CSA STAR Certification was developed in conjunction with BSI to ensure cloud service providers are better able to maintain data confidentiality

iland, a global provider of secure and compliant Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS), and cloud backup services, has achieved the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) STAR Certification, becoming only the second public cloud service provider (CSP) to hold this gold rating.

CSA STAR Certification was developed in conjunction with BSI to ensure cloud service providers are better able to maintain data confidentiality, integrity and availability. It is a rigorous third-party independent security assessment of cloud service providers that is based on the requirements of the ISO/IEC 27001 management system standards for Risk and Security.

This criterion is used to measure the capability levels of the cloud service as well as the maturity level of the organisation’s processes.

The rising cyber-security threats from hackers, viruses and ransomware is forcing companies to ensure on-premises levels of security in the cloud. Businesses in highly regulated industries such as healthcare, legal and financial services must maintain compliance as they leverage the many benefits of cloud computing.

According to a 2016 Ponemon Institute study, 79 percent of healthcare organisations have been hit with two or more data breaches in the past two years.

iland has natively integrated advanced security features into its cloud platform, ensuring compliance with industry and governmental regulations including ISO 27001, SOC 2, ITIL, HIPAA/HITRUST, PCI-DSS, EU GDPR and now CSA STAR.

The iland Compliance Professional Services team works hand-in-hand with customers and channel partners to help address customer compliance demands.

“Many organisations are turning to the cloud as they struggle to keep up with the volume and complexity of cyber threats that they face on a daily basis," said Justin Giardina, CTO at iland.

"iland has built multi-layered proactive security services into our Secure Cloud platform that provide our customers with real-time threat mitigation, data protection, and replication services to ensure they are able to defend, respond and recover from security challenges. This latest security validation extends beyond our platform and speaks to our operational maturity as a cloud provider."

The CSA Gold Certification covers iland's Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) and cloud hosting (IaaS) solutions, along with the company’s cloud platform and organisational processes.