Cloud infrastructure is so easy to set up and manage that one can easily be lulled into an assumption that the cloud is a “set it and forget it” proposition. This is understandable: Cloud providers do an excellent job of abstracting away tasks such as load-balancing, infrastructure optimization, and routine systems administration. They provide predictable performance and nearly limitless scalability. They also maintain strong security for their own
infrastructure.

But when it comes to protecting individual customer instances and data, the situation is more complex. Most cloud providers leave it up
to customers to police access to their accounts and protect their own data. The simplicity of cloud infrastructure is so seductive that
customers can easily forget that a cloud server guarded by a weak password is just as vulnerable as a server in their own data centers.

In most cases, the only significant difference between cloud and local infrastructure is location, says Anthony Cusimano, cloud
solutions marketing manager at Veritas. “It’s a myth that cloud is different from on-premises infrastructure,” he says. “It’s basically a data center with different scale and location. It’s folly to believe that someone else’s infrastructure is going to give you the same security you’d have in your own data center.”