| | August 20188CIOReviewBy Jophy Varghese, APAC Head at Verizon igration to cloud platforms has replaced much of the traditional IT hardware found in an organization's cloud-hosting facility with virtualized, remote and on-demand software services--configured for its specific needs. These services are often hosted by a third-party facility. As a result, the software and data from the organization's applications may be physically stored across multiple locations--and these could be anywhere in the world.Unfortunately, just as technological advancements promise to make our lives easier, the same innovations offer cybercriminals additional motives to wreak havoc on our online assets. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) recently revealed that over 53,000 cyber security incidents, including phishing, website intrusions and defacements and ransomware were observed in 2017. And while there's no credible data that can make a correlation in the increase of cybercrime to the adoption of cloud computing, that's a phenomenal number! So much so that regulators such as the Reserve Bank of India are now mandating to have user data being stored only in India. Investigating a breachAlthough cloud-related digital forensics isn't new, one of the challenges investigative response firms, such as Verizon, face is getting timely access to the evidence at these third-party cloud-hosting facilities. Businesses utilizing these services are often not aware of the challenges that can arise and delay digital investigation efforts. When conducting digital forensics activities involving evidence in third-party cloud storage, there are three significant factors to consider: knowing what type of cloud-hosting service you have, being able to quickly access your stored data and having a mature cloud storage service provider on your side.Know what type of cloud-hosting service you haveRegardless of the type of cloud-hosting service provider you choose, be familiar with the service contract--and who is responsible for what in terms of cybersecurity. Generally speaking, there are three categories of cloud-hosting service offerings:· Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers manage networking, hardware, and virtualization--the customer manages the software and data.· Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) providers manage networking, hardware, virtualization and operating systems--the customer still manages the data and applications.· Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers manage it all on the customer's behalf.Make sure you can locate and access your dataWhere are your systems, memory, logs, and data stored in the cloud? More specifically, where is the cloud-hosting facility that houses your data located? Knowing where your data is stored can significantly reduce the time required to get investigative responders in a position to collect and preserve evidentiary data. Also, regular and accurate data and asset management, through tracking and accountability, enhances the speed and efficiency of locating and accessing the correct information during a cybersecurity incident.Is physical access to the third-party cloud-hosting facility available for evidence collection? If a live image must be made of a physical system, can the investigative MIN MY OPINIONIMPORTANCE OF CLOUD SECURITY FOR ORGANIZATIONSJophy Varghese
< Page 7 | Page 9 >