Category: Cloud

Summary: Before canceling a cloud service, export your data and confirm that the files can be opened or imported. Move any connected applications and sign-ins, then check the provider’s current rules for access, billing, retention, and deletion.

A cloud service may hold years of customer records, documents, emails, invoices, project history, or staff activity.

If you cancel before moving that information, employees may lose access before the business has a usable copy. Some providers give administrators more time to retrieve data. Others restrict access or begin deleting information after cancellation.

The rules depend on the service, subscription, contract, and how the account was purchased. Check the provider’s current terms before setting a cancellation date.

What can happen after you cancel

Canceling a subscription may stop employees from signing in, make applications read-only, or leave data available only to administrators. Some services begin a retention period before deletion, while others remove data sooner.

Billing may also continue until the end of an annual or fixed-term contract. Canceling through a reseller may follow a different process from canceling a subscription purchased directly from the software company.

Microsoft 365 business subscriptions pass through several lifecycle stages after they end. Access and timing depend on how the subscription was purchased. Microsoft advises customers to back up their information before it is deleted. Microsoft 365 subscription guidance

Google also tells Workspace customers to export the information they want to keep before canceling. Its guidance states that third-party application data is not automatically deleted when a Workspace subscription is canceled. Google Workspace cancellation guidance

Check the rules for the service you are canceling instead of relying on a general retention period.

Check the provider’s cancellation rules

Read the provider’s current documentation and your contract before you cancel.

Confirm when employee access will stop and whether administrators will still be able to retrieve data. Check how long the information will remain available, what the export includes, and whether the export must be requested before cancellation.

You should also confirm whether the account can be reactivated, when billing stops, and what steps are required to delete the account. Ask whether the provider will confirm the deletion in writing.

Contact the provider if its published documentation does not answer these questions. Keep a copy of the response with your cancellation records.

If the service was purchased through a reseller or IT provider, ask them to confirm the process and the final date of access.

Export all the information your business needs

Start by identifying what the service contains. Depending on the application, this could include customer details, documents, attachments, emails, calendar entries, invoices, support tickets, project history, reports, or audit records.

Do not assume the standard export includes everything. Some services export the main records but leave out attachments, comments, user permissions, deleted items, application settings, automation rules, or activity history.

Read the provider’s export documentation so you know what will be included. Contact the provider if important information is missing from the standard export.

Use a business-owned administrator account to request and download the files. Store them somewhere controlled by the business rather than leaving the only copy in an employee’s personal downloads folder.

Large exports may take time to prepare. Start early enough to investigate missing files or failed downloads before access ends.

Test the files before canceling

Open a sample of every file type you exported. Check that attachments are present, dates are correct, and text can be read. Look for broken links, incomplete records, or files with no clear connection to the customer or project they belong to.

If you are moving to another service, test the import before canceling the old one. Check names, contact details, dates, notes, attachments, custom fields, open tasks, historical transactions, and user permissions.

A CSV file may contain the words and numbers while leaving out the relationships between records. For example, customers and invoices might appear in separate files without preserving the links between them.

Import a small set first. Ask employees who use the system to check the result before the remaining information is moved.

Check connected applications and sign-ins

Cloud services often exchange information with other systems. A website form may send enquiries into the service you are canceling. Your accounting software may import invoices from it. Reports, email campaigns, payment notifications, and scheduled tasks may also rely on that connection.

List the systems that send information into the service and those that receive information from it. Include mobile apps, browser extensions, automated workflows, API connections, file storage, calendars, and reporting tools.

Move or disable each connection before the account closes. Test the replacement process to confirm that new records arrive in the correct place and scheduled tasks still run.

Employees may also use the service to sign into other applications. This happens when they choose options such as “Sign in with Google” or “Sign in with Microsoft.”

Add another sign-in method before canceling the original service. Confirm that the business controls the administrator and recovery details for every connected account.

After the move is complete, revoke old access tokens, API keys, and application connections.

Keep the records your business is required to retain

Your business may need to keep financial records, contracts, customer communications, consent records, project files, or employee information for a set period.

The requirements depend on the type of information, your industry, your contracts, and the countries where you operate. Speak with your accountant, legal adviser, or compliance specialist before deleting records that may need to be retained.

Document what was exported, when it was downloaded, who checked it, and where it is stored. Keep the cancellation confirmation, final invoice, and any written response from the provider about deletion.

Set a retention period for the exported files. Delete them securely when the business no longer needs them.

Ask how the provider will delete your data

Canceling a subscription and deleting an account may be separate actions.

Ask what will happen to active customer data, deleted records, backups, audit logs, account information, billing records, and support tickets. Confirm whether any subcontractors also store or process your information.

A provider may remove information from its active systems before the same information ages out of protected backups. Those backup copies may remain until the provider’s normal backup retention period ends.

The provider may also need to retain some information for billing, fraud prevention, security, or legal reasons. Ask what will remain, why it will remain, and when it will be deleted.

The NCSC recommends making sure supplier contracts state how information and assets will be returned or deleted when a contract ends or moves to another supplier. NCSC supply chain guidance

For important systems, request written confirmation when the account and customer data have been deleted.

How to cancel a cloud service without losing your data

1. Choose an owner and set the dates

Give one person responsibility for the move. Review the contract and allow enough time for exporting, testing, training, and fixing any failed connections.

2. Record what uses the service

List the information stored in the service, the employees who use it, and every application connected to it. Check whether employees use the account to sign into other services.

3. Export and store the data

Use the provider’s administrator export tools. Save the files in a business-controlled location and protect them according to the type of information they contain.

4. Test the export and the replacement

Open the files and check the information. Import a small set into the replacement service and ask employees to confirm that the records are correct.

5. Move connected services and employees

Update forms, automated processes, reports, sign-in methods, and integrations. Give employees access to the replacement and test the work they perform every day.

6. Cancel the subscription

Cancel after the data and business processes have been checked. Save the confirmation, final invoice, and provider correspondence.

7. Remove old access and confirm deletion

Revoke old integrations and remove unneeded user accounts. Ask the provider to confirm what will be deleted, what it must retain, and when the deletion will be completed.

Frequently asked questions

How long will a cloud provider keep our data after cancellation?

There is no standard period. It may depend on the provider, service, plan, contract, purchase method, and reason the account ended.

Check the current documentation and obtain written confirmation for important systems.

Is a data export the same as a backup?

An export can provide a retained copy when it contains the information you need, can be opened, and is stored securely.

Some exports leave out settings, permissions, relationships, audit records, or unsupported file types. Test the files before relying on them.

Can we reactivate the service later?

Some providers offer a reactivation period. Others do not guarantee recovery after cancellation or deletion.

Export and test your information before canceling.

What if the provider closes the service?

Keep current exports of important information while the service is active. You may have little time to move if a provider closes, sells the product, or ends the service.

Will cancellation stop billing immediately?

That depends on the contract. Monthly plans, annual commitments, reseller agreements, and fixed-term subscriptions may use different billing rules.

Confirm the final payment and service date before approving the cancellation.

Sources and further reading

• NCSC: Supply chain security guidance
• NCSC: Supplier assurance questions
• Microsoft Learn: What happens when a Microsoft 365 business subscription ends
• Microsoft Learn: Data retention, deletion, and destruction in Microsoft 365
• Google Workspace Admin Help: Cancel Google Workspace
• Google Workspace Admin Help: Export your organization’s data

Before canceling a cloud service, ask your IT provider to check the export, connected applications, and employee sign-ins.

And if you don’t have an IT provider, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll help you sort it out.

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This Article has been Republished with Permission from The Technology Press.

If you want to uncover unsanctioned cloud apps, don’t begin with a policy. Start with your browser history.

The cloud environment most businesses actually use rarely matches the one shown on the IT diagram. It’s built through countless small shortcuts: a “just this once” file share, a free tool that solves one problem faster, a plug-in installed to meet a deadline, or an AI feature quietly enabled inside an app you already pay for.

In the moment, none of it feels like a problem. It feels efficient. Helpful.

Until it isn’t. Then you realize business data is scattered across tools you didn’t formally approve, accounts you can’t easily offboard, and sharing settings that don’t reflect the actual risk.

Why Unsanctioned Cloud Apps Are a 2026 Problem

Unsanctioned cloud apps have always existed. What’s changed this year is the scale, the speed, and the fact that “cloud apps” now include AI features hiding in plain sight.

Start with scale. Microsoft’s shadow IT guidance points out that most IT teams assume employees use “30 or 40” cloud apps, but “in reality, the average is over 1,000 separate apps.”

It also notes that “80% of employees use non-sanctioned apps” that haven’t been reviewed against company policy. That’s the uncomfortable reality of unsanctioned cloud apps: the gap between what you believe is happening and what’s actually happening is often far wider than expected.

Now add the 2026 twist: AI isn’t just a standalone tool employees consciously choose to use.

The Cloud Security Alliance notes that AI is increasingly embedded as a feature within everyday business applications, rather than existing only as a standalone tool. In other words, you can have shadow AI risk without anyone signing up for a new AI product. It’s just… there.

That creates a different kind of exposure. The same Cloud Security Alliance article cites research showing “54% of employees” admit they would use AI tools even without company authorization.

It also references an IBM finding that “20% of organizations” experienced breaches linked to unauthorized AI use, adding an average of “$670,000” to breach costs.

So, this isn’t just a governance problem. It’s a measurable risk problem.

And here’s the final reason 2026 feels different: the old “block it and move on” strategy no longer works. The Cloud Security Alliance has pointed out that simply blocking cloud apps isn’t an option anymore because cloud services are woven into everyday work. If you don’t provide a secure alternative, employees will find another workaround.

Don’t Start with Blocking

The fastest way to drive cloud app usage further underground is to treat it as a discipline problem and respond with bans.

Yes, some applications do need to be blocked. But if blocking is your first move, it typically creates two unintended side effects:

1. People get better at hiding what they’re doing.
2. They switch to a different tool that’s just as risky or, sometimes, worse.

Either way, you haven’t reduced the problem. You’ve just made it harder to see.

A better starting point is to understand what’s happening and why.

The recommendation is to evaluate cloud app risk against an “objective yardstick”. You should monitor what users are actually doing in those apps so you can focus on the behavior that creates exposure, not just the name of the tool.

Once you have that visibility, you can respond in a way that actually lasts. Some apps will be approved. Others may be restricted. Some will need to be replaced.

And the truly high-risk ones? Those are the apps you block thoughtfully, with a clear plan, a communication message, and a secure alternative that allows people to keep doing their jobs.

The Practical Workflow to Uncover Unsanctioned Cloud Apps

This isn’t a one-time clean-up. It’s a workflow you can run quarterly (or continuously) to stay ahead of new tools and new habits.

Discover What’s Actually in Use

Start by generating a real inventory from the signals you already collect: endpoint telemetry, identity logs, network and DNS data, and browser activity.

Microsoft’s shadow IT tutorial emphasizes a dedicated discovery phase, because you can’t manage what you haven’t first identified.

Analyze Usage Patterns

Don’t stop at identifying which apps are in use.

Review things like:

• Who is accessing cloud apps
• What admin activity is happening
• Whether data is being shared publicly or with personal accounts
• Access that should no longer exist, such as former employees who still have active connections

Score and Prioritize Risk

Not every unsanctioned app is equally dangerous.

Use a simple risk lens:

• The sensitivity of the data involved
• How information is being shared
• The strength of identity controls
• The level of administrative visibility
• Whether AI features could be ingesting or exposing data

Tag Apps

Make decisions visible and repeatable by tagging apps.

Microsoft explicitly calls tagging apps as sanctioned or unsanctioned an important step, because it lets you filter, track progress, and drive consistent action over time.

Take Action

Once an app is tagged, you can enforce the decision.

Microsoft’s governance guidance outlines two practical responses: issuing user warnings, a lighter control that encourages better behavior, or blocking access to applications that present unacceptable risk.

Just keep in mind that changes aren’t always immediate. Plan for communication and a smooth transition, rather than triggering unexpected disruptions.

Your New Default: Discover, Decide, Enforce

Unsanctioned cloud apps aren’t disappearing in 2026. If anything, they’ll continue to multiply, especially as new AI features appear inside the tools your team already relies on.

The goal isn’t to block everything. It’s to create a repeatable operating model: discover what’s in use, determine what’s acceptable, and enforce those decisions with clear guidance and secure alternatives.

When you apply that consistently, cloud app sprawl stops being a surprise. It becomes another controlled, managed part of your environment.

If you’d like help building a practical cloud app governance process that fits your organization, contact us today. We’ll help you gain visibility, reduce exposure, and put guardrails in place, without slowing productivity.

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This Article has been Republished with Permission from The Technology Press.

Since cloud computing became mainstream, promising agility, simplicity, offloaded maintenance, and scalability, the message was clear: “Move everything to the cloud.” But once the initial migration wave settled, the challenges became apparent. Some workloads thrive in the cloud, while others become more complex, slower, or more expensive. The smart strategy for 2026 is a pragmatic hybrid cloud approach.

A hybrid cloud strategy blends public cloud services like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud with private infrastructure, whether that’s a private cloud in a colocation facility or on-premise servers. The goal isn’t to avoid the cloud, it’s to use it wisely.

This approach recognizes that one size does not fit all. It gives you the flexibility to place each workload where it performs best, considering cost, performance, security, and regulatory requirements. Treating hybrid as a temporary solution is a mistake, as it is increasingly becoming the standard model for resilient operations.

The Hidden Costs of a Cloud-Only Strategy 

Relying on a single model can create blind spots. The cloud’s operational expense (OpEx) model is fantastic for variable workloads. but for predictable, steady-state applications, it can cost more over time than a capital investment (CapEx) in on-premise equipment. Data egress fees, the cost of moving data out of the cloud, can lead to surprise bills and create a form of “lock-in.”

Performance can also suffer. Applications that require ultra-low latency or constant, high-bandwidth communication may lag if they’re forced into a cloud data center far away. A hybrid approach lets you keep latency-sensitive workloads close to home for optimal performance.

The Strategic Benefits of a Hybrid Cloud Model

First, a hybrid cloud strategy is all about balancing resilience and flexibility. For example, during peak periods like a holiday sales rush, you can take advantage of the public cloud’s scalability and then scale back to your private infrastructure when demand drops. This approach can significantly reduce costs.

Second, hybrid cloud helps meet data sovereignty and strict compliance requirements. You can keep sensitive or regulated data on infrastructure you control while running analytics or other workloads in the cloud. This setup is often essential for healthcare, government, finance, and legal sectors, where data must remain within a specific legal jurisdiction. According to FedTech, hybrid cloud gives government agencies the best of both worlds, allowing innovation while meeting strict security standards.

Why Some Workloads Need to be kept On-Premise

There are several scenarios where private infrastructure makes the most sense:

• Legacy and proprietary applications: Some organizations run systems that are difficult to move to the cloud, either because of security requirements or simply because they perform better and cost less on-premise.
• Large-scale data processing: When moving data out of the cloud could trigger high egress fees, it can be more cost-effective to run applications on-site.
• Predictability and control: Certain workloads require consistent performance and precise control over hardware. Real-time manufacturing systems, high-frequency trading platforms, or core database servers often perform best on dedicated, on-premise infrastructure.

Build a Cohesive Hybrid Architecture

The main challenge of a hybrid cloud is complexity. You’re managing two or more environments, and success depends on how well they integrate and are managed. That’s why reliable networking is essential, a secure, high-speed connection between your cloud and on-premise systems, often through a dedicated Direct Connect or ExpressRoute link.

Unified management is just as important. Use tools that provide a single dashboard to track costs, performance, and security across all environments. Containerization, using platforms like Kubernetes, can also help by allowing applications packaged in containers to run smoothly in either location.

Implement Your Hybrid Strategy

Start by auditing your applications and categorizing them. Which ones are truly cloud-native and scalable? Which are stable, legacy, or sensitive to latency? Mapping your applications this way will highlight the best candidates for a hybrid approach.

Begin with a non-critical, high-impact pilot. A common example is using the cloud for disaster recovery backups of your on-premise servers. This tests your connectivity and management setup without putting core operations at risk. From there, migrate or extend workloads strategically, one at a time.

The Path to a Future-Proof IT Architecture

Adopting a hybrid mindset creates a future-proof IT architecture. It reduces the risk of vendor lock-in, preserves capital, and provides a built-in safety net. The cloud landscape will keep evolving, and a hybrid foundation lets you adopt new services without a full rip-and-replace. It also allows you to move workloads back on-premise if that makes sense for your business.

The goal for 2026 is intelligent placement, not blind migration. Your infrastructure should be as dynamic and strategic as your business plan, and a blended approach gives you the flexibility to make that happen.

Reach out today for help mapping your applications and designing the hybrid cloud model that best fits your business goals.

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When you first move your data and computing resources to the cloud, the bills often seem manageable. But as your business grows, a worrying trend can appear. Your cloud expenses start climbing faster than your revenue. This is not just normal growth, it is a phenomenon called cloud waste, the hidden drain on your budget hiding in your monthly cloud invoice.

Cloud waste happens when you spend money on resources that do not add value to your business. Examples include underused servers, storage for completed or abandoned projects, and development or testing environments left active over the weekend. It is like keeping every piece of equipment in your factory running all the time, even when it is not needed.

The cloud makes it easy to spin up resources on demand, but the same flexibility can make it easy to forget to turn them off. Most providers use a pay-as-you-go model, so the billing meter is always running. Controlling cloud waste is not just about saving money. Every dollar you save can be reinvested in innovation, stronger security, or your team.

The Hidden Sources of Your Leaking Budget

Cloud waste can be surprisingly easy to overlook. A common example is over-provisioning. You launch a virtual server for a project, thinking you might need a larger instance just to be safe, and then forget to scale it down. That server keeps running and billing you every hour, month after month.

Orphaned resources are another common drain, especially in companies with many projects or large teams. When a project ends, do you remember to delete the storage disks, load balancers, or IP addresses that were used? Often, they stay active indefinitely. Idle resources, like databases or containers that are set up but rarely accessed, quietly add up over time.

According to a 2025 report by VMWare that drew responses from over 1,800 global IT leaders, about 49% of the respondents believe that more than 25% of their public cloud expenditure is wasted, while 31% believe that waste exceeds 50%. Only 6% of the respondents believe they are not wasting any cloud spend. 

The FinOps Mindset: Your Financial Control Panel

Fixing this level of cloud waste requires more than a one-time audit. It requires a cultural shift known as FinOps, i.e., the practice of bringing financial accountability to the variable spend model of the cloud. It is a collaborative effort where finance, technology, and business teams work together to make data-driven spending decisions.

A FinOps strategy turns cloud cost from a static IT expense into a dynamic, managed business variable. The goal is not to minimize cost at all costs, but to maximize business value from every cloud dollar spent.

Gaining Visibility: The Non-Negotiable First Step

You can’t manage what you don’t measure, so start with the native tools your cloud provider offers. Explore their cost management consoles and take these steps to create accountability and track what’s driving expenses:

• Use tagging consistently to make filtering, organizing, and tracking costs easier.
• Assign every resource to a project, department, and owner.
• Consider third-party cloud cost optimization tools for deeper insights. They can automatically spot waste, recommend right-sizing actions, and consolidate data into a single dashboard if you’re using multiple cloud providers.

Implementing Practical Optimization Tactics

Once you have visibility, you can act, and the easiest place to start is with the low-hanging fruit. For example:

• Automatically schedule non-production environments like development and testing to turn off during nights and weekends.
• Implement storage lifecycle policies to move old data to lower-cost archival tiers or delete it after a set period.
• Adjust the size of your servers by checking how much they are actually used. If the CPU is used less than 20% of the time, the server is larger than necessary, replace it with a smaller, more affordable option.

Leveraging Commitments for Strategic Savings

Cloud providers offer substantial discounts, like AWS Savings Plans or Azure Reserved Instances, when you commit to using a consistent level of resources for one to three years. For predictable workloads, these commitments are the most effective way to reduce unnecessary spending at full list price.

The key is to make these purchases after you have right-sized your environment. Committing to an oversized instance just locks in waste. Optimize first, then commit.

Making Optimization a Continuous Cycle

Managing cloud costs is not a one-time project, it’s an ongoing cycle of learning, optimizing, and operating. Set up regular check-ins, monthly or quarterly, where stakeholders review cloud spending against budgets and business goals.

Give your teams access to their own cost data. When developers can see the real-time impact of their architectural decisions, they become strong partners in reducing waste.

Scale Smarter, Not Just Bigger

The cloud offers elastic efficiency, but managing waste ensures you capture that benefit fully. It frees up capital to invest in your real business goals instead of letting it disappear into unnecessary cloud spend.

As you plan for growth in 2026, make cost intelligence a core part of your strategy. Use data to guide provisioning decisions and set up automated controls to prevent waste before it starts.

Reach out today for a cloud waste assessment, and we’ll help you build a sustainable FinOps practice.

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Time moves fast in the world of technology, and operating systems that once felt cutting-edge are becoming obsolete. With Microsoft having set the deadline for Windows Server 2016 End of Support to January 12, 2027, the clock is ticking for businesses that use this operating system. 

Once support ends, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or patches, leaving your business systems vulnerable. It’s not just about missing new features, continuing to use unsupported software significantly increases the risk of cyberattacks.

If your systems are still on Windows Server 2016, now is the time to plan your upgrade. With about a year until support ends, waiting until the last minute can lead to rushed decisions and higher costs. 

Understanding the Security Implications

When support ends, the protection provided by security updates and patches disappears, as Microsoft will no longer fix bugs or vulnerabilities. Hackers often target unsupported systems, knowing any new exploits will go unpatched and open the door to attacks.

Legacy systems put IT administrators in a tough spot. Without vendor support, defending against threats becomes nearly impossible, compliance with industry regulations is compromised, and running unsupported software can lead to failed audits.

Additionally, customer data on servers running this operating system is vulnerable to theft and ransomware. The cost of a breach far outweighs the cost of upgrading. Using unsupported systems is like driving a faulty, uninsured car, failure is inevitable. The question isn’t if it will happen, but when.

The Case for Cloud Migration 

With the end-of-support deadline approaching, businesses face a choice: purchase new physical servers that run the latest Windows Server editions, or migrate their infrastructure to the cloud. Investing in new hardware and software comes with substantial upfront costs and locks you into that capacity for five years, the typical span of mainstream support for Windows Server, plus an additional five years for Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) releases.

On the other hand, a cloud migration strategy offers a more flexible alternative. Platforms such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon’s AWS cloud services, allow you to select virtualized computing resources such as servers and storage, which can scale as needed. On these platforms, you only pay for what you use, transforming your IT spending from capital expenditure to operating expense.   

The cloud provides greater reliability and disaster recovery, eliminating concerns about hard drive failures in your server rack. Cloud providers handle the management and upgrades of the physical infrastructure, freeing your IT team to focus on driving business growth. 

Analyze Your Current Workloads

Before moving to the cloud, it’s essential to know what you’re working with. Take inventory of all applications running on your Windows Server 2016 machines. While some are cloud-ready, others may need updates or reconfiguration.

Identify which workloads are critical to your daily operations and prioritize them in your migration plan. You may also discover applications you no longer need, making this an ideal time to streamline and clean up your environment.

When in doubt, consult with your software vendors to confirm compatibility, as they might have specific requirements for newer operating systems. Gathering this information early helps you to avoid surprises during the actual migration.

Create a Phased Migration Plan

When transitioning to a new system, moving everything at once is risky, ‘big bang’ migrations often cause downtime and confusion. The best approach is a phased migration to manage risk effectively. Begin with low-impact workloads to test the process, then proceed to medium and high-impact workloads once you’re confident everything runs smoothly.

Set a realistic timeline that beats the server upgrade deadline by a significant margin, and then work backward from the end-of-support date. This approach allows for plenty of buffer time for testing and troubleshooting, since rushing migrations often results in mistakes and security gaps. 

Communicate the schedule to your staff clearly, they need to know when maintenance windows will occur, so that they can also manage their workflows effectively. Managing expectations is just as important as managing servers, and you don’t want to get in your own way. A smooth transition requires everyone to be informed and on the same page.

Test and Validate

Once you migrate a workload, it’s essential to verify that it functions as expected. Key questions to ask include: Does the application launch correctly? Can users access their data without permission errors? Testing is the most critical phase of any migration.

After migration, run extensive performance benchmarks to compare the new system with the old one. The cloud should offer equal or better speed, and if things are slow, you might need to adjust resources. Optimization will be a normal part of the migration process, until you find the perfect balance that works for you. 

The summarized steps for a successful migration include: 

• Audit all current hardware and software assets
• Choose between an on-premise upgrade or a cloud migration
• Back up all data securely before making changes
• Test applications thoroughly in the new environment
• Do not declare victory until users confirm everything is working

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Ignoring the end of support deadline is not a viable strategy. Some businesses hope to delay until the last minute and then rush a migration, but this is extremely risky. Cybercriminals constantly target outdated, vulnerable systems, often using automated bots to scan for weaknesses.

If you continue using Windows Server 2016 past the extended support dates, you may need to purchase ‘Extended Security Updates.’ While Microsoft offers this service, it is extremely costly, and the price rises each year, making it more a penalty for delay than a sustainable long-term solution.

Act Now to Modernize Your Infrastructure 

If your business still relies on Windows Server 2016, the end of support marks a pivotal moment for your IT strategy, upgrading your technology stack is no longer optional. Whether you choose new hardware or a cloud solution, decisive action is required.

Take this opportunity to enhance your legacy system’s security and efficiency, ensuring your modern business runs on a modern infrastructure. Don’t let time compromise your data’s safety, plan your migration today and safeguard your future.

Concerned about the approaching Windows Server 2016 end-of-support deadline? We specialize in smooth migrations to the cloud and modern server environments. Let us take care of the technical heavy lifting, contact us today to begin your upgrade plan.

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Moving to the cloud offers incredible flexibility and speed, but it also introduces new responsibilities for your team. Cloud security is not a “set it and forget it” type task, small mistakes can quickly become serious vulnerabilities if ignored.

You don’t need to dedicate hours each day to this. In most cases, a consistent, brief review is enough to catch issues before they escalate. Establishing a routine is the most effective way to defend against cyber threats, keeping your environment organized and secure.

Think of a daily cloud security check as a morning hygiene routine for your infrastructure. Just fifteen minutes a day can help prevent major disasters. A proactive approach is essential for modern business continuity and should include the following best practices:

1. Review Identity and Access Logs

The first step in your routine involves looking at who logged in and verifying that all access attempts are legitimate. Look for logins from unusual locations or at strange times since these are often the first signs of a compromised account.

Pay attention to failed login attempts as well, since a spike in failures might indicate a brute-force or dictionary attack. Investigate these anomalies immediately, as swift action stops intruders from gaining a foothold.

Finally, effective cloud access management depends on careful oversight of user identities. Make sure former employees no longer have active accounts by promptly removing access for anyone who has left. Maintaining a clean user list is a core security practice.

2. Check for Storage Permissions

Data leaks often happen because someone accidentally exposes a folder or file. Weak file-sharing permissions make it easy to click the wrong button and make a file public. Review the permission settings on your storage buckets daily, and ensure that your private data remains private.

Look for any storage containers that have “public” access enabled. If a file does not need to be public, lock it down. This simple scan prevents sensitive customer information from leaking and protects both your reputation and legal standing.

Misconfigured cloud settings remain a top cause of data breaches. While vendors offer tools to automatically scan for open permissions, an extra manual review by skilled cloud administrators is advisable to stay fully aware of your data environment.

3. Monitor for Unusual Resource Spikes

Sudden changes in usage can indicate a security issue. A compromised server might be used for cryptocurrency mining or as part of a botnet network attacking other cloud or internet systems. One common warning sign is CPU usage hitting 100%, often followed by unexpected spikes in your cloud bill.

Check your cloud dashboard for any unexpected spikes in computing power and compare each day’s metrics with your average baseline. If something looks off, investigate the specific instance or container, and track the root cause since it could mean bigger problems. Resource spikes can also indicate a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. Identifying a DDOS attack early allows you to mitigate the traffic and helps you keep your services online for your customers. 

4. Examine Security Alerts and Notifications

Your cloud provider likely sends security notifications, but many administrators ignore them or let them end up in spam. Make it a point to review these alerts daily, as they often contain critical information about vulnerabilities.

These alerts can notify you about outdated operating systems or databases that aren’t encrypted. Addressing them promptly helps prevent data leaks, as ignoring them leaves vulnerabilities open to attackers. Make the following maintenance and security checks part of your daily routine:

• Review high-priority alerts in your cloud security center
• Check for any new compliance violations
• Verify that all backup jobs have completed successfully.
• Confirm that antivirus definitions are up to date on servers

Addressing these notifications not only strengthens your security posture but also shows due diligence in safeguarding company assets.

5. Verify Backup Integrity

Backups are your safety net when things go wrong, but they’re only useful if they’re complete and intact. Check the status of your overnight backup jobs every morning. A green checkmark gives peace of mind, but if a job fails, restart it immediately rather than waiting for the next scheduled run. Losing a day of data can be costly, so maintaining consistent backups is key to business resilience.

Once in a while, test a backup restoration to ensure that it works and restores as required, and always ensure to check the logs daily. Knowing your data is safe allows you to focus on other tasks since it eliminates the fear of ransomware and other malware disrupting your business.

6. Keep Software Patched and Updated

Cloud servers require updates just like physical ones, so your daily check should include a review of patch management status. Make sure automated patching schedules are running correctly, as unpatched servers are prime targets for attackers.

Since new vulnerabilities are discovered daily by both researchers and attackers, minimizing the window of opportunity is critical. Applying security updates is essential to keeping your infrastructure secure. When a critical patch is released, address it immediately rather than waiting for the standard maintenance window, being agile with patching can prevent serious problems down the line.

Build a Habit for Safety

Security does not require heroic efforts every single day. It requires consistency, attention to detail, and a solid routine. The daily 15-minute cloud security check is a small investment with a massive return, since it keeps your data safe and your systems running smoothly.

Spending just fifteen minutes a day shifts your approach from reactive to proactive, significantly reducing risk. This not only strengthens confidence in your IT operations but also simplifies cloud maintenance.

Need help establishing a strong cloud security routine? Our managed cloud services handle the heavy lifting, monitoring your systems 24/7 so you don’t have to. Contact us today to protect your cloud infrastructure.

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This Article has been Republished with Permission from The Technology Press.

The cloud makes it easy to create virtual machines, databases, and storage accounts with just a few clicks. The problem is, these resources are often left running long after they’re needed. This “cloud sprawl,” the unmanaged growth of cloud resources, can quietly drain your budget every month. According to Hashi Corp’s State of Cloud Strategy Survey 2024, the top reasons for this waste are lack of skills, idle or underused resources, and overprovisioning, which together drive up costs for businesses of all sizes.

Why Should I Care About Cloud Resources?

The business benefit is tangible and dramatic. While organizations struggle with cloud budgets exceeding limits by an estimated 17%, automation offers a clear path to control. 

For example, a VLink saved a significant amount of money on its non-production cloud spend by implementing a rigorous cloud shutdown automation policy. This policy automatically powered down all development and test environments that were not explicitly tagged as ‘Production’ outside of normal business hours (8 AM to 6 PM). The savings from just this single automated action accounted for 40% off their non-production cloud spend, freeing up that budget for new growth initiatives.

3 Power Automate Workflows

Finding these unused cloud resources feels like hunting for ghosts. But what if you could automate the hunt? Microsoft Power Automate is a powerful tool for this exact task. Let’s look at three straightforward workflows to identify and terminate waste automatically.

1. Automate the Shutdown of Development VMs

Development and test environments are the worst offenders for cloud waste. A team needs a virtual machine for a short-term project. The project ends, but the VM continues to run, costing money. You can build a workflow that stops this waste. Create a Power Automate flow that triggers daily and queries Azure for all virtual machines with a specific tag, like “Environment: Dev.”

The flow then checks the machine’s performance metrics. If the CPU utilization has been below 5% for the last 72 hours, it executes a command to shut down the VM. This simple Azure automation does not delete anything, it simply turns off the power, slashing costs immediately. Your developers can still start it if needed, but you are no longer paying for idle time.

2. Identify and Report Orphaned Storage Disks

When you delete an Azure virtual machine, you are often given an option to delete its associated storage disk. This step is frequently missed, and the orphaned disks continue to incur storage charges month after month. You can create a flow to find them. 

Build a Power Automate schedule that runs weekly. The flow will list all unattached managed disks in your subscription and will then compose a detailed email report that lists the disk names, their sizes, and the estimated monthly cost. The report acts as a clear, actionable list that could be used for cleanup purposes, and you can send it using the “Send an email” action to your IT manager or finance team for further evaluation on whether to keep or delete the disks.

3. Terminate Expired Temporary Resources

Some business projects require temporary cloud resources, like a blob storage container for a file transfer or a temporary database for data analysis. Since these resources have a finite lifespan, you need to directly integrate build expiration dates into your deployment process. For this, you can use a Power Automate flow that is triggered by a custom date field. This means that whenever you create a temporary resource, you add a descriptive tag such as “Deletion Date.” 

After implementing this best practice, i.e., adding descriptive tags to cloud resources, set the flow to run daily and check for all resources that bear the “Deletion Date” tag. For each resource the flow finds, it should check whether the current date matches or is later than the “Deletion Date” property. If this condition is met, the flow deletes the resource automatically. This hands-off cleanup ensures that temporary items do not become permanent expenses. This approach not only eliminates the risk of human oversight but also uses automation to enforce financial discipline.

Troubleshoot Your Automated Workflows

Using Power Automate to build these workflows is a great start, but you also need to implement them safely. Automations that delete resources are powerful and need controls in place. To be safe, always launch these flows in report-only mode, which lets you test and simulate automations without enforcing them. For example, you can modify the “Terminate Expired Temporary Resources” flow to send an email alert instead of deleting resources for the first couple of weeks as you observe. This helps validate whether your flow logic is sound and gives you an opportunity to fix errors and oversights.

You can also consider adding a manual approval requirement for certain high-risk actions, such as the deletion of very large storage disks. This ensures that your automations work to your benefit and not against you. 

Take Control of Your Cloud Spend

These three Power Automate workflows are a good starting point for businesses using Microsoft Azure. They help you shift from a reactive to a proactive position, ensuring you only pay for the resources you actively use.

Stop overspending on idle cloud resources. To take control of your cloud environment and start saving, contact us today to implement these Power Automate workflows and optimize your Azure spend.

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This Article has been Republished with Permission from The Technology Press.

The mass migration to cloud-based environments continues as organizations realize the inherent benefits. Cloud solutions are the technology darlings of today’s digital landscape. They offer a perfect marriage of innovative technology and organizational needs. However, it also raises significant compliance concerns for organizations. Compliance involves a complex combination of legal and technical requirements. Organizations that fail to meet these standards can face significant fines and increased regulatory scrutiny. With data privacy mandates such as HIPAA and PCI DSS in effect, businesses must carefully navigate an increasingly intricate compliance landscape.

Cloud Compliance

This is the process of adhering to laws and standards governing data protection, security, and privacy. This is not optional. Unlike traditional on-site systems, cloud environments present security issues due to geographic data distribution, making compliance more complex.

Compliance in the cloud typically involves:

• Securing data at rest and in transit
• Ensuring data residency
• Maintaining access controls and audit trails
• Demonstrating adherence to regular assessments

Shared Responsibility Model

One of the core concepts of cloud compliance is the Shared Responsibility Model. This outlines the compliance division between the cloud provider and the customer. 

• Cloud Service Provider (CSP): They are responsible for cloud services and securing the infrastructure and network.
• Customer: They are responsible for securing access management, user configurations, and data.

Many organizations mistakenly believe that hiring a cloud service provider transfers compliance responsibility; this is not the case.

Compliance Regulations

Compliance varies from country to country. It is important to know where data resides and through which countries it passes to remain compliant.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – EU

Globally speaking, GDPR is one of the most comprehensive privacy laws. It applies to any organization processing EU citizens’ personal data, regardless of where the company is physically doing business.

Cloud-specific considerations:

• Ensuring data is stored in EU-compliant regions
• Enabling data subject rights 
• Implementing strong encryption
• Maintaining breach notification protocols

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) – US

HIPAA protects sensitive patient data in the United States. Cloud-based systems storing or transmitting this sensitive information (ePHI) have to abide by HIPAA standards.

Considerations for cloud storage:

• Using HIPAA-compliant cloud providers
• Signing Business Associate Agreements (BAAs)
• Encrypting ePHI in storage and transmission
• Implementing strict access logs and audit trails

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

For those organizations that process, store, or transmit credit card information, there is a set of compliance regulations they need to abide by. Cloud hosts must uphold the 12 core PCI DSS requirements.

Cloud-specific considerations:

• Tokenization and encryption of payment data
• Network segmentation in cloud environments
• Regular vulnerability scans and penetration testing

Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) – US

Providing a standardized set of protocols for federal agencies operating on cloud-based systems, providers are required to complete a rigorous assessment process.

Considerations:

• Mandatory for vendors working with U.S. government agencies
• Strict data handling, encryption, and physical security protocols

ISO/IEC 27001

This is an international standard for Information Security Management Systems (ISMS). It is widely recognized as the benchmark for cloud compliance. 

Cloud considerations:

• Regular risk assessments
• Documented policies and procedures
• Comprehensive access control and incident response protocols

Maintaining Cloud Compliance

It is vital that organizations realize that cloud compliance is not merely checking items off a list. It requires thoughtful consideration and a great deal of planning. Operating from a proactive stance, the following are considered best practices to follow:

Audits

Compliance audits are an excellent way to determine and maintain compliance. Shortcomings are easily recognized and addressed to keep your infrastructure in compliance.

Robust Access Controls

By using the principle of least privilege (PoLP), organizations provide users with only enough access to reach the resources they need. Integrating multi-factor authentication (MFA) provides another layer of security and insulates your organizational data. 

Data Encryption

Whether at rest or in transit, all data must use TLS and AES-256 protocols. These are industry standards and necessary for your organization to remain compliant.

Comprehensive Monitoring

Audit logs and real-time monitoring provide alerts to aid in compliance adherence and response.

Ensure Data Residency

No matter where your data is physically stored, there are jurisdictional requirements that need to be addressed. Ensure that your data center complies with any associated laws for the region.

Train Employees

Regardless of how robust your organization’s security is, all it takes is a single click by a single user to create a ripple effect across your digital landscape. Providing proper training can help users adopt use policies that can help protect your digital assets and remain compliant.

The State of Compliance

As your organization grows and adopts cloud-based systems, the need to maintain compliance responsibly becomes increasingly important. If you’re ready to strengthen your cloud compliance, contact us for expert guidance and resources. Gain actionable insights from seasoned IT professionals who help businesses navigate compliance challenges, reduce risk, and succeed in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

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This Article has been Republished with Permission from The Technology Press.