Are There Security Risks Involved With Spotlight Cloud Monitoring?

 You’re certainly not alone if your company or organization is moving computing services to the cloud. After all, an estimated 70 percent of the world’s businesses operate in the cloud.

That number isn’t surprising given the many benefits of moving to the cloud – such as higher flexibility for database performance monitoring, automatic software updates, lower costs, etc. But it’s not without risks. The following are some security concerns for cloud-based services, followed by a look at how some innovative cloud monitoring tools deal with those risks.

Five security concerns for cloud-based monitoring

1. Data breaches or data loss

Studies show that today the cloud is vulnerable to data breaches more than ever, but in theory, these breaches have existed for years in many forms. Data may be lost because of a malicious attack or another unexpected occurrence. That’s devastating to companies that don’t have a defined recovery plan.

In the event of a data breach, the company may have to disclose that information to the affected parties. Companies could be subject to fines and face lawsuits as a result of any breaches or losses incurred.

2. Insider threats

Insider attacks from within your organization aren’t likely, but the possibility exists. Employees who have authorized access to cloud-based services may potentially misuse information such as customer accounts.

Insider threats are difficult to detect. When an employee is working with sensitive data, it is almost impossible to know whether they are doing something malicious or not. Some breaches can go undetected for years and are expensive to remediate.

3. Malware injection

Malicious code injected into cloud services may be viewed as part of the software or service that’s running within the cloud servers and remain undetected. All it takes is a single malicious file, shared through a service that operates in your IT department’s blind spot, to bring down a network.

Arguably the most appropriate strategy for getting ahead of the threat of cloud-based malware is to have effective endpoint solutions, i.e., to use trusted third-party solutions that will monitor laptop and desktop computers, tablets, and phones.

4. Lack of due diligence

While the majority of security concerns are technical, security gaps also occur because a company doesn’t have a clear plan for its cloud services, including goals, resources, and policies.

Strong protection is the only way to defend against infection. And this is becoming more and more necessary.

5. Industry requirements

Some companies may be restricted in their database performance monitoring due to industry requirements and restrictions outlining their handling of data.

Each industry has its own set of regulations. Financial companies must be in compliance in order to keep customer data secure. Medical facilities have strict regulations when it comes to the cloud and could face serious consequences in the event of a breach.

Innovative and Secure Cloud Monitoring

Quality cloud-based database performance monitoring tools like Spotlight Cloud address these concerns – and more – with solutions that protect your data.

User authentication

Users create a unique Quest account. This account can be used for authentication across all of the Spotlight Cloud components and can also be used to access other Quest services or products from Quest.com. All data transmitted to and from your browser is encrypted via SSL.

The Spotlight Cloud “Diagnostic Server” is an on-premise component responsible for the collection and transmission of performance data. The diagnostic server is configured with a Spotlight Cloud account and all transmission to Spotlight Cloud is authenticated against these credentials.

Data storage

Data stored at SpotlightCloud.io is encrypted in transit, processed and encrypted at rest so that none of it is readable should the data center get compromised.

What data is sent?

For transparency, Spotlight Cloud publishes a list of data upload. Keeping with best practice, only data which is specific to the task of database performance monitoring, the diagnostic user experience, or relevant account details is uploaded.

Mobile app user authentication

Spotlight Cloud Mobile app users use the same authentication mechanism to ensure absolute consistency in authentication and user access.

Other considerations

Spotlight Cloud only uploads performance-related monitoring data to its data center, and only authenticated organization members can view data that is uploaded. In accordance with general best practice, keep your browser and mobile devices disconnected with any public network. Always go through a VPN if connecting via public network.

An important point to also remember is that you must monitor your actual applications and not just your servers. While your cloud provider will monitor the infrastructure and keep servers online, you still need to monitor the performance of applications.

We take data protection seriously!

Spotlight Cloud is deployed in Microsoft Azure data centers with some of the most sophisticated built-in security protections. Quest, as a company, has embraced GDPR. We have systems, policies and response plans in place to secure all of our customers’ data. Only essential data is collected. Only those with a critical need are given access to data specific to the job in hand.

Mitigate your company’s security risk by improving the current systems and updating processes. Start future-proofing your databases now.