One of the most important considerations when selecting a cloud services provider is whether a public or private cloud meets an organization’s business and security requirements. However, this does not have to be an either-or decision as hybrid and multi-cloud deployments enable a company to take advantage of the benefits of both public and private clouds.

Cloud security is a responsibility that is shared between the cloud provider and the customer. There are basically three categories of responsibilities in the Shared Responsibility Model: responsibilities that are always the provider’s, responsibilities that are always the customer’s, and responsibilities that vary depending on the service model: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), or Software as a Service, such as cloud email.

Cloud computing allows an organization to outsource the responsibility for managing some portion of its IT infrastructure stack. Instead of hosting data and applications fully in an in-house data center, cloud customers lease infrastructure from a cloud services provider, who is responsible for managing and securing the portion of the infrastructure stack under their direct control.

By transitioning their IT infrastructure to the cloud, organizations can take advantage of various benefits. Cloud providers are specialized in maintaining and securing IT infrastructure and enable their customers to focus their efforts and resources on their core business goals.

As cloud security adoption has increased, compliance standards have had to evolve, as cloud platforms and services are expected to remain compliant with various international, federal, state, and local security standards, regulations, and laws. A lack of compliance to these rigid rules can lead to legal challenges, penalties, fines, and other negative ramifications.