Your Cloud Provider Isn't Protecting What You Think

Most agencies assume that once their data is “in the cloud,” it’s automatically secure.

That’s only half true.

Cloud providers like Microsoft and Google secure the infrastructure: the physical data centers, the servers, the underlying network. That part is genuinely handled, and handled well. Security people call this the shared responsibility model, and it’s worth knowing the name, because the other half of that split belongs entirely to you.

What the provider doesn’t secure automatically is how you actually use the platform.

Is multi-factor authentication turned on everywhere it should be?

Who has access to which files?

Was a former employee’s account ever deactivated after they left?

Is a shared drive link set to “anyone with the link,” quietly open to more people than you’d guess?

Think of it like a building. The provider locks the front doors and guards the lobby. Whether your own office door is locked is still on you.

Most agencies don’t think of themselves as “cloud-heavy,” but the reality usually says otherwise. Your email platform, your agency management system, document storage, and often your CRM: all of it is cloud-based already.

Agencies that assume the cloud handles security are the ones most likely to have a misconfigured setting, an over-permissioned shared folder, or an old account still active months after someone left.

Those settings, the ones nobody thinks to check, are what stand between a normal Tuesday and a breach.

Most agencies have never had anyone actually look at them.

That’s where a Cybersecurity Assessment comes in handy. It reviews your agency’s current setup to find out if you’re exposed before someone tries to exploit it, and makes sure you’re covered where regulators and carriers expect you to be.

Book your free Cybersecurity Assessment here.

—Daniel

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