Your data might be under attack. Right now. "Surely not," you say? Think again.

For organizations that use in-house data centers and IT services, the task of protecting sensitive data can be hindered by the difficulty of detecting a breach. According to a recent article in InformationWeek, most businesses aren't aware they've been compromised until well after the fact. About 10 percent of the time, they will be notified by law enforcement that there's been a breach, but more often than not, businesses are actually alerted to the fact that they've been hacked because the cybercriminal who did it brags about it to them, the article said.

And if you think this kind of security breach only happens at giant companies, or to C-suite executives, you're in for a surprise. InformationWeek also pointed out that literally anyone can be a target, and hackers sometimes target smaller companies because they're not as well protected.

"Most cybercriminals just aren't all that selective," the article said. "True, banks handle lots of transactions, but any company with money is a good target, and a company that sells snack foods or construction equipment may have far fewer defenses."

Whether you're a snack food seller or a financial services provider, you're going to need to find somewhere safe to store your data. Recently, consulting firm TheInfoPro found that 60 percent of large and midsize companies are shifting their data storage to the cloud, and while many executives are worried about the security of these solutions, cloud providers are often better guarded against threats than in-house data centers.

So what are some of the important things to look for in a cloud services provider? According to French Caldwell, a vice president with research firm Gartner, checking their level of security is paramount.

"If there is a breach, can they respond quickly to remedy the problem?" he asked in a recent TechTarget article. "Do they have the appropriate notifications in place? Will the vendor take liability - will they be liable for the cost of reputational damage?"

He went on to point out that cloud-based data management providers with strong encryption practices can provide an added layer of protection against cyberattacks, since any information stolen by hackers would be unusable.

It's important to remember that even if your data is hosted by a third party, your organization is still ultimately responsible for it. Although it is essential to thoroughly research your service providers to ensure they're following best practices, encrypting sensitive data before migrating it to the cloud is the only way to fully protect it. When you utilize data-centric encryption solutions, make sure that you hold the keys so that no one else can access important information.