Cloud Database security: Seven ask cloud service provider

What is the most important topic for the IT manager for the cloud database? The answer is "safety."

Before the advent of the cloud computing era, security has become one of the most topical topics in the database field, and see how many major data security vulnerabilities we've experienced. and putting the data in the cloud means that the enterprise data center loses control of the data, which undoubtedly adds additional risk.

But the cloud services provider says security is their priority, and they have recruited technical experts to avoid security vulnerabilities. Experts？ Do they really know our data better than our DBA team?

Of course, I agree that the cloud database needs to be managed by a dedicated person who has more experience in data security than any other IT staff. But do we still have a lot of other issues to consider?

First of all, does your cloud provider really have the best security experts, as they say? This is a very important consideration because cloud computing is the business for them, as long as the business needs to balance revenue and expenditure so that it can make a real profit. I'm not saying that cloud services are going to cut corners, but you have to get to the bottom of your service provider and ask them about their security team composition and whether they can meet the needs of the enterprise class. In fact, cloud service providers are facing greater security challenges than traditional companies, and it will not be easy if you recruit the people involved.

Second, your people or service providers, no matter who to manage, cloud database will involve more people, and people are often the biggest data security risks. More people accessing your database means the higher the likelihood of data exposure.

Third, the cloud is a good word, your data into the cloud, but it is also stored on a physical server, behind it is still the power supply system, backup systems and complex IT infrastructure. And the cloud service provider's data center is larger, and Operation dimension is a vexing problem, which hides a certain risk.

Then, for cloud service providers to promote their database services, you need to understand the following questions:

Where is my data? Where do I manage my database? If there are overseas, what is the difference between the data protection laws and the native land? Can you guarantee that the data is really stored there and not moved anywhere else? If there is no guarantee, where will the data be stored? Are there other external organizations that can access my data besides you and me? Does it use the same transmission path when the data is moved? Is the data encrypted? What kind of encryption algorithm is used? Are there other organizations that can access the keys?

These questions may sound awkward, as if you don't trust your service provider or even some crazy meaning, which is limited to security. Admittedly, cloud computing has brought us a lot of innovation, and cloud databases have changed the way we store and manipulate data. But for very sensitive data, we cannot be too careful.