Are AWS and GCP Actually 'Secure'?

Cloud technologies are not a buzzword anymore. Most businesses have adopted the cloud to store systems, data, and infrastructure. As of 2022, 94% of enterprises use cloud services. The popularity of such a solution often raises a question:

“Who is responsible for cloud security and data protection?”

The answer lies in understanding the cloud service provider's responsibility to safeguard the data and in the customers' ability to use the tools and security protocols available to them.

To be honest, even the most secure cloud service providers like AWS, GCP, and Azure do not guarantee 100% protection.

They are responsible for physically protecting the data centers, the network, and the hosts. And in most cases, you are responsible for data governance and rights management, endpoints, and account/access management.

Let’s take a look at security issues and how popular public clouds handle them.

AWS Cloud Security Solutions

AWS is considered one of the most secure cloud providers as it has a wide range of features and services. It offers security tools and services such as identity and access management, encryption, data loss prevention, vulnerability scanning, network and application protection, incident response, and more.

All of the cloud environments that offer security services have a free tier or trials to see what your business needs. If you visit theAWS security products, you’ll see a table with features they offer and pricing with a few options. It’s a good idea to try free first to see to what extent you need it.

While usingany of the AWS services in the software development cycle, Amazon takes care of security. It’s convenient they take responsibility for the provided cloud computing services safety. However, it might cause issues in the future as they have their own demands. For instance, software updates are a must and you should comply as they’ll still update even if it causes disruptions in your projects.

An AWS security best practices policy allows the implementation of security protocols and any steps required by industry, application, and customers. For instance, we often use AWS Cognito for user authentication and access management. It helps implement user accounts and saves their credentials and authorization avoiding development from scratch.

Yet, AWS is only one of the top secure cloud providers, let’s look at GCP vs Azure security measurements.

AWS vs GCP vs Azure Cloud Security

Both GCP and Azure have a shared responsibility security model. In practice, it means that different types of security measures are handled by cloud storage providers and your company. It depends on the type of service (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS). AWS model clearly shows that they handle software security and hardware (where the data is stored). And the client is responsible for customer data protection, identity and access management, network security, encryption, operating system, etc.

And when we access the Microsoft shared responsibility model (Azure services), we see a similar situation. Microsoft handles the physical cloud storage, sometimes it also includes applications, networks, operating system, etc. However, it depends on the type of services and it’s easier to check the specific service you need.

The documentation provided by Azure describes tools and services that customers can use to secure their infrastructure, as well as protocols Azure enforces to secure the platform infrastructure itself.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) publish overall infrastructure security protocols and operational process in documentation. There is an approximate scheme with a responsibility model there. Users will also find a small section regarding GCP data security.

Most secure providers like the 3 most common ones we mentioned have Cloud Identity and Access Management(IAM) systems, Virtual Machines or even Virtual Private Clouds. Multiple layers of security ensure that data, systems, applications are not easily accessed or stolen.

The most important thing is to understand that cloud security often depends on cloud customers. There are certain steps that every company adopting the cloud should take.

Two-factor Authentication or Multi-factor Authentication

If you use cloud services in day-to-day operations, you are familiar with these. Every time you access the cloud, you get a message to your phone or other devices to confirm it’s you. The perfect situation is when it’s a one-time code. Without at least two-factor authentication you can be a victim to data breaches and stolen credentials.

Strong Passwords or Password Management System

The easier your password is, there’s more probability it can be hacked. With a strong password, it’s less likely but still possible. You can use a password management system that is secured by bioparameters.

With all this in mind, remember the safest system is your head. No one has yet extracted information from there. (Not even ChatGPT)

Permission Sharing

Zero-trust company policy is one example of how to share permissions. Often employees that change roles or leave the company still have credentials they used at work. That’s a likely threat when they could access the cloud and extract and leak the data. The strict system of permissions sharing and account data storing should protect you better.

Data Encryption

Any data (especially sensitive one) passed between your company and the cloud must be encrypted. This way, even if someone receives the data, they won’t be able to understand the encrypted files. There are a lot of third-party tools that do that or find a cybersecurity expert that would do that.

Back-up Data

If something happens to the hardware the cloud provider uses, make sure you have a copy somewhere. That’s one of the reasons companies have multi-cloud strategies in place. Even if one of the cloud storages fails you, some of the information is saved. Establishing this process is better with a specialist, to avoid any vulnerabilities to the systems.

Standards and Protocols

Most cloud providers are ensuring cloud security by meeting IT compliance requirements. However, every industry requires different standards. Like there are standards ISO security standards. There’s also an OWASP vulnerabilities list. Nevertheless, do extensive research before hosting data or applications on the cloud, especially if your company has high-risk data.

Also, everybody on the team (or in a company) should be conscious of the risk and trained to keep their data safe and devices not infiltrated. Sometimes the risks come not from hackers and technology flaws, but from our lack of knowledge and negligence.

Sum Up

To put it short, the responsibility for your safety in the cloud lies between the cloud provider and you. AWS, GCP, Azure, and any other secure cloud storage providers offer your solutions and services to help with managing security risks. But when it comes to practicing and choosing cloud security solutions, it’s your strategy and analysis that help avoid cyber threats. There’s always an option to outsource this task to experienced developers or DevOps, though.