Cloud security is revolutionizing the corporate community, and its influence cannot be overstated. As more businesses migrate to the cloud, the importance of cloud security has become vital. In fact, according to cloudzero.com, 95% of companies are moderately to extremely concerned about cloud security. This concern is justified, considering that cybercrime costs an organization about $13m. With this in mind, what role do cloud security certifications play? Let’s find out.
The rise of Cloud Security in the Corporate world
As more businesses rely on the cloud, security breaches and the risk of data loss increases. In fact, more than 60% of corporate data is now stored in the cloud. This data includes sensitive information, such as employee personal data, intellectual property, customer data, patient data, financial data and accounting records. According to the Flexera 2022 state of the cloud report, these organisations find security, governance, compliance and a lack of expert personnel as the major cloud security challenges.
The implementation of robust security measures, such as encryption, access controls, data protection and network security are examples of the various techniques needed to address cloud security breaches. Ultimately, overcoming cloud security challenges requires investing in cloud security certifications and training programs to ensure that professionals have the necessary skills and knowledge to secure cloud environments.
The Importance of Cloud Security Certifications
Many certifications have emerged to address the growing demand for cloud security expertise. These certifications are designed to validate an individual’s expertise and provide assurance to organizations. Some of the most popular cloud security certifications are outlined below.
Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500): This certification allows individuals to demonstrate the skills needed to implement security controls, maintain an organization’s security posture and remediate security vulnerabilities. It enhances individual skills in implementing, managing and monitoring security resources in Azure, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments. Additionally, it ensures the cloud infrastructure aligns with standards and best practices such as the Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark (MCSB).
The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certified Security – Specialty validates your expertise in creating and implementing security solutions in the AWS Cloud. It affirms your understanding of specialized data classifications and AWS data protection mechanisms. In addition, it provides training on data-encryption methods, internet protocols and AWS mechanisms to implement them. This certification can build your credibility and position you as a trusted advisor to your stakeholders and customers. It provides best practices and security solutions that meet organizations and customers’ unique needs.
The Certified Cloud Security Engineer (CCSE) certification offered by EC-Council is a hybrid multi-cloud security certification program created by industry experts. It is designed to match the latest security tools and techniques for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platforms. This certification is a perfect blend of vendor neutral and vendor specific training and hand-on labs. It offers cloud professionals a holistic understanding of cloud security and empowers them to have a well-rounded unbiased learning experience. Overall, the CCSE certification is a valuable credential that boosts individual skills and significantly impacts the cloud security of any organisation.
The Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) certification offered by (ISC)² is a globally recognized cloud security certification proven to build your career and prove you are an expert to command security in the cloud. This certificate enhances individual skills in areas such as data and architecture security, platform and infrastructure security, and security operations. The CCSP validates an individuals advanced technical skills and knowledge to design and secure data and applications in the cloud. It implements best practices, policies and procedures to robustly secure critical assets in the cloud
Certifications remain vital to cloud security
Cloud security is a critical component of various cloud infrastructures. Certifications are essential to demonstrate competence in this area and ensure professionals stay up to date with the latest cloud security technologies and best practices. Certifications increase customer trust and confidence, provide professionals with advanced security knowledge and enable businesses to demonstrate compliance to industry and regulatory standards. As the demand for cloud computing continues to grow, certifications and other factors outlined in a previous article, overcoming the unique challenges of securing the cloud, will undoubtedly play an increasingly important role in ensuring adequate knowledge, competence and skills in cloud security is maintained.
Written By: Bernard Amoah and Kofi Quist
