One in five organizations has lost customers as a result of a cyberattack. Nearly 30% have lost revenue, with the average cost of a single data breach reported to be $4 million.
At the same time, 74% of IT leaders say security concerns hold them back from moving to the cloud. What about you?
Get the real story. Here are four common myths about cloud security and facts about the Microsoft cloud.
Myth 1: Microsoft employees will have unfettered access to my data if I move to the cloud.
Fact: With Microsoft, your data is always yours.
Microsoft’s multi-tenant architecture sets the industry standards for security, confidentiality, and privacy. Multiple layers of protection prevent access to information from other tenants. To deliver an enterprise-grade hyper-scale cloud service, Microsoft operations are automated with self-healing mechanisms. In addition, Microsoft engineers do not have standing access to customer data and there is a process in place to grant access when it is required for service operations.
Myth 2: We do not need to worry because we have not had a problem so far.
Fact: Hope is not a strategy. Your approach to security needs to assume there will be active —and successful— attempts to breach your firewall.
It is no longer a question of if, but when an incident will occur. Businesses need security systems and solutions that provide maximum defense against security breaches, as well as an agile, effective response when a breach does occur.
Myth 3: Moving to the cloud makes compliance issues, such as categorizing data and reporting, more difficult.
Fact: Microsoft integrates compliance requirements and features throughout cloud services and data centers.
Security and compliance are inextricable. Regulatory requirements are constantly evolving. That’s why Microsoft has a compliance team dedicated to keeping up-to-date on any changes. Microsoft works closely with businesses and regulators to ensure our solutions comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other applicable regulations, whether they’re global, regional, or associated with a specific industry.
Microsoft’s data processing agreements detail their protocols and policies regarding customer data, which is helpful with regard to meeting documentation requirements for privacy regulations. Microsoft 365 includes access to features and tools like Compliance Manager and Content Search to assess and manage your risk, as well as Advanced Data Governance and Data Loss Prevention to help classify, protect, and monitor your data.
Myth 4: My company can always spend enough on security to keep our systems protected.
Fact: It is not only how much you spend; it is how smart. Microsoft invests in research, development, and services to provide enterprise-grade security even for companies without enterprise-size budgets.
Increasingly complex attack methods have made creating adequate defenses more difficult. Resources need to be allocated to protect against multiple vulnerabilities (e.g., identities, devices, infrastructure) and types of attacks (e.g., phishing, zero-day, etc.). While threats continue to grow in frequency and sophistication, companies still resort to costly point solutions to address specific threats rather than a systemic approach. Managing exponential growth in controls can be a costly nightmare.
And when your infrastructure is on-premises, you are solely responsible for updating and maintaining your systems to keep them protected, as well as responding effectively when a breach occurs.
What does enterprise-grade security mean with regard to Microsoft 365? It means providing intelligent security across five key dimensions: identity and access management, information protection, threat protection, security management, and compliance.
In addition, Microsoft patches over one billion Windows devices, scans 400 billion emails for malware, and processes 450 billion authentications every month. By analyzing the resulting data, Microsoft can provide unique insights into emerging threats.
Multiple authentication procedures, including badge identification and biometric scanners, protect Microsoft centers against unauthorized entry. With an on-premises solution, security protection procedures for hardware, operating systems, and applications are manual and prone to human error. In the cloud, that process can be automated. Automating security procedures allows Microsoft to address security threats on a large scale and reduce the risk of a data breach from employees.
Is your business prepared to dedicate the funds and resources it now takes to maintain an adequate security posture? Does that even make sense for your business? Do you have the expertise to keep pace with constantly evolving security threats? When you move to Microsoft 365 you resolve these questions, and more, by sharing burdens such as endpoint protection and identity and access management with Microsoft as a trusted partner, while completely shifting the burden of application- and network-level controls, host infrastructure, and physical security.
Abel Solutions has the expertise to get you to the cloud. Contact us to get started.