Businesses everywhere are under increasing pressure to utilize cloud technologies to effectively distribute access to core business applications across the internet to their staff, suppliers and customers. Several vendors like Google, Digital Ocean and Amazon Web Services are busy advertising but few people understand what is at stake beyond having internet access to applications like QuickBooks for example.
Often, the use of cloud services from Amazon, Google or Microsoft provide more security to their customers, than customers can usually provide for themselves with their on-premises servers.
Despite the companies’ technical prowess, they are unable to help you control the access to your sensitive company information once it leaves their servers. Think about what is happening daily in your company: a user is downloading company information and transferring it to all manner of devices and to all manner of people to execute his/her various tasks. What control does the company have over that information, or the access by unauthorized parties?
For all of the media attention that “hacking” gets, the biggest security threats to any business are: unreported lost devices with digital company credentials; accidental deletions to core data files; using Wi-Fi connections without encryption; or sabotage from a disgruntled employee.
Reduce your risks to making your business agile and interconnected by having a global IT Consultant partner that understands. Let us show you some of the steps we take to bring greater security to your enterprise, regardless of the size.
Explore the 6 best ways we improve your cloud security:
- Employing Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Stolen credentials from an unreported, lost mobile device represent a digital treasure trove for digital miscreants. There are other ways these credentials are gleaned from unsuspecting victims such as malware and various other spyware variant infestations on the user device/network.
Armed with this information, a bad actor could destroy the finances, image and reputation of a person or company. As a result, using the plain, old username and password mechanism, is seen as a weak way to protect your sensitive, company information.
Two-factor authentication (2FA), also known as multi-factor authentication, is an additional layer of security, placed on top of the username and password mechanism, as an enhanced way of user verification. Not using 2FA to protect your resources is perceived as reckless behavior by security experts. Good thing, with ISM Grid, that feature is standard.
- Better User Access Controls
For most entrepreneurs, simply having your network set up so that all employees can access core applications is an achievement. But you should ask yourself, does everyone need equal access to all resources of the company? Often, the answer of the question is no.
Most employees do not need equal access to company resources. This is where having an access control policy is key for your company. The aim of the policy is to provide appropriate access to resources according to each employee’s role. This practice for as a start, goes a long way to securing your company’s precious information.
Crafting such a policy should take place with a qualified IT consultant. ISM Grid makes sure your access control policy and its management, matches the vision you have in mind for your enterprise.
- Detect Intruders Automatically Through Monitoring, Logging and Analysis
ISM Grid is architected to provide your business operation with top tier security in an easy to use, almost transparent manner. Our proactive approach to your business’ security makes us spot irregular user behavior on your network resources and ameliorate the potential threat in real-time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Explore our options to find the mix of security features we provide that you need. We can assess your risk as part of the on-boarding process and make recommendations to close any potential security holes the same time to deliver the peace of mind you require to run your enterprise.
- Comprehensive Protection of Company Data from Former Employees
In business schools and workshops, the mantra remains: “talented employees make capital dance.” What many of these gurus don’t tell you is that “unhappy, talented employees make capital ditch.”
In some cases, the process of terminating employment is foreseeable and can be planned for to reduce disruption to the business. However, in times when things are happening faster than you could imagine, and can’t be handled internally, it helps to have ISM Grid’s help with our automated deprovisioning system to make sure that all the access rights of the departing staffer are entirely revoked.
- Provide Security Best Practices and Guidelines for Employees Regularly
Hackers and other bad actors use a multitude of techniques to gain access to unauthorized information of a company. They either concentrate their efforts on the people in your company or your company systems. These attacks can come via telephone in seemingly polite conversation; or via emails fraudulently representing a contact or company that employee may know; and in rare cases, cyberstalking that employee’s social media accounts mining for personal information to use against them as blackmail.
Those mentioned scenarios are extreme cases. A simple thing like a lost/stolen phone or laptop in the wrong hands is enough to open your business information, image, reputation and finances at risk.
ISM Grid regularly trains their customers to keep up to date on the latest bad actor practices and how to avoid the pitfalls.
- Provide Robust Back Up Solutions
When all of history’s major data losses are tallied up and analyzed, the overwhelming trend that one realizes is, that systems don’t lose data as often as people do. Accidental and intentional data deletion by an employee happens more regularly than businesses are comfortable admitting.
If you are unsure how much your data is worth to you, consider how much you would be losing without it. Therefore, a robust backup strategy is important and included with ISM Grid’s cloud service for you.
There are some companies where there are strict Laws that make it an offence to have missing or corrupted data. ISM Grid excels for these industries as a solution.
Maximize Your Resilience, Minimize Your Risks and Costs
ISM Grid has architected and delivered a comprehensive, robust, cloud computing experience that allows you to manage your technology risks effectively using the IT security industry’s practices of excellence. This clears the mind space for you to passionately deliver your company’s vision in a cost-effective way.
Explore our plan options to see what fits right for you.