Cloud Communications

Ensuring Security in Cloud Communications

By Erin Harrison Executive Editor, Cloud Computing

Security remains one of the biggest obstacles toward adopting cloud communications and other cloud-based services. Symantec’s (News - Alert) recent “State of Cloud” survey showed that organizations are conflicted about security – rating it both as a top goal and as a top concern with moving to the cloud.

Businesses need to consider several security issues before they shift their IT to the cloud. A recent checklist from GFI Software, a provider of cloud communications solutions, is a handy guide for companies engaged in a cloud communications strategy.

The checklist enumerates the areas of information security organizations should focus on, along with specific settings or recommended practices that will help you to secure your environment against threats from within and without. Here’s an overview:

• Policies need to be created, socialized, approved by management, and made official to hold any weight in the environment, and should be used as the ultimate reference when making security decisions.
• Create a server deployment checklist, and make sure all of the following are on the list, and that each server you deploy complies 100 percent before it goes into production.
• Don’t overlook the importance of making sure your workstations are as secure as possible. Making sure that the workstations are secure is just as important as with your servers.
• Your network infrastructure is easy to overlook, but also critical to secure and maintain.
• Configure your vulnerability scanning application to scan all of your external address space weekly.
• Make sure you have a tape rotation established that tracks the location, purpose, and age of all tapes. Never repurpose tapes that were used to backup highly sensitive data for less secure purposes.
• Deploy an email filtering solution that can filter both inbound and outbound messages to protect your users and your customers.

For GFI’s complete cloud communications security checklist, click here.

GFI Software also knows a thing or two about the advantages cloud affords SMBs as the company has been looking out for the SMB since 1999. Determined to provide SMBs with access to technology solutions that best meet their needs and budgets – and are still simple to deploy and easy to manage – GFI Software was founded more than a decade ago. Fast forward 12 years later and GFI has emerged as an award-winning provider of cloud communications solutions for SMBs.

According to GFI, there are a multitude of reasons why SMBs should go the way of the cloud. To find out what they are, click here.

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