Are your storage needs increasing faster than your on-premises storage can handle? We explain why cloud storage is actually the safer option – while also saving you money.

Cybersecurity breaches are becoming more frequent and advanced than ever before, and can result in the significant loss of both enterprises’ and their customers’ confidential data and money. Whether via the cloud or in a private data center, no storage method is guaranteed to be impenetrable.

Yet, InfoSec innovations are continuing to combat cyberthreats. Today, cloud security protocols are becoming more rigorous than those of traditional storage methods. And more people are trusting cloud storage: In fact, by the end of 2022, an estimated 60% of all corporate data was stored in the cloud rather than on traditional hard drives or on-premises servers.

In this blog, we explore the rise of the core types of cloud-native storage platforms, the security features and benefits of cloud storage, and share best practices and use cases for using the cloud for your enterprise storage needs.

Rise of cloud-native platforms

The shift to a “cloud-native” workload has been rising in popularity for some years now – and it’s only going to grow. In fact, Gartner predicts that “worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 20.7% to total $591.8 billion in 2023, up from $490.3 billion in 2022.”*

For remote employees, online shoppers, global businesses, and even gamers, cloud access is relied on daily and plays a crucial part in day-to-day life.

Cloud-native refers to building, delivering, and scaling computer applications over cloud infrastructures, whether it be via public, private, hybrid, or community clouds, as well as creating multicloud (more than one cloud) environments. Cloud-native services include storage containers, servers, and instant messaging channels. They run on a virtual network rather than on your traditional on-premises capital.

We saw this rapid rise of cloud-native and ‘born-in-the-cloud’ during the pandemic, which caused huge supply chain disruptions and a sudden shift to remote work for millions globally. One key feature that is often built into such apps is storage capacity.

The big three cloud service providers (CSPs) — Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure—continue to branch out from offering simple storage to being all-purpose solutions for how enterprises function internally and with customers.

Each CSP offers three tiers of storage functionality: 1. file, 2. block, and 3. object. While file storage organizes data into a hierarchy of files in folders, block storage groups data into arbitrarily organized, evenly sized volumes, and object storage manages data and links it to its associated metadata.

Learn more about the rise of “born-in-the-cloud” in our blog.

Types of cloud storage and their security features

With cloud-based storage, data is sent over the internet or via a private connection to third-party servers. Enterprises can send data to public clouds, use private clouds, invest in a hybrid system, collaborate in a community cloud, or branch into a multicloud architecture, depending on their needs.

Below, we discuss these various types of cloud and their storage capabilities, including how they protect data and the potential benefits and drawbacks for your enterprise.

Read our breakdown of the four types of cloud storage.

Public cloud storage

Public cloud is the most popular type and for good reason: It’s an affordable way to access office applications, web-based email, and storage, and collaborate during testing or development. You pay for a cloud service, usually based on storage size. In return, the host stores the data, provides access, and secures it.

The pros

• Anywhere/anytime access – as long as there’s a stable internet connection, employees working remotely can easily access files through their web browser and store what they need.
• Scalability – you can dynamically scale up or down storage amount, and most cloud providers let you tailor your storage to specific application or period demands.
• Affordability – while there are costs to using a public cloud, the expense is much smaller than with on-premises storage.
• Zero maintenance – the cloud provider maintains and administers its platform, so users don’t have to hire or train staff to manage data storage and security.

The cons

• Difficult to customize security measures – public clouds have uniform security measures for all clients. It’s often difficult or impossible to customize for unique security protocol requirements.
• Egress costs – public cloud storage providers may charge you to take data out of their cloud, often to persuade you to stay in their platform and not migrate data to competitors.
• Unreliable performance – although generally reliable, performance can waver because public clouds are in a shared environment. In particular, latency can occur depending on the amount of traffic moving to and from the cloud. We’ve covered the real cost of high network latency in our blog.

Private cloud storage

The pros

• Increased, fine-tuned oversight – companies can control their data more closely due to its on-premises and private nature. This means they can oversee and monitor data effectively (something we’ve covered in our blog before).
• Better compatibility – applications are synced across your private cloud storage, which means better compatibility and communication between clouds. This improves performance and reduces latency when accessing and moving stored data.

The cons

• Higher costs – hardware expenses, data centers, software licenses, and even the creation of dedicated IT experts in your team for deployment and maintenance can mean increased costs.
• Time- and labor-intensive deployment – private cloud deployment can be more difficult as you’re using in-house resources to set up and maintain infrastructure.
• Decreased scalability – you may not be able to scale your capacity and performance capabilities up and down—a feature that’s crucial for any business’ agility—as easily as with leading public cloud storage providers. You may be locked in to paying for more network resources and infrastructure than you use.
• Limited remote and external access – along with stricter security measures, there are tougher access restrictions and device limitations.

Hybrid cloud storage

The pros

• Control of security risks – your enterprise can store regulated or highly protected data in a private cloud, under your oversight, and send less-sensitive data to public cloud(s) at lower cost.
• Reduced chance of lost data – your enterprise has instant redundancy by storing data across multiple clouds.
• Ease in meeting government regulations – you can choose data streams best suited for compliance.

The cons

• Security management – when splitting up sensitive or protected data to public and private clouds, SLAs need to specify how providers will meet compliance requirements.
• Incident handling – internal teams have to work with external cloud providers to handle any security breach or other issues.
• Logistical issues of covering all potential security threats – check that cloud providers have responses, such as app monitoring or authentication protocols, for risks your enterprise would most likely face.

The pros

• Greater security and privacy – because it is not accessible to the general public, community clouds are deemed more secure and less at risk of your data falling into the wrong hands.
• More customizable – as organizations with similar cloud needs share servers, community clouds can be configured according to the needs of that community/industry, unlike a universal public cloud.

The cons

• Not a “one-size-fits-all” – community clouds generally suit only specific use cases.
• Finite data storage and bandwidth – capacities are shared among “community members.”

Multicloud storage

The pros

• Multiple, scalable packages – you can choose “best-in-breed” among cloud providers to maximize savings, necessary features, and apps, while scaling bandwidth. This also reduces risk of vendor contract lock-in.
• Instant updates – your enterprise can outsource security updates while meeting compliance requirements.
• Ease of data transfer – you get low latency, high speed, and high bandwidth, all with convenient, user-friendly access.
• Edge computing and security – multicloud brings state-of-the-art security features, computational power, and necessary apps to handheld devices and remote workforce.

The cons

• Oversight challenges – the extensive scale and volume of services and architectures available can make comprehensive oversight more difficult.
• Delays in security controls – deployment of new features can occur more quickly than security measures can match pace.
• Monitoring public-facing endpoints – a higher number of public-facing endpoints can increase the attack surface.
• Increased costs – internal IT teams need a customized, adaptable strategy toward security features across all providers. This added cost is a necessity to keep data safe across multicloud architectures.

Overall security benefits of cloud storage

Although private, public, hybrid, community, and multicloud have different pros and cons, each generally brings the following benefits to your enterprise:

• 24/7 security monitoring – outsourcing security to companies with deep pockets and a high need to protect clients’ data means benefiting from their dispersed, experienced security teams.
• Cost-optimized, scalable storage – most leading cloud providers have a wealth of options, many focusing on scalable storage. This means you’re not locked into technology purchases that don’t meet your needs.
• Cross-platform security updates – the headache of updating security is outsourced to cloud providers, which have deeper pockets.
• Auto-duplication in multiple locations for redundancy – instead of storing data in traditional on-premises data centers, cloud options provide instant data replication.
• Instant data recovery and backup – because of redundant data storage, backups are easy to install with added benefits of speed and large bandwidth.

Security in traditional, on-premises storage

• Physically secure locations with limited entry points
• Protocols that limit who can enter
• High-tech surveillance and security guards
• Zero-trust software systems, firewalls, and encryption software.

Internal or third-party IT teams stress-test servers to find the weakest points and patch security holes. However, with the rise of cloud computing, backhauling often leads to wasted bandwidth, increased latency, and inconsistent network performance.

How can Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) protect your network? Find out here.

Security in cloud storage

• Automated redundancy – if one server fails, or if you fall victim to a ransomware attack, you can retrieve data from another server. Cloud storage companies routinely check the data’s integrity. Amazon Web Services states that “the chance of losing your data from the cloud is just one in 100 billion.”
• Surveillance – the data is monitored 24/7 by security teams. They check for cyberthreats, install software patches if vulnerabilities are found, and stress-test to see how quickly they can respond to risk.
• Physical protection – the servers are in secure locations in protected data centers.
• Software encryption – data is encrypted before you send it, en route, and on the cloud provider’s servers.
• Regulatory compliance – for controlled industries, cloud storage companies can offer high levels of safeguards for financial and other critical data.
• Protection against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks – cloud storage providers will attempt to check, absorb, and scatter DDoS attacks before they reach your server.
• Zero-trust software systems – these lower the chance of entry at the weakest points, as described in this Megaport blog.
• Control over remote collaboration – you can determine who has access to which data.

“The chance of losing your data from the cloud is just one in 100 billion.”
- Amazon Web Services

Best practices for safe cloud storage

Cybercriminals prey on human error. These steps will help members of your enterprise better protect stored data. Consider adding them to your IT team’s processes and reviewing them periodically.

• Track data flow – map the “flow between systems, devices, apps, APIs, and the cloud” to have a bird’s-eye view of the entire cloud framework.
• Ensure encryption is handled properly – understand how cloud providers apply encryption when transferring data.
• Insist on two-factor authentication – all employees and contractors should use a password and a one-time verification code to log in to cloud storage accounts.
• Copy your account password or encryption key – this can be a digital task by putting the password or key behind a firewall, or it can be written down and saved securely. We explain parameter and secrets management more in our blog.
• Monitor shared files – return to shared files after projects are completed and ensure access is still needed.
• Test the storage provider – list your essential storage needs, and start a free trial to make sure it meets your expectations.
• Change passwords regularly – check password managers and change compromised passwords immediately. Otherwise, change passwords once a year.
• Audit what’s in the cloud – remove outdated files periodically, and update who has access to all data.
• Archive historical data off the cloud – this will save money that can be used toward active cloud use.

The verdict

How Megaport can get you started with safe cloud storage

Megaport Cloud Router for bolstered cloud security

Discover how Megaport’s solutions could help you – book a demo today.

Source: Gartner® Press Release, October 31, 2022 “Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud End-User Spending to Reach Nearly $600 Billion in 2023”

GARTNER® is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.