More businesses than ever have an online presence, they’ve moved their services to applications, and employ remote workers from all over the world.
That has been possible with cost-effective and scalable cloud computing technology.
For hackers, modern infrastructures have formed wider attack surfaces with more attack vectors than ever.
With high profile data breaches such as Optus headlining the news all too often and the identity fraud that follows, users are getting more concerned as to how to choose a suitable business solution that can guard their data and privacy better.
Protecting modern cloud-based architectures is a challenge due to frequent changes, growing complexity, and a higher number of hacking attempts.
This also means that any gaps in security can lead the threat actor into the heart of an organization. With access to the right user privileges, they can obtain sensitive data and lock it for ransom, leak it, or change it.
Any of these scenarios is a PR and cybersecurity nightmare for a company that is responsible for user data.
What are some major exploits and risks that can compromise sensitive information and how to aid companies in improving data security in the cloud?
Let’s find out.
Misconfigured Tools
According to Statista, companies have reported that they’ve experienced up to 10 cases of a misconfigured cloud on a daily basis. Mistakes in the configuration of cloud components create weaknesses that can be exploited by hackers.
As a result, cloud misconfiguration is considered to be a primary data security threat in the cloud.
Such errors are more frequent within complex multi-cloud infrastructures that use combined services of multiple cloud vendors.
Organizations don’t change the default settings, there is often an inconsistent configuration of versatile cloud components, and security teams might not know how to fix misconfiguration.
In most cases, the errors in configuration happen due to numerous APIs and interfaces used by an organization.
Businesses that lack adequate controls and teams of professionals with oversight are also more likely to have this major vulnerability.
Unsecured APIs
Essential for data transfer within the cloud, APIs can also be exploited by hackers and put information at risk.
Cybersecurity professionals have reported that this type of threat occurs within businesses at least once a month.
In the worst-case scenario, an unsecured API can lead to unauthorized access within the company’s systems and escalate further criminal activity such as data breaches and ransomware.
Converting data to endpoints paired with frequent changes in the access privileges and policies concerning the data can turn APIs into flaws.
Threat actors discover those connections exposed on the internet (that are meant for customers, remote workers, suppliers, etc.) and use them to enter the system or launch a cyber attack.
Social Engineering
According to research, almost 90% of data breaches are a result of successful phishing campaigns.
Whether it’s whaling, smishing, vishing, email phishing, or spear phishing, less obvious scams can trick even those that are familiar with most of these types of phishing.
Threat actors can obtain credentials that open doors to accounts, leading them straight to sensitive information or enable them to laterally move deeper into the organization.
In the last few years, ransomware cases have been on the rise as well. Hackers that deploy this file-encrypting malware often get access to the network after an employee clicks on a link in the body of an email or downloads an infected attachment.
Best Practices For Data Security in Cloud
Considering the mentioned challenges that endanger the data that is circulating and being stored within the cloud infrastructures, these are the top practices for securing information:
- Employee training on phishing awareness and setting up stronger passwords
- Management of the external and internal attack surface with AI-based tools
- Deploying tools that can identify and mitigate specific attacks (such as anti-phishing and anti-ransomware software)
- Proper data handling
- Further training for security teams
Many users are still reusing their passwords for multiple accounts as well as relying on easily hackable credentials. Basic employee training should create awareness of the common phishing attacks, but also teach how to replace a weak password.
Tools created for management of the security of cloud-based devices should be able to detect both internal threats and discover internet-facing threats, but also find leaked employee credentials on the web.
Traditional anti-malware, firewalls, and antivirus can’t detect zero-day exploits and sophisticated ransomware attacks. Therefore, it’s important to have a solution that can recognize the signs of this growing concern for companies.
Especially with sensitive information, it’s important to know who has the access to the information, create backups of the essential files, and be aware of where the data is at all times.
Further training and education for cybersecurity professionals are as essential as that of less tech-savvy employees — whether it’s focused on the configuration of versatile cloud components, social engineering, or mitigation of specific threats.
To Conclude
The bottom line is, threat actors are attempting to obtain user data and corporate intelligence for monetary gain — either to demand ransom or sell the information on the dark web.
They’ve been using both new advanced hacking methods to achieve that and well-known tactics. In this article, we mentioned only a few prevalent threats.
Many of the listed issues have been around since the dawn of the internet. Yet, human errors such as misconfigurations and falling for a phishing scam are not going anywhere anytime soon.
Available cybersecurity tools nowadays are mostly AI-based and can scan both the internal and external attack surface at all times as well as test the existing security against well-known hacking exploits.
Continual management of security with automated tools and setting up a good base of layered tools to protect the assets of an organization is important for regular cybersecurity hygiene and identifying threats early.
