Cloud e-mail security – can business really take the risk?

If you have been making money off the Internet for a while you must already be aware of the benefits of cloud computing. Having said that, why is it that not all business owners have shifted to cloud computing completely? The biggest concern here is security and the IT mega-minds need to be able to come up with a security solution that can keep your data hundred percent safe and ironclad if cloud computing has to replace desktops and laptops.

Now, getting back to the question of e-mail security, is it really worth it? Now, that is one question you need to ask yourself. If your business means sending out and receiving hundreds and thousands of e-mails every day, it would only be a wise decision on your part to shift to cloud computing to minimize errors and costs. But, what about security? Yes, in the past security issues have cropped up and that too from premium cloud computing service providers (all they could do was apologize later), but that does not mean you would have to continue investing in e-mail servers and an entire IT department to take care of those servers.

There are some basic rules you need to play by when choosing a cloud computing service for e-mail management. The biggest problem with data security in cloud servers arises because the data does not remain ironclad during transfers and that is exactly the reason why e-mails are so very vulnerable. So, what can you do about it?

The simple idea is to treat your company e-mails as your personal e-mail. Change the passwords regularly, do not disclose your passwords and do not send out e-mails that are unsolicited. It is a good idea to go with a cloud computing service provider (after talking to a couple of them) that can guarantee you security (that means they have the stuff to gain your confidence) and also offer backup solutions. Let price not be the sole deciding factor here. It is a good idea to go for a reputed cloud computing service provider that offers virus management, spam e-mail management and volume-based attack management. There are a handful of such cloud computing service providers that offer such solutions, but not all of them offer the solutions by themselves – some of them have tied up with third parties for e-mail management services also. There is no reason to be finicky about such service providers who do not offer such services by themselves, but it’s a good idea to go for one that offers all e-mail management solutions under one banner.

The other important aspect that you need to consider when choosing an e-mail management service provider is disaster management. There’s a bunch of service providers out there that offer excellent backup solutions, but does that mean that during recovery of your lost e-mails on data, none of that would get leaked out? That’s a very important thing to consider when since you know that the service provider is going to vouch for the goodwill of his business, it is a better idea to do some background check by yourself and then make your choice