Page 54 - Cloud Essentials

Network encryption The use of cloud services over the Internet

means user-entered data, as well as user credentials to log on to cloud
services, is being transmitted over the Internet. Most cloud services
are delivered using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). This
is the encryption mechanism used for widely trusted secured web sites
and is firewall-friendly, meaning most firewalls will allow this type of
network traffic to pass through.

Stored data When files of any type are stored on some type of
storage medium, encryption can be used to further secure the data. Data
stored in the cloud can be encrypted with a customer-specific
encryption key known only to the customer and not the cloud provider.

Some cloud providers have their own method of encrypting
files stored in the cloud while other providers do not. For those
providers that do not offer file encryption, cloud customers can use any

encryption tool prior to uploading files to the cloud.

Integrity

Integrity ensures data has not been tampered with. Storing data in the cloud
means there are potentially more people who could tamper with your data.
However, cloud providers must pass vigorous third-party security audits on
a recurring basis, so technically their data storage security and logging is
probably far superior to the equivalent private business offering.

Availability
Business data must be readily available. Most cloud providers can replicate
customer configurations and data between data centers. Your Internet

service provider (ISP) normally controls your connection to cloud services,
but without a reliable Internet connection, your data is inaccessible. Some
cloud providers in some regions also control Internet connectivity to their
services.
Cloud providers might offer load balancing, which is a way to distribute
heavy network traffic destined to a specific service among multiple servers.
The absence of redundant Internet connections leaves a single point of

failure between employees and the computing services and data necessary

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