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Maintain Compliance in the Banking Industry
Cloud computing has become necessary across numerous industries in order for businesses to stay competitive. Its benefits are well worth the setup costs, and businesses that aren’t taking advantage can face serious trouble. There’s one industry, however, that’s been hesitant to make the switch, and that’s banking. Consumer protection and legal compliance are essential for banks, and the rules for cloud computing are different.
Utilize Advanced Security Policies
Cloud computing would be seriously hindered in its use if privacy were not guaranteed. That’s why those in finance need to opt for a cloud computing service with strong security policies. Specifically, these security policies need to be compliant with the same policies a bank would be regarding customer data. To that end, not all data may be moved to the cloud. As Mathieu Gorge explains, organizations “may decide that some highly confidential data will always remain on an internal network and will not move to the cloud.”
Manage Assets Using a Change Control Process
Transferring operations to the cloud doesn’t occur in a single step. Take a change control process approach to the transfer to ensure that proper security protocols are maintained at every step and that the data is always protected. This is the only way to prevent disruption to service and make sure every change is documented. Additionally, financial institutions may want to assign agents to specifically document and verify the changes throughout the process.
Restrict Access
To keep your data in the cloud safe, you’ll have to restrict who exactly has access to it. While there are many ways to do this, one of the more popular methods is the zero-trust network approach. With this model, every device that tries to connect to the network is considered untrusted until verification of trustworthiness is established. An additional layer of security can be added as well that verifies that a device not only has the necessary credentials but also isn’t unhealthily compromised in any other way.
Develop Systems with Secure Standards
Virtual machines in the cloud need to be hardened just like a physical computer. By implementing secure configuration standards, you can ensure that any systems you need to develop in the cloud are compliant with all the necessary security protocols. Additionally, there are pre-configured virtual machines you can opt for if it fits your institution’s current system.
Establish a Line of Communication
In the event of an incident, you’ll need a way to contact the cloud provider as soon as possible, no matter what kind of cloud you’re using. Additionally, they’ll need a way to contact you. To accomplish this, make sure you have established reporting capabilities for access control and logging. The specifics of how your business will respond to an incident, as well as the role the cloud provider should be expected to play, should be documented with the cloud provider and within your own institution’s incident response plan.
Have Backups
Financial institutions are expected to store consumer data safely with contingencies in place. That’s why you’ll need to have a backup plan when using cloud computing services. The cloud is great if your own servers encounter a disaster, but what if something happens to the cloud? You may want to implement a contingency by transferring data to another cloud provider as part of your business continuity strategy.
Cloud Computing From Menark Technologies
If you’re looking to move your financial institution’s data to the cloud, Menark Technologies is happy to help you maintain compliance. Contact us today to learn more!
