Introduction
The idea that cloud security is a 50/50 split between provider and customer has become one of the most dangerous and widely misunderstood beliefs in IT. Cloud vendors market the “shared responsibility model” as a simple equation: they handle infrastructure; you handle everything else. But this division of labor is misleading and, in the event of a breach, devastating.
The Gartner Cloud Security Forecast 2024 reports that 94% of cloud security failures are the fault of the customer… not because businesses are careless, but because the cloud model is complex, ambiguous, and inconsistent.
Let’s break down what the shared responsibility model actually means and why EXIGENCY’s fully on-premise, self-hosted environments render it irrelevant.
Who Is Actually Responsible? (Spoiler: You Are)
When a cloud provider claims they handle “the infrastructure,” they mean the power, cooling, physical servers, and some platform-level maintenance. Everything else from user permissions, API keys, encryption, backups, firewall configurations, DNS routing, logging, and software stack; is your problem.
That means any mistake or oversight, no matter how small, becomes your legal and financial burden. Even the largest companies struggle to manage these layers. When they fail, they take the hit.
By contrast, EXIGENCY’s on-prem architecture allows you to:
- Fully control and audit every security layer
- Eliminate shared-access models
- Remove ambiguity in breach investigations
Case Studies of Responsibility Failure
Case 1: Misconfigured AWS S3 Buckets
A healthcare organization inadvertently exposed thousands of patient records due to an open S3 bucket. AWS was not liable. The breach triggered an OCR HIPAA fine and cost over $2M in lawsuits and remediation.
Case 2: Microsoft Power Platform Misconfigurations
In 2023, misconfigured Power Apps exposed 38M records, including personal data from COVID-19 tracing systems and job application portals. Microsoft again denied liability. Customers bore the brunt.
These examples show that “shared” doesn’t mean “equal.”
Disaster Recovery Is Still Your Responsibility
If your cloud-hosted database is encrypted incorrectly or deleted by mistake… don’t expect AWS or Azure to help you retrieve it. They’ll point you to documentation and logs, but actual assistance is outside SLA bounds.
EXIGENCY designs disaster recovery into the core of our solutions:
- Daily encrypted local backups
- Offline replication
- Immediate rollback of virtual machine snapshots
- Complete control of RTO and RPO
The Compliance Loophole
HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and SOC 2 may allow cloud hosting but they require that you validate and continuously monitor cloud security. A compliant snapshot at audit time is meaningless if a misconfigured port opens up days later.
On-prem systems pass audits because they’re secure by design, not by temporary configuration. Immutable logs, real-time alerts, and zero third-party access make compliance consistent and defensible.
Vendors Will Sell You Tools and Not Accountability
Cloud platforms sell additional security “solutions” like GuardDuty, Azure Sentinel, or GCP Security Command Center. But these are upsells and not guarantees. The tools are complicated, cost extra, and don’t eliminate the underlying risk that you’re still liable for missteps.
EXIGENCY eliminates that cost overhead by building security directly into your network design: role-based access control, encrypted traffic tunnels, local-only admin consoles, and quantum-resistant credentials.
FINAL THOUGHTS: REDUCE ACCESS. INCREASE CONTROL.
If you’re responsible for 94% of the risk, why should you rely on a shared infrastructure you can’t fully inspect, configure, or control?
EXIGENCY puts your infrastructure entirely within your grasp. No shared logins, no vendor ambiguity, no upstream failure cascades. Just complete ownership, end-to-end accountability, and peace of mind.
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