Small, medium and large businesses are all able to take advantage of cloud hosting for web servers, servers, storage and networks due to low costs in a competitive cloud hosting marketplace. But the advantages are more prominent for small businesses as they are able to achieve scale, expertise and redundancy in their operations that would previously have been impossible. But putting aside the technical advantages of having a dedicated team of administrators and network specialists support you on the IT front, there are certain security advantages to be had from not having equipment physically located on site.
THEFT
Small businesses that typically run out of small rented premises in one location are able to gain the types of security and redundancy that would only have been available to medium and large enterprises. A small rented office space may not have the type of security coverage that can guarantee its safety from being a target of theft. Take for instance a small business that perhaps has a handful of desktops and laptops, a couple of servers and some storage equipment. It could have its entire IT systems loaded into the boot of a car or a van and stolen in no time. This makes the business continuity incredibly vulnerable to these kinds of actions. An off-site cloud hosting for servers and storage is far less susceptible to this kind of theft as cloud hosting providers typically use large data centres with thousands of servers. With such a high concentration of IT equipment and its subsequent value, it is possible for data centres to purchase the kind of security that gives the facility a suitable level of protection. Such features are hardened physical access with the facilities having few points of entry, CCTV and some data centres are staffed 24 hours a day.
SABOTAGE
Disillusioned employees can be dangerous to a business, with individuals exacting out revenge for perceived injustice of property including IT equipment. Having the main IT equipment off-site can remove the need for businesses to secure their equipment from their own employees. The reality is an employer is more likely to experience an attack from within than an external attack. Does your customer upload photos, documents, intellectual property, or any other data to your product or service that is worth protecting? You can protect their data by getting Blockchain timestamp services, visit this site for further details.
FIRE
Just as much a danger to business continuity as theft is fire. If a business experiences fire damage but has its servers off-site then the likelihood of that business surviving is massively increased. Check out what to do and who to call in such situations at https://slffirm.com/reasons-for-the-increased-wildfires-in-the-western-united-states/. A short period of home-working for the local workforce where possible could see a business back operational in days rather than weeks or not at all in many instances. If the off-site premise is subject to fire and the business is use to using off-site cloud hosting for its servers, it becomes very easy to move its server instances from one supplier to another providing the business takes the appropriate backups. Any business large or small should try putting this into practice if they are using the cloud to ensure they can redeploy rapidly and that their backups are working as they would expect them to.
For a further look at why the cloud is safe check the article on cloud safety from Kate Craig-Wood.
