Just over a week ago, the top three big name cloud computing companies – Amazon, Google and Microsoft – were all faced with a security threat that posed a risk to their public cloud servers. In only a matter of hours after the flaws became public knowledge, the cloud computing companies released patches and fixes to cloud users in hopes to mitigate the effects of the flaw. This was a response time only very few private-enterprise datacenters could ever hope to achieve.
Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have all made previous statements stating that only a few enterprises can afford to spend as much time as they do on cloud security. Therefore, data stored in their cloud is said to be better protected than information in private datacenters.
Meltdown and Spectre vs. Microsoft Azure
In many cases, users think that running a server in Microsoft Azure will automatically protect them from downtime. However, the fact is that servers running in a public cloud like Azure or AWS are still susceptible to
- Regional data center outages
- Blue screens
- Failed patch installations
- Hardware failures
This was evident when systems were unexpectedly rebooted to patch against the Meltdown and Spectre threats discovered in Intel and AMD processors just last week.
A case for The Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform
Because the architecture of the Cloud is built on the premise that hardware will fail at some point, there are many features built into Microsoft Azure. For example, Azure provides a site recovery option to replicate your systems to another data center, backup critical data, and handle reboots caused by critical or security patch updates. However, this does not come automatically, which is why companies need to make sure that when they are working with a Microsoft Partner that they are familiar with the risks when working with public cloud environments.
How Can 360 Visibility Help?
As a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), 360 Visibility provides its customers state-of-the-art datacenters around the globe through Microsoft Azure Cloud so that your data is always available when you need it, wherever you are, with the highest level of security. In addition, our cloud experts provide you with key performance reviews of your company’s cloud architecture. This ensures that best practices are followed and meet the SLA’s required by your business.