https://www.xperience-group.com/news-item/your-business-compliance-must-haves/
The Covid 19 pandemic forced organisations to switch to hybrid work overnight. In the blink of an eye, companies had to change the way they worked. The quick shift brought with it some problems, none more so than data exposure during the transition. E.g. Key areas of organisations such as payroll and HR functions became exposed to the internet. As a result, this increased exploitation gave hackers a new door into the IT infrastructure of organisations. For instance, a survey in 2022 (consisting of 1000 UK firms) found that over half believed their IT systems had been left more exposed to attack due to the migration to hybrid working. With this in mind, it’s important that businesses have measures in place to stay safe whilst working remotely.
We’ve put together some steps to make sure your hybrid working is set up with business compliance in mind:
Cloud certifications show that your organisation has met the industry standards stipulated by governance experts. This puts your Cloud set up in the best place in terms of security. Cloud regulations involve an audit of your organisations IT infrastructure, which gives you an opportunity to check in depth your Cloud security. Additionally, these audits provide you with a chance to assess any weaknesses in your set up.
We advise the most highly sensitive data is stored internally and not on the Cloud. This removes the risk of any highly sensitive data being compromised. On a side note, Cloud security is ever improving. Some argue it is stronger than the security of On-Premise solutions with public Cloud service workloads suffering 60% fewer security incidents than traditional data centres.
Encryption is one of the key tools used to protect yourself from Cyber Threats. Just relying on your Cloud providers encryption means your security is not as tight as it can be. In response to this, it is important that an organisation has sound encryption in place. We recommend that organisations use a Manage Your Own Key system. This system gives the organisation the possibility to expand their use of encryption.
Conducting regular internal security audits allows you to keep up to date with the latest regulations to stay compliant. This allows you to see regularly if there are any areas that need improvement and make adjustments where necessary.
A Cloud security policy is a must for any organisation. This policy will outline the risks of using the Cloud and then putting measures in place to protect your business against these threats. Consequently, once the policy is in place, selecting the best Cloud product for your organisations needs will be easier.
Any organisation making use of the Cloud should have controls in place for backing up data. Disaster Recovery Plans and continuity plans ensure that all data is backed up regularly, in case of system downtime or a security breach.
In summary, with more organisations making use of the Cloud due to Hybrid working it’s important to stay compliant. Business Compliance minimises the risk of using the Cloud and puts your organisation in the best place possible if a disaster does occur. Therefore, with the Cloud ever growing in size, (predictions of growth to £492.3Billion in 2023), it’s important that compliance is taken seriously. Our Cloud and IT service makes sure your business is fully compliant and in the best possible place against security risks. To learn more about how we can help, have a look at our Cloud and IT offering.