Development Tools For The Cloud

Almost 55% of small business owners said security was their top concern with cloud adoption. Fortunately, with the right development tools, you can make sure that your data is protected and your confidential information is locked behind a virtual fortress of security measures. These Azure-based tools give you the visibility and peace of mind that your company needs.

Hardware and Software Inventory

Many an IT manager has sighed in frustration when they looked at the software trials and downloads that other employees install. Monitoring your inventory lets you track hardware devices that could have their security compromised, and be alerted to any potentially dangerous software. Your department needs to know what was installed, when, and by whom.

Multi-Device Event Monitoring

When IT professionals approach a server error or security threat, they first get their hands on the device and check the event logs. Unfortunately, with the increased popularity of working from home and business globalization, physically reaching the workstation becomes increasingly complicated.

Windows event log monitoring gives power back to internal IT specialists to monitor the activity of multiple devices, whether they’re down the hall or on the other side of the world. Event data can be stored for up to three years, giving the department a comprehensive history of all devices.

Windows Management Instrumentation

Historically, IT departments didn’t know there was a problem until an employee showed up at their office with a virus-ridden device, or a hacker-cleared hard drive. Constant monitoring changes that paradigm. Device reports are easily accessible – for the short and long term – and up to 20 alerts can trigger when they reach critical levels.

This tool makes it easy to know if you need to increase your bandwidth, improve infrastructure, or just let you know that your hard-drive speed is a little off. And this tool could be even more useful very shortly, given recent reports that Windows 7 and 8 may soon be able to run on Azure virtual machines.

Email Notifications

Cloud security works like credit card fraud protection; if there’s something suspicious, then the manager will receive an email with the listed events. You can also set alerts for certain activities to notify you if specific files are accessed or software is downloaded. While the reports mentioned above warn you about the health of your devices, these alerts tell you immediately when something is up.

Sharing with Multiple Parties

Finally, sharing access with other specialists is just as important as restricting access to others. Software tools that can be shared as read-only make it easy to manage who is able to view reports versus who is able to set alerts or alter critical values.

For example, your internal department could share a read-only version of a specific device to a problem employee that keeps getting hacked or downloading strange software. Or, you could give full control to an external agency to audit all of your devices and activity.

Cloud security concerns often stem from lack of knowledge. Applying the right security elements to your system not only gives you the knowledge of secure data, but it also opens up a world where you can monitor the activity and health of every device in your arsenal. In many ways, the cloud gives IT departments more security and ease than they ever had before, as long as they’re armed with the right tools.