The growth in cloud computing services and the trend toward digital transformation has increased the complexities around where data is stored and how it is transmitted. But for organizations considering cloud adoption this complexity must be overcome. So, the question is not ‘should we do this?’ but ‘how do we get this right?’
Armed with smartphones and fast, reliable broadband connectivity, 21st century consumers expect to have high quality online interactions with businesses and brands. This is driving the digital transformation trend, which requires more data, more processing, greater storage, and better availability than ever before. Where and how that data is managed and stored is becoming increasingly important.
We can see one example of this in Hong Kong, where HSBC launched a voice-based biometric identification service for customers, following the successful launch of the technology in the UK last year. Innovations such as these are part of a FinTech explosion in the region, and with this increasing reliance on the cloud to store all the data associated with that explosion, it is no surprise Gartner believes that by 2025, cloud-based solutions will account for 65% of total market spend in financial management applications.
End-to-end encryption and balanced security
According to a news article that ran on CNBC, 28% of organizations in Asia suffered a data breach in 2015, which was almost double the global average. Last year saw a number of significant breaches in the region, including the Philippine Commission on Elections and the National Payment Corporation of India.
Keeping data secure while in transit, as well as when stored is crucial as part of a holistic security strategy. One of the key considerations should be to find a hosting partner with trusted, secured data center interconnect (DCI) technology to ensure the safety and integrity of your enterprise data. Not just within the data center but one that can offer in-flight encryption to protect that data as it travels into other jurisdictions.
Securing the links between interconnected data centers is an important part of a comprehensive approach to data sovereignty. However, there can be performance trade-offs if this is not handled carefully. For example, building a common framework for application security across multiple data centers may be desirable but can also induce latency between data centers while making operations increasingly complex.
A newer approach is to deploy encryption at the optical infrastructure layer, which will encrypt traffic without adding complex routing or security protocols. As more customers move into the cloud, encrypting data in-flight at the optical layer is becoming a popular solution for interconnecting networks. This approach is already being deployed as part of a holistic security strategy by many large organizations including but not limited to banking and telecoms businesses.
Wider implications and considerations
The inevitable consequences of increasingly stringent, and sometimes divergent, international laws relating to data are that organizations need to be aware in which countries the data they hold is being stored and processed. If that data is being shared across interconnected networks it becomes vital to understand what is taking place at the data center level. In some sectors, such as banking and FinTech, the importance of trust and confidence cannot be overstated.
Managing interconnected data centers demands a reliable and secure data transfer, no matter the physical distances between data centers and premises – and the need for secure transmission and storage will only be compounded by increasing amounts of data flowing around the world. From advanced optical technologies that offer lowest cost-per bit, to software-based encryption keys that give the customer more control without additional hardware, DCI technology offers a simple, highly effective way to safeguard critical in-flight data.
Madhu Pandya is senior advisor for cloud architectures at Ciena.