. Industry experts are introducing the latest and greatest security features to make cloud-based data centers more accessible and better fitted to the companies that use them.
“When enterprises finally embrace the idea of cloud computing, it doesn’t become simply an extension of the traditional enterprise network,” Froehlich continues in his article. “It becomes the central focus. End-users access the cloud through any number of different entry points, such as private WANs or the public Internet. Because the cloud is a centralized point of entry for customers, it becomes the ideal location for securing client/server communications as well as a single point of management for encryption keys.”
Cloud computing data centers evolve at a much faster rate alongside software-based technologies. They’re designed to update with security features and technology at a much faster rate than data centers, and the result is a new perspective on information security that makes data easier to access and manage across the board.
