Companies have moved on from just using one on-premise system, many using a mix of cloud services. As the adoption of cloud continues, this raises questions on how secure data is in the cloud. In this blog we look at how the cloud provides a secure place for businesses to scale connectivity and how leveraging hybrid IT can save you time and money.

As digital disruption continues to redefine what’s possible at an unprecedented speed and scale, organisations are increasingly turning to cloud-based capabilities to survive and thrive. The cloud is critical to the day-to-day, but also to enabling the IT innovation that will determine business success tomorrow.

According to Gartner, almost two-thirds of application spending will be directed towards cloud technologies in 2025, up from 57.5% in 2022.

Yet, despite the cloud’s obvious business benefits, it still carries a security stigma. Many businesses are turning to a hybrid cloud model for improved security. This allows them to not expose certain data but also maintain control over their most sensitive information.

Given the marketing hype, media hysteria and regulatory complexity surrounding cybersecurity today, it’s no surprise that business leaders have fears over cloud data security – but are they justified?

Is an organisation’s data at greater risk in the cloud than on-premise?

The leading cloud platforms such as Microsoft, Amazon and other major cloud players have made massive investments to resist cyberattacks by ensuring top-notch data security for customers and funding the skills and technologies to make it a reality.

Individual enterprises simply can’t compete with these cloud providers on data security - whether we compare the physical defences surrounding cloud data centres and office-based servers, or the quality of the cyber skills and tools protecting virtual systems. Simply put, securing on-premise IT is harder for enterprises because security isn’t their core business: a lack of time, money and cyber skills all hamper their efforts.

Perhaps most telling of all is the fact that the most security-conscious industries, including banking and defence, are now embracing the cloud which is resulting in exponential growth for the industry.

The agile nature of the cloud can yield benefits for businesses wanting to operate in a more scalable, innovative and cost-effective way. It not only gives businesses control over workloads but enables their cloud journey.

Hybrid vigour

Businesses are still resilient in embracing the cloud’s potential and adoption is likely to remain a gradual process. Today, 61% of businesses are leveraging a hybrid approach that combines the security and performance of on-premise IT infrastructure with the public cloud’s agility, cost-savings and economies of scale.

However, such hybrid strategies raise the conundrum of how to best link on-premise and cloud-based workloads. While the major cloud platforms are secure, accessing them via the public internet brings both data security and performance concerns. Not only can data potentially be intercepted by malicious actors, business performance also remains at the mercy of spikes in public internet demand.

By allowing organisations to place their on-premise infrastructure right next to the private access points to the most popular cloud platforms, colocated hybrid cloud offers an attractive solution. Direct fibre links to private cloud access points eliminate public internet exposure and its ensuring cloud data security and performance risks. Meanwhile, the best colocation providers also ensure unbeatable multi-layer physical IT security - including infrastructure cages, strict access controls, 24x7 security patrols and CCTV surveillance.

Colocation may also bring access to a broad mix of managed security service providers sharing the same facility. With these organisations just a cross-connect away, businesses can make informed investments in secure and cost-effective interconnections to address specific cyber challenges - from identity and access management, to DDoS protection.

For any organisation worried about cloud data security, the path is clear: head into the colocated hybrid cloud.

*This content was originally published by Interxion: A Digital Realty Company.

Utimaco Powers Secure Payment Services with Digital Realty