Cloud Security: Is the Cloud Secure for Utilities?
Keeping your community’s personal information protected is vital for your utility. Your friends and neighbors rely on you and your team to keep their social security numbers, bank details, and credit card information protected on your servers. And with all the recent cyber and ransomware attacks on utilities’ on-premise servers, you may be thinking about moving to the cloud. Is cloud security for utilities safer than on-premise security? Read on to find out.
When a utility moves its customer information system, customer self-service web portal, and mobile workforce management to the cloud, it migrates all local digital information to a remote physical server maintained by a third party. Moving to the cloud keeps small- to medium-sized utilities from having to buy new servers and software when they wear out or when they need updating. With your CIS in the cloud, you future-proof your technology and keep your community’s information on the latest and greatest secure cloud architecture. And it’s a smart way to save your utility money by moving your technology from a capital to an operating expense. But what’s more important, with the most up-to-date architecture, you get the best cloud security available on the market both in human resources and hardware.
When you have your CIS in the cloud, you can access it from anywhere. In the event of a disaster, either manufactured or natural, you and your team will be able to help your community. All you need is internet access and the ability to log into your secure cloud-based CIS. Remote access means your team can collaborate remotely, keeping your customers aware of changes in your services. Now, you might think that having remote access to the cloud would make your data less secure. However, that’s not the case. With AWS and NorthStar Cloud, you get end-to-end HTTPS encryption from the cloud to your endpoint, which gives you secure file transfer connectivity. You’ll also have a VPN tunnel (Virtual Private Network) that keeps your data safe as it travels back and forth from the cloud to you.
One great thing about the cloud for utilities is that it allows for an automatic backup of your digital information. With automatic backups, your data is safe up to the last backup point. In the event of a ransomware attack, you’ll have all your data available to get up and running again. By having automatic cloud backups, your team doesn’t have to remember to back up your data, saving you time and money and keeping your data safe.
How Secure Is the Cloud for Utilities?
When you use a third-party service provider like Northstar Cloud, you’re relying on NorthStar and Amazon Web Services to keep your digital information safe. AWS infrastructure has built-in systems and controls to keep your content safe, secure, and private. Now it’s natural to wonder if your data is safe when someone else is storing it for you. After all, if you store it yourself, you probably think that it will be safer in your building.
However, that’s not always the case. Because the cloud is a new form of technology, there are not many professionals in the field. Finding local database and cloud administrators will be hard until the industry catches up to the skills gap. Some utilities will try to use their in-house IT staff, but your staff may not have the skills to keep your data safe, like the experienced professionals at AWS and NorthStar. Not only that, you may not think so, but hackers are looking for vulnerabilities in your system. They know that many utilities don’t have the time, money, or staff to keep their networks secure, and it’s a numbers game to these bad actors. The more utilities they attack, the more likely they are to breach a utility’s network. And it’s just a matter of time before they breach your local network if they haven’t already. But with the NorthStar Cloud, you have AWS and NorthStar experienced professionals working to keep your data safe.
Cloud Security is Robust for Utilities.
Why is cloud security for utilities so robust? AWS’s security measures are more powerful than a local server’s security measures. At this time, AWS handles 34% of all cloud hosting globally and is trusted by thousands of businesses and government agencies throughout North America. Because they are responsible for several companies’ data, AWS ensures they have fail-safes in place, keeping your data secure. AWS offers secure file transfer connectivity, VPN tunnels, controlled whitelisted regions, and data sovereignty. In addition, AWS has a wide array of compliances and Tier 3+ data centers with full redundancy for power, network storage, servers, etc., to keep your digital information safe and available when you need it.
AWS Data Center Security Compliances
AWS Data Center Security Compliances
Tier 3+ data centers
SOC 1/2/3
ISO 9001/27001/27017/27018
US Government Compliance
ITAR
FedRAMP
HIPAA
DOD
Criminal Justice Information
Service Security Policy
When you migrate to NorthStar Cloud, you not only get AWS cloud security, but you get NorthStar managing your infrastructure and resources. NorthStar Cloud offers Client/Server-side encryption and data integrity, networking traffic protection, and operating system and firewall configuration. NorthStar Cloud also provides authentication and authorization management of your digital information.
When you move your CIS suite to NorthStar cloud, you get cloud security from the strong partnership of NorthStar and AWS. You’ll also get accessibility anytime, anywhere, and on any device so that you can keep your community running even when disaster strikes. You won’t lose any functionality that you currently have. In fact, you’ll gain so much more by moving to the cloud.
Ready to move to the cloud but not sure how much it’s going to cost? Check out our Cloud Calculator.