Every so often, we run into a client or potential client who has real hesitations about moving their data onto the Salesforce cloud. Usually, these are businesses who have been using in house servers and data storage for quite a while and the idea of having their most sensitive data floating around “in the cloud” (wherever that is), seems not only foreign but untrustworthy.
Our answer to that is simple, provided you follow Salesforce’s guidelines and best practices for security, your data should be well protected in the cloud!
What’s more, in many cases, your data may actually be safer in the cloud than it would be stored on an in house server!
Keeping that Data Safe
When most companies or people have concerns about storing their data in the cloud, it really isn’t based on many facts, but more on general comfort. It’s only naturally really. As humans, we feel safer when we keep our important items close at hand – even if we are actually worse at protecting them than professionals might be.
Cyber-crimes are a real threat, but the surprising truth is that 60% of all cyber attacks are carried out by insiders, with three-quarters of attacks involving malicious intent, and one-quarter relying on inadvertent participants. In this case, your data will actually be safer stored offsite, where security is handled by another company and can’t be sidestepped internally.
In-house data servers also have physical concerns and dangers, such as flooding, fire, office break-ins, clumsy employees and general upkeep. All of these issues do not apply to cloud servers. To be properly maintained, internal data storage require a significant internal investment. This investment not only includes expensive hardware, overhead for storage and maintenance, but also investment into IT and professional cybersecurity.
Which brings us to what is probably the biggest security problem for in house data storage – the in house security practices, protocols, and management. Worldwide, there is a shortage of qualified cyber-security professionals, and most companies that have in-house security, either can’t invest in it fully or don’t have the knowledge/resources to fully secure their servers. So, if you have sensitive data stored in-house, but aren’t properly protecting it, is it really safer than being in a cloud?
Salesforce Cloud Security
As a billion-dollar enterprise CRM solution, Salesforce has more than a couple of reasons to provide customers with the best options in cyber-security. Simply put, the security options available through Salesforce are significantly more advanced than what many small to mid-size businesses can afford on their own. What’s more, Salesforce has the added benefit of building compliance standards into their network, making everything they do transparent and accessible.
Salesforce uses some of the top industry professionals, to craft a world-class security system, with some significant security certifications.
With Salesforce, you get the following security features, built right in:
- Stateful packet inspection (SPI) at the perimeter firewall
- Bastion stations (highly secured computers) to defend against cyber attacks
- TLS/SSL data encryption for all network data transmissions
- User profiles and permissions
- Object-level security
- Field-level security
- Record-level security
- Abilities to enable 2-factor integration or have third-party biometrics installed
For businesses who need an added level of protection, there is Salesforce Sheild, which provides:
- Platform encryption for all Salesforce metadata
- Event monitoring – visualization, reporting and analysis of all tracked events within the CRM
- Audit Trail expansion of up to 10 years, and 60 fields per object
Salesforce also has a dedicated a webpage just for security – https://trust.salesforce.com/en/security/
From this page, users can access trailhead tutorials for security, best practice info, event and warning monitoring, compliance data, security advisories and plenty of other resources to help all Salesforce users keep their most important data safe on the cloud.
-Ryan and the CloudMyBiz Team
CEO of CloudMyBiz Salesforce CRM consulting services with a deep knowledge in the lending industry. Taking keen interest in the project management side of operations, playing a vital role in the 31% YOY company growth. Strategic leader, mastering the ability to problem solve at every level of the business, providing effective solutions for clients.