Best Cloud Data Security Software

Cloud data security software helps protect information stored in the cloud. Some information may be personal or sensitive, requiring additional labeling and protection. Other datasets may just need an additional layer of security. Either way, if a company is looking for added protection and data loss prevention, cloud data security software may be a good fit.

Cloud storage services come in many forms and may have unique requirements for protection. Public, private, and hybrid cloud systems do not possess the same level of protection. As a result, many solutions have emerged to protect data and ensure its compliance no matter where it is stored. Many have to support cross-cloud data protection allowing users to manage data stored by multiple cloud service providers. Other products offer simpler solutions for smaller businesses who are looking for reassurance that their data is safe.

Key Benefits of Cloud Data Security Software

• Encrypt or mask data stored in the cloud
• Identify and discover sensitive information
• Control access to sensitive information
• Monitor user behavior and access for abnormalities

There are many reasons companies should invest in cloud data security software, most importantly is the obvious need to protect data whether it relates to business, employees, or customers. Despite misconceptions that information stored using notable cloud providers, there is still a shared responsibility that places significant accountability on both the provider and their customer.

The shared responsibility can come down to this: Companies are responsible for securing everything in the cloud while cloud service providers are responsible for protecting the cloud. The shared responsibility between clients and service providers places a heavy burden of security responsibilities on the customer. While customers utilizing cloud services want to relinquish the responsibility of protecting on-premise infrastructure, they are still responsible for securing access, workloads, data, and applications.

Access control — Information should always be limited to the individuals at a company who are approved to view it. Access control describes the product’s ability to prevent unapproved parties from gaining access to a database, application or network. These are some of the most important features in any data security solution. Access control can prevent the public from viewing sensitive information about customers and prevent competitors from accessing that data. This software typically integrates with identity solutions or cloud directories for simplified privilege management and user governance. Companies can create identities, delegate their privileges, and relinquish them upon termination. They can also give temporary access to business partners or limited access to customers, depending on a company’s specific requirements.

Visibility — Some data can get lost, especially when managing information across numerous clouds and databases.To prevent things from getting lost in the shuffle, many cloud data security solutions allow continuous discovery and monitoring of datasets. This helps pinpoint information that should be encrypted but isn’t or information publicly available that should be limited to within the company. Improved visibility can help companies know what data is where and what security policies are enforced on the dataset at all times.

Compliance — Compliance refers to the need to enforce policies in alignment with data protection and privacy requirements outlined in government legislation. This can include data encryption, masking, or deliverability, among others. Companies can use cloud data security software to identify data requiring additional security and enforce those policies continuously to avoid fines and penalties. These compliance regulations may be unique to a company’s industry as well. For example, hospitals and banks will likely have more requirements and steeper penalties than a food truck or gas station. As a result, it’s important to keep in mind industry-specific needs when evaluating tools.

Cloud data security software can provide a wide range of features, but here are a few of the most common found in the market.

Data masking — Data masking functionality protects sensitive data by disguising or encrypting data, keeping it usable by the organization and approved parties.

Data encryption — Encryption features are used to manage policies for user data access and data encryption.

Data loss prevention — This feature stores data securely either on-premise or in an adjacent cloud database to prevent loss of data at rest.

Anomaly detection — Anomaly detection features are used to constantly monitor activity related to user behavior and compares activity to benchmarked patterns.

Sensitive data compliance — Supports compliance with PII, GDPR, HIPPA, PCI, and other regulatory standards.

Cloud gap analytics — Cloud gap analytics analyze data associated with denied entries and policy enforcement, giving better information of authentication and security protocols.

Compliance monitoring — Compliance-related monitoring features are used to monitor data quality and send alerts based on violations or misuse.

User analytics — User analysis functionality allows reporting and documentation of individual user behavior and privileges.

Auditing — Auditing and documentation features increase visibility into access and alterations of the database and can be used for behavioral analytics and reporting.

Data discovery — Data discovery features unveil data connected to infrastructure and applications used to manage and maintain compliance within complex IT systems.

Access control — Access control requires a product to support LDAP protocol to enable access control and governance.