How to Protect Your Agency's Cloud Data: Understanding the Shared Responsibility Model

Like their counterparts in the private sector, government agencies are increasingly turning to cloud-based solutions to modernize operations and improve service delivery. This shift isn’t limited to federal agencies—according to a recent survey, 70% of state and local government executives reported that the cloud is their preferred environment for hosting citizen and mission-critical data. However, with this move to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms like Salesforce, many agencies are unaware of the security implications.

While cloud providers ensure the security of their infrastructure, the responsibility for protecting the data within these platforms falls squarely on the agencies themselves. This is where the shared responsibility model comes into play. It outlines the division of responsibilities between the cloud service provider and the customer, making it essential for government agencies to understand and act on their role in safeguarding data from loss, corruption, or unauthorized access.

Implementing the Zero Trust Framework

Once an agency understands its responsibility under the shared responsibility model, it can begin incorporating Zero Trust principles into its security strategies. Zero Trust operates under the assumption that threats can come from both inside and outside the organization. This security framework requires strict identity verification for every user and device attempting to access resources, regardless of their location.

In the context of the shared responsibility model, Zero Trust becomes a critical component of an agency’s role in securing SaaS data. SaaS solutions such as Salesforce that use role-based security make it easy to over-assign privileges. For instance, Profiles in Salesforce are designed to implement role-based security but often are assigned or cloned for convenience, making it difficult to untangle which accounts have more privileges than they require to perform their job/function.
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A misconfiguration in access permissions can lead to a breach, even though the Salesforce platform itself is secure. Implementing Zero Trust principles creates multiple layers of security to prevent such breaches, helping ensure that only authorized personnel can access sensitive information.

External Threats and Implications

Data breaches don't discriminate, but they seem to have a particular affinity for government agencies. External threats, including cyberattacks from both international and domestic sources, pose significant risks to the security of sensitive data and to the reputation of the agency. A data breach can cause severe reputational damage, eroding public trust and potentially affecting the agency’s ability to function effectively.

Incorporating Zero Trust principles into the shared responsibility model provides agencies with a robust framework to mitigate these threats. By clearly understanding their role in data security and implementing strong access controls, encryption, and continuous monitoring, agencies can reduce the likelihood of data breaches and protect their reputation from the fallout of cyberattacks.

Fulfill Your Responsibility With Own

Now is the time for agencies to act. While cloud service providers ensure the security of the infrastructure, the onus of protecting the data itself rests with your agency. And as the shared responsibility model demonstrates, you're not only responsible for backing up your data but also for configuring your security controls to prevent unauthorized access and data exposure.

At Own, we support agencies in fulfilling their responsibilities. Our industry-leading backup and recovery solution, Own Recover, is available as a FedRAMP® authorized solution for Salesforce and ServiceNow customers, ensuring that your data is safeguarded against accidental loss and that you can restore rapidly and precisely. Additionally, Own Secure is a native application available in the AppExchange that is interoperable with FedRAMP® that can assess your current Salesforce implementation to ensure alignment with your data classification, access controls, encryption, retention policies, and compliance audits.

Contact us to learn more about protecting your agency’s SaaS data or schedule a 1:1 demo today.