It’s a common perception that private entities are safer and less riskier than public ones. Similarly in cloud computing, it is believed that information in public cloud is vulnerable to hackers. This has been the root cause as many businesses tend to move towards building their own cloud environment. So, is public cloud really that insecure? Cloud experts seem to think otherwise. However, before moving further, let’s clear out the misconception of private clouds being more secured.
Private infrastructure is not as secure as thought:
The only people who will support the idea of private clouds being more secure are usually hardware and software vendors. (They have a reason to say that — server sales have been very low lately.) In reality, the state of security measures taken by a private enterprise for their dedicated infrastructure are far worse than imagined.The reason behind this is close-mindedness. Most consider private being synonymous with secure. Therefore, these businesses overlook the importance of maintaining security once their cloud is up and running. Security management costs money and time which companies may not have. A report published by Compliance Services USA puts across many relevant points:
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94% of enterprises don’t routinely re-evaluate their risk posture nor adjust their security controls.
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Less than 40% employ solid controls over third-party access to network and information.
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Almost half of the enterprises do not deploy physical security at their private data-center.
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50% do not deploy additional firewall other than default configuration.
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Entreprises normally don’t have any recovery plans in place if a disaster occurs at data center. The condition remains the same for malware attacks on network.
Public Cloud is more secure than private:
Shocked? But this is the truth. Though there have been some sporadic outages, but there are several reasons that prove public clouds to be a better choice for enterprises in terms of security and risk management.
1. Â Â Public cloud is made secure by Big Guns:
In case of a security breach, who will initiate the efforts to make things straight first: Amazon or a mid-sized business? The fact is top-ranking public cloud vendors like Amazon, Microsoft and Rackspace have faced thousands of hacking attempts, and this makes them ready for anything.
Public cloud vendors have their entire reputation behind security. They hire the best security experts only to make sure that their clients get an absolutely secure environment. Will your enterprise be able to do this in the same manner? We wish you best of luck if you are thinking of trying it.
2. Â Â Public Cloud Computing uses better hardware:
Will you be able get approvals for the purchase of new server machines from your board every year? In cloud computing you can. Public cloud vendors not just use the best available hardware, but you can also spin new servers whenever you want.
Contrary to that, in private cloud you have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in upgrading your old infrastructure; else it will not just lower your efficiency, but it can also be a security risk.
3. Public Clouds makes you free from resource scarcity:
Setting up your own cloud requires a lengthy expenditure. Planning this infrastructure is a major headache. Plan it too big and you have locked your investment in a risk; plan it too small and you may suffer downtime. Maintaining this infrastructure has its own cost too.
While on public cloud, there is always enough for everyone and many public cloud providers allow you to upscale or downscale your resources whenever needed.
Virtualization – Private environment inside a public cloud:
While the worry of public cloud being not secure enough will be an evergreen issue, there is a point where things meet halfway. Through virtualization, you can have the best of both worlds. By opting for Virtual Private Cloud, you can get a dedicated private environment deployed on a public cloud infrastructure. This way you get both the efficiency of a private cloud and the security of a public cloud—but at a lower rate.
At Cloudways, all servers we offer are fully virtualized; giving you required efficiency, increased security, and lower cost of ownership. We also take pride in giving free consultation to businesses who are considering a move towards the Cloud. Is your business cloud-ready? Feel free to contact us to check if Cloud is for you or not.
Mehdi KaramAli
Mehdi KaramAli worked as a Digital Content Producer for Cloudways. Apart from exploring new trends in the cloud, he keenly follows startups and is passionate about mountaineering.
