How To Secure Data During Cloud Migration

Many businesses move their data to cloud storage each day. During cloud migration, some risks such as data loss or misconfiguration can occur, and both can lead to a data breach.

It’s essential to take security measures through all the phases of your migration to ensure that you overcome the challenges of cloud migration.

The outline below highlights some tips that can help secure data throughout the cloud migration:


  • Assess The Situation Of Your Current Data

It’s easy to overlook the data you have been storing across various databases. Without evaluating and categorizing, you could be storing useless data away for years. This makes assessing your data first the most important step in cloud migration.

If not addressed properly, data migration can pose a potential risk to your data. Classify your data by separating the ones to keep and the ones to dispose of. The assessment ensures that your important data is not discarded and useless data are not stored. Moreover, it’s crucial to categorize the data you’re going to store for easy tracking. 

You can use firms such as Quadbridge as your data center migration consulting company to help you select an appropriate data migration plan.

 

  • Consider A Phased Migration

Conducting a data migration in phases can enhance security as it allows your team to familiarize themselves with cloud systems. Begin your data migration with the low-priority data to control the risk. Then you can test your configuration and single out the security gaps and bugs before you start transferring confidential or critical data.

Moreover, a phased migration encourages minimal time pressure and slower user onboarding. The slow pace ensures that the probability of errors, such as granting unqualified authorization or duplicating or deleting data, would be minimal.

 

  • Know The Data Compliance Requirements

Compliance requirements differ from company to company. Typically, businesses in healthcare, e-commerce, and finance are strictly regulated. When performing a cloud migration, it’s essential to determine the requirements for encryption, storage, backup, and data transfer.

These compliance regulations differ depending on the industry your business has and the location of your company. For instance, if you’re a healthcare company operating in the USA, conforming to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is required.

For financial companies, you might need to comply with Gram-Leach-Bliley-Act and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in dealing with sensitive customer data.  

 

  • Encrypt Your Data

Data at rest and in transit should be encrypted as you do cloud migration. The data in motion is highly vulnerable to threats since it is exposed to the internet. Therefore, using a secure transport protocol like Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) would help in securing your data.

You can also use a transfer appliance to migrate large data safely – either through a third party or your provider. When using an appliance for cloud transfer, it would be best to ensure that the data is encrypted before leaving your facility. The device has to be encrypted as well to ensure maximum security of your data.

 

  • Manage The Authorized Personnel And Deduplication

Most companies manage their data by limiting their authorized personnel, meaning that the end users only have access to the specific data they need to do their job. With this, you can ensure having proper security to your critical data throughout the cloud migration. The end users can have access to the data they need for their job once the data migration is completed.

An added precaution is the implementation of two-factor authentication to ensure maximum data security.

On the other hand, deduplication, also known as deduping, refers to a technique of compressing the data or migration. Deduplication helps in shrinking the required footprint of the new data storage. By shrinking the data volume set out for migration, its cost is lessened while still maintaining high-security standards for your data during the cloud migration process. Professional cloud migration services implement advanced deduplication techniques to optimize storage efficiency and reduce transfer costs across the entire migration lifecycle. Furthermore, having a unified storage solution in place can streamline the management and accessibility of your data during the migration process. This approach ensures that all your data, whether archived, active or in transition, is housed within a single, secure system, thereby reducing the risk of data silos and enhancing overall security.

 

  • Comprehensively Wipe The Retiring Drives

Wiping the retiring data drives is part of your decommissioning activities. You have to be careful throughout this process as you might remove critical data. If you’re not confident in doing so, this can be done by an IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) firm. 

It’s also essential to decide if the remaining data has to be transported offline for sanitization. You could ask your ITAD for an appropriate data sanitization plan.

 

  • Understand The Cloud’s Security

After the cloud migration and the wiping of retired drives, it would be best to reassess the cloud’s security and its gaps. 

Clouds have their own vulnerabilities, regardless of their fast nature. It’s always good to be on the lookout for any risks and ensure that all vital security measurements are implemented and the necessary patches are installed. 

 

Take Away

The security of your data transfer depends on the cloud migration type you choose, the provider, and the particular steps you perform. It’s essential to monitor your systems regularly to ascertain that your data is secure. Without a data security plan, your data could be vulnerable to attacks during the cloud migration process. So, why not try some of the tips above to help ensure your data is safe throughout your cloud migration process? Who knows, maybe this could benefit your company in the long run.