Managing risks when using the cloud

THE balance that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) keep between spending on innovation to stay competitive and investing in needed IT infrastructure seems to have become much easier with the advent of cloud-based services.

The "only when I need it"-based access to technology means less overheads to shoulder, far fewer specialised IT skills on staff, near-zero maintenance requirements and a constant supply of the most up-to-date versions, and these have revolutionised how business is done.

Yet, there is a significant dark spot that threatens to turn the "cloud" stormy - how to deal with privileged account security of your cloud providers.

The recent cases of the Gmail hack, the cracking of iCloud security among others, has put a spotlight on the debate of how safe cloud systems are. While these incidents were based on harvesting passwords of mainly consumer-facing accounts, the lesson is clear - cloud services are at risk and seemingly easy targets. What's even more scary is the fact that companies are hosting their most sensitive data in the cloud, without any control …