Cyber Security vs. Cloud Security
Introduction
As technology drives today’s society, many of us must have encountered the terms cybersecurity and cloud security. Like cybersecurity, cloud computing has also become an integral part of our daily lives. Almost all modern apps we use today to leverage cloud computing. But securing the cloud technology is also an essential aspect of cybersecurity. In this article, you will learn about cybersecurity vs. cloud security and how they both differ from each other.
What is cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is the practice where security professionals defend various digital and physical assets. It comprises securing different devices & assets like servers, computers, electronic systems, mobile devices, networks, and data from adversary attacks. This term applies to a wide variety of contexts such as information technology security, enterprise digital security, mobile computing security, etc. The main aim of cybersecurity is to protect networks, systems, and applications from cyber-attacks. Cybercriminals keep looking for flaws and bugs in cyberspace to penetrate or compromise these systems.
Cyber-attacks include accessing, altering, extorting money, stealing credentials, or destroying sensitive information, either for monetary benefit or fun. Through cybersecurity techniques, security professionals & ethical hackers try to protect the organization’s assets. As per the data breach report by IBM & the Ponemon Institute, in 2021, the cost of an overall data breach went to 4.24 million USD. It is 10 percent higher than 2019’s (3.86 million USD).
Cybersecurity comprises various subcategories like database security, network security, information security, cloud security, software security, web security, mobile security, information security, storage security, etc. Cybersecurity is an umbrella term under which cloud security also comes in.
Before digging into cybersecurity vs. cloud security in detail, we also have to understand what cloud security comprises.
What is cloud security?
Cloud security is a specific domain of cybersecurity that involves protecting the cloud network, infrastructure, cloud storage, applications, cloud databases, and ecosystem related to cloud computing. It is a specialized domain of cybersecurity that comprises cloud network security, access controls, cloud threats & vulnerability, and cloud identity & access management. Cloud security uses various tools & techniques like obfuscation, firewalls, tokenization, virtual private networks (VPN), authentication techniques, etc., to preserve its security.
According to some reports, 92% of organizations host their resources on the cloud. As cloud technology delivers different services through the internet, the entire cloud computing exposes itself to myriad threats. Due to internet-based delivery, cloud systems have a vast attack surface. Hence, the security of its network, infrastructure, application, and other cloud ecosystem becomes a necessary evil. That is where cloud service providers come with robust encryption mechanisms for data in transit and data at rest.
Some people think cloud storage or cloud data is more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. But the truth is that on-premise data storage is more vulnerable and has a broad spectrum of attacks. Social engineering attacks, physical security breaches, malware, ransomware attacks, etc., are well-known attacks. Cloud system does data replication; so that if one system crashes, users can gain access to those data from other cloud storages. It becomes beneficial to security as well. If a cybercriminal wants to contaminate the cloud system with malware or encrypts the data through ransomware, cloud providers keep data backups in a separate data center. From there, they can retrieve those data back to their uninfected form. Also, cloud providers periodically perform penetration testing on the cloud system. That renders robust cloud security, and attackers cannot gain access to them. Let us now take a look at cybersecurity vs. cloud security.
Cybersecurity vs. Cloud security
Both cybersecurity & cloud security are distinct and play a significant role in the industry. Both comprise information technology and digital infrastructure, servers, networking, and applications, but cloud security comes under cybersecurity. Here is a tabular structure representing cybersecurity vs. cloud security.
Myths about cybersecurity vs. cloud security –
Let’s first talk about cybersecurity myths.
· It is, by far, the biggest myth that threat actors do not target small and medium-scale enterprises. Cybercriminals target any enterprise that provides them monetary benefit. Every company leverages cloud & digital assets, and cybercriminals can compromise them. Hence, each company, irrespective of its size, is prone to cyber-attack.
· Many users think that passwords are strong enough to prevent an account from a data breach. But actually, passwords are the weakest security layer. Even strong password policies fail at many points. A system becomes more secure when it caters to multi-layered defence using techniques like multi-factor authentication.
· Antivirus software is enough for security is another big cybersecurity myth. Yes, leveraging antivirus and anti-malware will keep the system safe but won’t help protect the company’s network completely. The company should prepare an incident response plan.
· Cyber threats come from external, bad actors is not always true. Even someone from internal can harm your organization by breaching the security privileges within the organization. Insider threats are equally devastating. Employee ignorance, carelessness, and malicious behavior toward the company’s system can result in insider threats. So, every company should provide employee training on ethical behavior, policy-driven actions, etc.
Let us now talk about cloud security myths.
· Many business leaders and executives think clouds are less secure than on-premise computing systems. It is, by far, one of the most popular cloud security myths, according to Gartner’s top 10 cloud myths. This perception remains to date. But the fact is that cloud infrastructure and cloud technology rarely faces any security breach. The majority of breaches take place in on-premise systems.
· Another fascinating myth about cloud security is that all cloud caters to the same security. It is a great misconception. It is because two cloud environments operated under the same provider can have different levels of security. Cloud security may also depend on the pricing, business requirements, and compliances.
· Another myth about cloud security is that the cloud provider is responsible for cloud security alone. Cloud providers are the ultimate custodian who is accountable for protecting your data. Cloud providers will protect their hardware and infrastructure. But, users and the organization using cloud systems are also responsible & stay up-to-date with the patches & security updates and grant appropriate policies and permissions to employees.
· Staying aligned to standard compliances is a concern for many businesses. But there is a cloud security myth that says a company cannot fulfill compliance requirements through the cloud. But the truth is cloud providers are the best way to meet all the standard compliances as they remain up-to-date.
Conclusion
We hope this comprehension has given you a clear idea about cybersecurity vs. cloud security. If you are planning for a cybersecurity interview, understanding cybersecurity vs. cloud security is essential. The demand for cloud computing and IT is increasing exponentially. So, to keep these organizations’ assets and user data secure, companies are spending billions of dollars on cybersecurity, especially in cloud security.
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