Security breaches, malware, viruses—these are all common occurrences in today’s business environment. Data security a is serious matter. Exposure can have devastating consequences, both operationally and financially. Public health and safety can also be adversely affected by cyber security threats.

Most companies feel secure hosting their own systems on local, premises-based servers. The idea of cloud hosting still raises questions and concerns, especially in the area of data security. Despite these misgivings, large corporations, utilities, and even government agencies rely on the cloud to house their sensitive, mission-critical data.

Cloud-hosted LIMS use the following features to safeguard data:

• Encryption—encoding information in transit and at rest so that only authorized parties can access it.
• Redundancy—replicated systems to back up data for protection against natural disasters.
• Hardened facilities—protected, secure physical locations to safely house servers/hardware.
• Dual-factor authentication—an extra level of security beyond username and password to prevent unauthorized access to the database.
• Regular updates—out-of-date software can lead to vulnerability. Hosted LIMS feature frequent, automatic updates, many that target potential security threats.
• Monitoring, scans, penetration testing—regular activity to detect vulnerabilities, check for viruses.
• Backups—hosted LIMS are backed up regularly, enabling disaster recovery.
• Permissions settings/management—LIMS allows setting user access permissions to limit data and information access to authorized personnel.

Deploying your LIMS in the cloud brings extra layers of security to give you peace of mind. Proven systems, trained professionals, contingency plans, hardware and software protection, and monitoring all work together to keep your data safe, secure, and less likely to be subject to malicious activity.