Some of your users may need to work from anywhere without compromising financial data security. Or perhaps you have multiple locations that require unified access to vital customer, payment or market information. In both situations, workers expect an agile workplace with technology and policies to support.
Like most financial services organizations, you are probably using cloud to share files and backup data. As you develop your cloud infrastructure further, we recommend an IMS strategy (Identify, Match and Secure): (1) Identify your business goals, (2) Match with the right cloud infrastructure, (3) Secure endpoint devices.
Identify & Match
If efficiency and collaboration are your goals, move email to the cloud if you haven’t already. This will reduce the burden on IT and the costs of outdated third-party email servers.
Are you using more than one public cloud provider for storage and collaboration? Consolidate rather than creating data silos or make use of publicly available APIs to link services together.
Further down the collaboration path, you can deploy "virtual desktops" with a solution such as Lenovo Unified Workspace. This workspace aggregation solution makes access to public or private web apps, legacy Windows apps, remote desktops, cloud storage and file shares possible on any device, —all in a user-friendly, cost-effective, web interface.
Migrating on-premises or hosted databases to the cloud? Private cloud is the right solution if you have legacy applications, or security requirements that mandate an on-premises solution. Otherwise, consider hybrid cloud, which combines private and public services. Sensitive data and complex workloads can leverage on-premise infrastructure, improving control and reducing latency, but still enabling scale and efficiency through collaboration services on the public cloud. Many financial organizations are moving to hybrid cloud because they can demarcate between sensitive and non-sensitive data and/or situations where latency is crucial.
Secure Endpoints
Three quarters of cloud data breaches are caused by malicious acts or human error* with most of those targeting endpoint devices through malware, or because data was stored inappropriately on unsecured devices. Financial services is the second most expensive industry when it comes to the cost of data breaches*, with a per capita cost of US$245 per data breach.
Protecting endpoint devices is a critical aspect of cloud security.
- Issue endpoint devices that support multi-factor authentication (e.g., biometric security), and enforce MFA policies.
- Full-disk encryption prevents the leak cloud access credentials in the event of theft or loss.
- And there are ways to improve the security of users’ connection to cloud services. For example, Lenovo Vantage detects and analyzes in real-time any threats or attacks that are present near the laptop and enables it to distinguish between legitimate and possibly malicious networks.
* Ponemon, 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study
