Public vs. Private Cloud Security: What’s the Difference?

Security in cloud computing is often a major concern among cloud customers, mainly because of the risk of losing sensitive data and the difficulties of enforcing the organization’s security policies.

Despite cloud computing’s potential efficiency for storing and exchanging files, cloud security remains questionable. According to one report from Statista, 81 percent of respondents found security to be the most prevalent challenge in cloud computing today.

This article will walk you through private and public cloud security, and explain why companies prefer public cloud solutions.

What Is Private Cloud Security?

The “private” cloud refers to a cloud environment where all hardware and software resources are accessible only by a single customer. The main idea of a private cloud is not to supply cloud services to the general public.

Private cloud solutions bring several advantages to an organization, including security, customization, and performance.

Security

Because all security efforts in the private cloud are either done in-house or outsourced to a managed security company, a private cloud gives you a higher level of control over security parameters. The security solutions accessible in a private cloud include higher degrees of authentication to access control and additional automation layers.

Customization

At some stage, some applications may need additional processing power and data storage. This is where hybridization comes in. A hybrid cloud extends the resources of the private cloud into a public cloud to maintain uptime without needing to set up other physical servers.

Performance

Private clouds can help you allocate resources in a way that doesn’t put an additional burden on your network. This assures that the service is available to those who need it, when they need it. A private cloud infrastructure offers greater capacity to fulfill large demands for cloud computing.

What Is Public Cloud Security?

A public cloud model delivers on-demand IT services and infrastructure directly to the client over the internet.

The public cloud environment allows for scalability and resource-sharing that isn’t otherwise possible for a single company to achieve. The public cloud service provider oversees the data centers where customers’ workloads are running. The three best-known public cloud providers are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and VMware.

Public cloud providers typically provide three major service categories: infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (Saas). Each of these models offers numerous benefits such as lower up-front costs, and grants users options that on-premise hosting cannot provide.

For some organizations, leveraging the size of cloud vendors might be a part of a more comprehensive security risk strategy, particularly if they are on a tight budget.

Public cloud security technologies give you centralized visibility along with better security controls over your workloads in the cloud, and solid protection that helps you grow your business more quickly. Given those conditions, security in the public cloud is usually considered to be superior to on-premises security.

Why Do Companies Use the Public Cloud?

The future is looking bright for the public cloud data centers. Gartner predicts that the revenue from the public cloud sector will reach $331 billion by 2022, up from $175 billion in 2018.

A large number of organizations have adopted public cloud platforms, and for good reason. Organizations using public cloud services aren’t responsible for the maintenance of the resources provided by the vendors because maintenance costs are handled by the vendor as part of their agreement.

With the public cloud, organizations experience enhanced cybersecurity and data protection, better delivery of services, and improved data gathering and analysis ability.

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Our cloud solution gives you the ability to place your workloads where they make the most sense while driving the most effective performance and addressing data security. Schedule a demo now and find out more about how ZenGRC can help you optimize your cloud environment.