While many businesses may prefer to view their IT as a ‘set it and forget it’ necessity, the reality is that outlay and maintenance costs can have a huge impact on most operations. From IT consultancy and auditing to risk management and real-time maintenance issues, IT can easily become a major business headache.

Switching from in-house to cloud technologies

One very real solution that will work towards resolving many of these issues is switching from in-house to cloud technologies. In particular, such a change is likely to impact mostly on issues related to IT risk and data security.

1. SaaS – Software as a service

One of the more easily implemented routes open to all types of small to medium-sized operations is by utilising cloud technology through SaaS (Software as a Service). From DTP and email handling to accounting and even total supply chain management, SaaS has been keeping the IT of all types of business safe and secure for many years now. Apart from the implications relating to disaster recovery and handling the “hot potato” of self-owned software programs, security alone is likely to make SaaS an attractive option for businesses looking to reduce IT risks.

2. Protecting your data

Operators of cloud technologies have already proven their worth as IT data protectors. It’s likely that more than a few CEOs have already saved their expensive shirts from sweat damage by being able to retrieve their otherwise corrupted data from the cloud. With the ability to replicate all of a business’s data, critical operations can still run from anywhere in the event of local issues – including anything from power outages to flooding or fire.

3. Less reliance on third party suppliers and agencies

Because many small and medium-sized businesses have limited in-house IT management, they tend to rely more on third-party suppliers who have no vested interest in their business apart from a cheque at the end of every month. Further, even in environments that utilise the company’s own key IT personnel, sickness and other issues will still impact on operations. Cloud-based IT options will limit these issues along with further reducing the number of individuals who have sight of and access to your data, and that can only be good news.

4. Going ‘all the way’ with managed cloud services

A fully managed cloud services system will remove the burden of running an IT department from IT managers’ shoulders altogether! There are plenty of options out there that operate ongoing pay-for-use packages that virtually remove all the risk of the “halfway house” self-serving options. If these aren’t attractive enough reasons for a business to consider managed cloud services, perhaps the huge savings in staff, training, and updating will be.

5. Choosing what works best for your business

While cloud technology certainly doesn’t come neatly packaged in a one-size-fits-all format, a diligent review of any business’s IT security risks is more than likely to reveal areas that would benefit. Choosing the best options for a business’s specific and unique IT needs is, therefore, surely going to be the best way to proceed.

You have made the decision to swap your old server for a move to the cloud and embrace the modern world of cloud computing. You have an idea of the benefits but where should you start?

You need to understand the features of your cloud provider, and make sure that it is suited to your business needs keeping in mind reliability, storage limits, privacy and security.

Finances

One of the top reasons to move to the cloud is for financial reasons as it is normally more cost effective.  You need to pick a provider that is established and secure in their own finances to make sure they won’t let you down in the long term. Look at their track record, especially how they have operated over a long time.  A provider such as Microsoft Azure would be a perfect example of a company you could have confidence in.

Risk

The cloud provider should have a formal management structure in place with strong risk management policies and procedures. There should be a clear train of responsibility in order to provide you with the great and consistent service that your business needs. Find out about their risk management and how they would manage a drama or a slip-up if one occurs in the future so you know what to expect if something happens.

Reporting

A managed IT service provider can be your way of knowing your data is secure. They will be the ones managing your cloud storage and should be able to give you regular reports on your performance, along with modern monitoring of the resource to make sure your cloud is working well for you.  Additionally, they should be able to provide an SLA, a set amount of time they have to get back to you on any queries or problems that you may encounter.

Technical processes

How easy will the transition be? Can you link it with your existing systems to make the cloud transition simple and easy? These are all things to think about, along with what the interface will look like and how you can use it, how you add events and manage them, along with how you can adapt it to your needs as these change over time.

You need to be aware of hybrid capabilities, as even if you don’t need this right away, you may want to upgrade in the future so you need to know your provider can get that for you.  This will all be part of the planning and exploration stage with your managed IT provider.

Security

There should be policies for tested and tried security measures for your cloud platform. These should be visible to everyone and should in no way be compromised – it is your company’s data and that is why it is most important.

Along with a data backup there should be physical security evident too, from access to hardware and safeguards around the software to protect your equipment and your data from any events that may affect this. Ensure you have a disaster recovery plan along with a business continuity plan, so that even if something does happen, you can rest assured in the knowledge that your company is safe.

When you have made a decision to move to the cloud make sure you are well informed.  A conversation with DNA IT Solutions could save you time, hassle and money in the long run.  Contact our team today to see what we can do for you.

With more and more businesses moving applications and workloads to the cloud there can be some confusion about securing them adequately. DNA IT Solutions work with both Microsoft Azure cloud and Sophos security solutions to help provide the optimum solution for organisations.

Security in the Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure is public cloud and Microsoft works hard to protect the cloud infrastructure. They regularly monitor network traffic and will respond to security issues so you can have confidence in selecting this option. Azure manages security of the cloud but the security of your information in the cloud is up to you.

This is where Sophos can help.

Sophos provide solutions to help you properly secure your cloud environment. Sophos XG Firewall is available in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. You can deploy XG Firewall on Azure to help provide the protection your data needs as it moves through Azure. Sophos XG Firewall gives you additional layers of security from the Azure Virtual Network through the application layer in a single modular solution. XG Firewall is available as a pre-configured, virtual machine in the Azure Marketplace. You can select XG Firewall, apply Azure Resource Manager templates, and easily deploy to your environment.

Defending Against Hacks and Attacks

Cybercrime is on the rise, Sophos and Microsoft Azure provide services that can help you meet your security, privacy and compliance requirements. The important thing to remember is that when you run your applications and workloads in the cloud you are also responsible for ensuring protection for those applications and workloads.
As with any infrastructure, whether on-premise or in the cloud, security should be a core functional requirement. Security policies and controls must be implemented to protect mission-critical information from accidental or deliberate theft, leakage, integrity compromise, and deletion.

Here are some questions to consider as a starting point:

• How is your data routed, and what kind of protection do you have for that routing?
• How is performance affected by implementing a security solution?
• Where does your data reside? Is it encypted? Who has access to it?
• What type of protection do you need? Web-layer, network-layer, both? More?
• Do you have protection in place for known threats? What about threat protection to identify and block unknown (zero-day) threats?
• Do you understand how your users behave in your cloud infrastructure? How do you identify and separate out risky users?
• What type of policy and rules are you using? Is there overlap or ineffective rules? How do you identify more effective ways to manage your security?
• Sophos has a network of partners capable of helping you think through security concerns in order to develop and implement controls and protections that are right for Sophos XG Firewall

Sophos XG Firewall on Azure combines mutiple security tools into one solution and is designed to prevent sophisticated attacks and advanced threats in the cloud while providing secure remote access to the Azure cloud for trusted users.

Sophos XG Firewall complements the infrastructure protection provided by Azure with many advanced management features and deployment capabilities including:

• Global deployment options, with the ability to establish separate XG Firewall instances in multiple countries.
• Sophos Firewall Manager software, which provides fast setup and a single console for the complete central management of the firewall.
• Built-in reports that tell you what’s happening with your users and your network.
• User Threat Quotient reports that show you which of your users are putting your Azure-based systems at risk.
• Pre-defined policy templates that let you quickly protect applications like Microsoft Exchange or SharePoint.
• Patented Layer-8 identity control, which enables user-level controls over applications, bandwidth and other network resources regardless of IP address, location, network or device.

Conclusion

Sophos XG Firewall is a “next-generation” firewall you can select and launch from within the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. XG Firewall deploys as an all-in-one solution that combines advanced networking, protections such as Intrusion Prevention (IPS) and Web Application Firewalling (WAF), as well as user and application controls. XG Firewall is designed to help you protect your Azure-based workloads against advanced threats.

For more information on this you can check out the Sophos website or speak with one of our experts that will explain how Sophos and Microsoft Azure may be the option for your business.