Cloud Security: Why Network Redundancy Matters

Protecting your organization’s data is a daunting task. Cybersecurity measures are only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to establishing a sound cloud environment. The statistics show that even the most competent organizations and businesses need to prioritize additional means of preventing, responding to, and mitigating digital threats. Cloud professionals are all in agreement that Network redundancy is at the top of the list for beneficial features of cloud based infrastructure.

Just to jog your memory, the cloud consists of an array of interconnected computers which form a network and provide system resources on-demand, such as data storage and computing power. Network redundancy is a term used to describe how the cloud enables tasks to be passed off or shared between any number of servers which make up the interconnected system. In this sense, if one computer is running a specific task and that computer catastrophically fails, regardless of whether it be internal damage, technical bugs, or a criminal intrusion, then the task can immediately be undertaken by an extra, or duplicate, computer which is connected to the cloud. The brilliance of the cloud is highlighted in the fact that this “backup” is always on standby, and can be repeated many times! Furthermore, there are no geographic restrictions in the sense that a computer may contribute to the cloud as long as internet access is maintained. Thus, network redundancy refers to the “teamwork” based, failover, design of the cloud, and the expendable nature of each individual computer.

Why does network redundancy matter? It is a form of insurance. Threats towards the uptime of your business’ infrastructure come in all shapes and forms. Natural disasters, human error, wear and tear, technical glitches, and criminal activity are some of the most prominent issues dealt with currently which threaten the integrity of business operations. Of course, there is only so much you can do internally to prevent these issues, most of the time, they are just considered exogenous— which means these eventualities are out of your control.

One in five businesses were impacted by a cybersecurity incident in 2021, according to Statistics Canada. Furthermore, 80 percent of breaches in the same year were said to have an element of human error, following the 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. This includes small, medium, and large sized businesses. Additionally, the 2022 Rogers communication outage proves that one should never be too overconfident in the IT team. Even the largest of the communication providers, with the most advanced and well-equipped IT specialists, fall victim to technical glitches. In this instance, 12 million customers were left stranded in Canada with internet and wireless phone services down. In fact, 911 calls couldn’t even be made, and money could not be exchanged from ATMs. In the end, this was all attributed to a faulty update process which accidentally resulted in the deletion of a routing filter. The loss of these basic services is a worse case scenario, but it shows that technical errors aren’t limited to only those who are negligent.

The point is that hardware and software failures can happen to anyone, so if they do happen to you, it is better to be well prepared with preset failover and backups. Remember, it isn’t just your business’ data and operations on the line, it’s your customers’ privacy, and their respect for your business. Failing to adequately prevent, identify, or respond to security threats will leave your reputation tarnished.

Bill C-26, “an act respecting cybersecurity”, was recently tabled which introduces the Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act (CCSPA) to support Canadian telecommunication security regulations. Should this bill become law, it will become mandatory to report cybersecurity incidents to government authorities. As such, it is important to note that the government is trying to clamp down on holding the private sector accountable for their cybersecurity practices. As such, there is additional incentive to ensure network redundancy considering it is a necessary part of a sufficient disaster recovery plan in the eyes of the Canadian government.

Server Cloud Canada offers the highest global standards for redundancy, uptime, hardware, and service. We are entirely Canadian owned and operated, with nine data centers evenly distributed throughout the country, and 99.999 percent availability SLA. We offer automatic backups and built-in firewall for our enterprise-ready, on-demand hosting. With multi-tiered, 24/7 support, our cloud specialists are always available to speak to! If you’re interested in our services, or simply just want to talk about network redundancy, then don’t hesitate to reach out to us today!