Even though several cloud solutions are available free of cost, organizations often miss out on an important security option,—data encryption which is the process of transforming or encoding data before it is moved to cloud storage. Keeping information secure in the cloud should be one’s top priority and taking a few preventive steps can go a long way into securing the most sensitive information.

Organizations today are largely dependent on third-party encryption tools that can apply passwords and encryption to files after they have been edited.

Another way to secure the cloud computing architecture is through cloud cryptography. Utilizing cryptography, some cloud computing service providers offer a layer of information security at the base level, allowing secure access to whoever needs shared cloud services. Based on the Quantum Direct Key system, an advanced system of symmetric encryption keys, where users receive a pair of public and private keys with a specific ID. Network congestion can also be minimized using cryptographic cloud computing.

A cloud access security broker (CASB) is an additional method for encrypting data and can protect data at rest and in transit. Offering a single point of visibility and access control into any cloud app in a large firm, where the control comes through contextual access control, encryption for data at rest, and leakage protection of data. CASB mediates the connections between the cloud apps and the public through a series of API connectors and proxy servers.

Beyond encrypting the data at the file level, it’s important to maximize cloud security as well. Cloud data should be backed up locally at periodic intervals, either on the secured server or on one’s laptop. One can rely on the locally backed up versions, in the rare case scenario where the cloud-saved data is lost or corrupted. Alternatively, the data can be backed up on a separate cloud.

Although encryption services are provided by some cloud service providers, when utilizing their cloud storage, it is a great idea of locally encrypting the data as it would provide an extra layer of security.

Before the encryption is done, the security needs for the cloud deployment needs to be mapped out. The data to be encrypted has to be identified and a plan should be put in place for prioritizing the sensitive data.

Data security depends on one’s online activity in several situations. Accessing cloud data over an insecure connection or a public computer may make your data vulnerable. Hackers can exploit the vulnerabilities in the data through such connections. The implementation of cloud security and data encryption plan isn’t easy. For the ease of implementation, it’s important to maintain organization-wide awareness around data security.