Cloud outages happen all the time, but there has been an observed increase in major outages in recent years. In 2021, the increase was exponential with many notable incidents in the month of June 2021. These outages are affecting a significant number of companies of various sizes.
The Cloud exists on the internet and was built on trust—yet the internet is, unfortunately, intrinsically insecure by design. Repeatedly, we see that trust being abused by cybercriminals exploiting the vulnerabilities on the internet. So why are companies still moving to the Cloud?
The Cloud presents a suite of benefits, and with the pandemic accelerating digital transformation, over 90% of companies are planning to or have migrated to the cloud[1].
Alban Kwan, CSC regional director, East Asia, recently presented three key recommendations to address “The Cloud trust paradox”—expanding on an opinion that Google® shared—“to trust Cloud computing more, you need the ability to trust it less[2].”
Expect outages and build redundancy on the connector of the Cloud—that is, the domain name system (DNS). Consider separate DNS and Cloud providers, or build in redundancy to mitigate risks should one suffer an outage.
Prevent human error by engaging providers who have a stake in the Cloud. Free services could indicate little investment in the security of the free offering. Also consider using dedicated services or networks.
Secure your online identifier to mitigate inter-network threats. Many cyberattacks begin with a phish—when a fraudster is able to take on your identity through a variety of means including DNS hijacking, and use legitimate email addresses for their phishing campaigns.
Listen to Alban’s keynote at Price Waterhouse Cooper’s HackaDay for his in-depth presentation on the topic.
[1] pwc.com/us/en/tech-effect/cloud/enterprise-cloud-transformation-strategy.html
[2] cloud.google.com/blog/products/identity-security/trust-a-cloud-provider-that-enables-you-to-trust-them-less
