Google Cloud is one of the popular cloud platforms used by some notable companies. Google uses this infrastructure to build its Internet services and also as secure storage for data. While the technology giant has technical safeguards in place to secure the platform, administrators’ responsibility for data security lies in safe operation. Here we have discussed the best ways to ensure maximum security for Google Cloud platform.
Have a recovery plan ready
According to experts from credible websites like https://sonraisecurity.com/education/aws-azure-google-cloud-security-iam/, no cloud platform is 100% secure. Hence, a recovery plan is an absolute necessity. The disaster recovery(DR) plan is generally a part of the business continuity plan. It should define two metrics – a recovery time objective and a recovery point objective. When you design a DR plan, you need to combine data recovery techniques and your cloud application. Some of the essential points to focus are:
- End to End Recovery
The DR plan should not only cover back and archiving of data but data restoration as well. It should address the full recovery process spanning backup to restore to cleanup. The DR plan should describe each task in detail, leaving no space for ambiguity.
- Implement Controls to Measure
You need to add controls to detect issues before they occur and prevent disasters. For example, you can add a monitor to your Google cloud platform that detects any unusual activity, unexpected spikes, or deletion pipeline. The monitor should terminate processes when a certain threshold is reached.
Ensure high visibility
An organization needs to gain high visibility of the cloud environment to mitigate security. Using cloud services that enhance visibility into the cloud environment helps organizations detect attacks faster.
GCP offers a security command center that serves the purpose. It allows admins to identify misconfigured security functions in virtual machines, storage buckets, networks, and applications.
Use identity access management
The principle of Identity Access Management is to provide access to only employees. The IAM focuses on providing access to resources only that are needed to perform their job functions. GCP administrators can use identity access and context-aware access tools to limit employees’ access to cloud resources.
Cloud IAM allows the admins to decide what actions employees can take regarding cloud resources. A virtual private cloud can secure the perimeter of the Google cloud platform. It will enable the administrator to use user attributes like IP address and user identity to determine whether a group or a user can access specific cloud resources.
Use automation to accelerate security measures
The cloud environment is highly complex. Misconfiguration of security measures is one of the threats to the cloud platform. When data generation and traffic increase, the cloud platform has to scale up rapidly, and administrators have to monitor and protect more things. Automation gives the monotonous responsibility to security software. It allows the admins to keep a close eye on the overall cloud environment.
Encrypt data
If your attacker gets hold of your data in the cloud, nothing stops them from misusing it. Through data encryption in transit and at rest, you’ll reduce the chances of misuse of data. Even if the attacker successfully accesses data, he/she needs to spend a considerable amount of time and resources to decrypt it.
Securing the data is also necessary to secure the cryptographic keys to lock and unlock encrypted data. If the attacker has access to cryptographic keys, the encryption of data becomes a useless exercise.
The safety of the cloud environment is a shared responsibility. While Google does its part by employing the latest security software to secure the platform, it is the end user’s responsibility to apply the best practices while using the Google cloud platform to keep threats at bay.
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