Why the cloud may be the safest place to store sensitive data
With massive data breaches constantly in the news, organisations and decision-makers are more determined than ever to protect sensitive data. They don’t want to wind up making headlines for all the wrong reasons. This is especially true for organisations like the police, fire brigades, security personnel, first aid workers and customs services, all of which store a lot of sensitive, private information. They often work with delicate audio and video data that is recorded with the help of advanced body-worn cameras.
Ensuring that this body camera footage is kept secure is a big challenge. Storing sensitive, private data and body camera footage onsite may seem like the preferred way to go, but thanks to continuous investment in cybersecurity by cloud services providers, cloud storage may actually be the safest option. Read on to find out why.
The transition to the cloud
The transition to the cloud has become commonplace in many industries. Not so strange since cloud computing clearly trumps onsite data storage environments when it comes to flexibility, scalability and innovative potential. Despite the widespread dissemination of cloud-based solutions, concerns about data security and privacy have always been prevalent amongst executives, decision-makers and key stakeholders. According to a study by the Cloud Security Alliance, 69 percent of enterprises have moved or are moving mission-critical information to the cloud. The research also shows that 65 percent of businesses are worried about migrating sensitive data, and 59 percent of them have serious security concerns about moving to the cloud.
The problems with onsite storage
Although many public service organisations are still wary about the security level of cloud environments in general and body camera cloud storage in particular, onsite storage is equally (and often even more) vulnerable to cyber-attacks and data loss. Here’s why.
Time and resources
Effectively securing an onsite storage environment forces you to invest heavily in time and resources. Adequately protecting your servers against physical theft requires the implementation of heavy security measures, such as guards and locked cages for your valuable and company-critical servers. On top of that, properly safeguarding an onsite data storage environment calls for heavy, 24/7 staffing. And what do you do if humans can’t get to the data centers (not such a far-fetched scenario in pandemic-ridden times) and outages have to be fixed remotely?
The growing complexity of modern IT ecosystems is another challenge. You’re probably dealing with a huge number of storage and access points: VPNs, backups, storage arrays, disaster recovery, replication and a rapidly expanding application landscape. Implementing patches and updates on a timely basis can be a managerial and operational nightmare if you’re working with an overstretched in-house IT team that is responsible for every single component of your IT landscape. All too often, the inability to quickly address vulnerabilities results in a costly and reputation-damaging data breach.
Backups
Many organisations back up their onsite data only once a day. That is not enough if you want to guarantee proper disaster recovery of critical information in the event of system failure, a ransomware attack, file corruption or the accidental deletion of data. On the other hand, the alternative—backing up your data and files frequently enough to ensure instantaneous data restoration—could negatively affect the performance of your production environment.
No network segmentation
Attackers often use phishing and other email scams to penetrate your network. The malicious software almost always enters through user workstations rather than directly through the server environment. The lack of segmentation between workstations, which is typical for an onsite environment, increases the vulnerability of your network.
The case for cloud storage
When it comes to cybersecurity, leading cloud providers like Microsoft (Azure), Amazon (AWS) and Google (Google Cloud Platform) have made tremendous progress in recent years due to heavy investment in sophisticated security capabilities.
This means that good cloud providers can provide a storage environment that guarantees body camera privacy and security. These are the reasons why:
- Cloud storage equals high availability, an absolute necessity in the modern digital age. Data can be stored in multiple data centers that are geo-independent, with redundancy implemented throughout the system. Renowned cloud providers also maintain availability through virtualization, allowing you to easily migrate your servers from one data center to another if a failure were to occur.
- Cloud providers take care of the physical (state-of-the-art security tools, round-the-clock guards in their data centers) and virtual (auto-updates and automated patching) security measures that are needed to safeguard your body camera cloud storage environment.
- If you store your data in the cloud, all of your workstations are completely segmented. In the cloud, users aren’t sitting on the corporate network where the data resides.
- Encryption is a necessary but often complex and difficult part of the security equation. Cloud providers often offer premium-grade encryption out of the box. And even better: tech behemoths like Microsoft, Amazon and Google can provide you with AES 256 encryption, which makes it near to impossible for attackers to read any data they might steal.
- Body camera cloud storage makes it easier to comply with universal and industry-specific security and privacy regulations.
ZEPCAM and body camera security
When it comes to the storage of sensitive data, such as bodycam images or other sensitive, private information, onsite storage no longer reigns supreme. Cloud storage technology has matured over the years, providing a high level of security and reliability.
Are you looking for an accomplished and renowned partner that has won its spurs in the trying field of cloud-based body camera privacy and security? Then ZEPCAM has a lot to offer. The ZEPCAM Secure Server can be easily integrated with existing video management systems and other cloud platforms using our API. View and manage all your cameras through our software. This allows your organisation to use all the solutions that you have invested into their fullest potential.
At ZEPCAM, we value the customers and communities that we serve. We are committed to making the work of frontline professionals safer and easier. Do you want to get in touch? Then fill out the form on our website or give us a ring at +31-85-3010290.
