By the Team at Krypto IT | Cybersecurity Experts Serving Houston SMBs

For many small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), moving to the cloud—whether it’s Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or AWS—feels like handing over the security keys to a team of experts. The assumption is often: “If it’s in the cloud, it’s totally secure.”

While cloud providers like Microsoft and Amazon invest billions in their infrastructure, relying on them for all your security is a dangerous, potentially catastrophic misconception. The truth lies in the Shared Responsibility Model, a fundamental concept that dictates where the cloud provider’s duty ends and your SMB’s responsibility begins. Ignoring this model is the #1 way businesses get breached in the cloud.

At Krypto IT in Houston, we help our clients understand this vital distinction, ensuring they secure their side of the street and maintain a complete, layered defense.

The Great Divide: What the Cloud Secures vs. What YOU Secure

The Shared Responsibility Model is straightforward: the provider secures the cloud itself, and the customer secures the data and access within it.

1. The Cloud Provider’s Responsibility (Security OF the Cloud)

The provider is essentially securing the infrastructure. This includes:

• Physical Security: Securing the data centers (fences, guards, biometric access).
• Network Infrastructure: Securing the massive network routers, switches, and core systems.
• Hypervisor: Securing the virtualization layer that hosts your data.
• Hardware Maintenance: Patching and maintaining the underlying servers.

2. Your SMB’s Responsibility (Security IN the Cloud)

This is where the risk lies. You are responsible for everything above the operating system layer, including:

• Identity and Access Management (IAM): Who logs in, and how they log in.
• Data Classification and Encryption: Determining what data is sensitive and ensuring it’s encrypted.
• Endpoint Protection: Securing the device your employee uses to access the cloud.
• Configuration Management: Ensuring all security settings (like file sharing permissions) are set correctly.
• Data Backup: Ensuring your data is backed up and recoverable, even if the cloud provider suffers an outage or you accidentally delete data.

Three High-Risk Areas Where SMBs Fail

The critical failures we see most often with SMBs are directly related to neglecting their responsibilities in the cloud:

1. Weak Identity Management (The Single Point of Failure)

The single biggest cause of cloud breaches is compromised credentials. An attacker uses a stolen password (from a phishing attack) to log into your Microsoft 365 or cloud console. Since the login is successful, the cloud provider views this as a legitimate user, and the hacker gains access.

• Your Solution: Enforce mandatory Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) across all cloud services. MFA is the single most effective barrier against stolen credentials and is 100% the customer’s responsibility.

2. Configuration Errors (Leaving the Vault Open)

Cloud services offer dozens of configuration settings. If an SMB doesn’t properly configure things like network segmentation, public access rules, or file-sharing permissions, they essentially leave the “vault door” open. For example, leaving a cloud storage bucket configured for public access is a massive breach waiting to happen.

• Your Solution: Regularly audit and manage security configurations. This requires expertise to ensure settings adhere to the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP), granting access only where absolutely necessary.

3. Backup and Data Retention Mistakes

Many SMBs believe the cloud provider automatically backs up their data indefinitely. This is false. Cloud providers offer redundancy (protecting against hardware failure), but they often don’t provide sufficient backup against accidental deletion, configuration errors, or ransomware.

• Your Solution: Implement third-party, dedicated cloud-to-cloud backup solutions. You need to ensure you have a copy of your data that is separate from the primary cloud environment (adhering to the 3-2-1 Rule), so if your Microsoft 365 environment is locked down by Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), you can still restore your critical files.

Krypto IT: Your Cloud Security Co-Pilot

Navigating the complexities of the Shared Responsibility Model is overwhelming for an SMB team. This is where Krypto IT steps in as your dedicated security co-pilot. We specialize in managing your side of the shared security equation.

We provide the tools and expertise to:

• Enforce IAM: Implement and manage MFA and SSO across all your cloud platforms.
• Configuration Audit: Continuously monitor your cloud settings to ensure they meet Zero Trust standards and prevent accidental exposure.
• Managed Cloud Backup: Deploy third-party solutions to ensure your data is backed up outside the cloud environment, providing true disaster recovery resilience.
• Compliance Mapping: Ensure your cloud usage aligns with regulatory mandates like HIPAA or PCI DSS.

Don’t let the convenience of the cloud lull you into a false sense of security. The SMB is responsible for its own security fate. Let Krypto IT provide the comprehensive management needed to meet your obligations and protect your Houston business in the cloud.

Ready to secure your data in the cloud? Contact Krypto IT today for a complimentary Cloud Security Assessment.