What Are Cloud Security Threats?

IT professionals often discuss cloud security in terms of threats, vulnerabilities, and challenges. While these terms for cloud security risks are often used interchangeably, they are actually three distinct concepts:

• Cloud security threats are potential dangers or risks to cloud environments, usually initiated by malicious actors or external forces. Cyberattacks, malware, phishing, and insider threats are the most common examples.
• Cloud security vulnerabilities are weaknesses or flaws in cloud systems, applications, processes, or configurations that can be exploited by threat actors. These include weak mechanisms for authenticating users; misconfiguration of security apparatus, and software that hasn’t been updated to eliminate security issues.
• Cloud security challenges are the difficulties and complexities that organizations face when maintaining a strong security posture in cloud environments. These include things like skill shortages, complex multicloud environments, and staying ahead of an evolving threat landscape.

While cloud security threats are constantly changing and becoming more sophisticated, most threats fall into one of several categories.

• Data breaches are events where hackers gain unauthorized access to sensitive data stored in the cloud. This includes information like credit card numbers, customer data, personally identifiable information, account details, business plans, financial records, and intellectual property. Data breaches are often caused by weak access controls, vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure, or social engineering attacks that target the employees of cloud service providers (CSPs). Breaches can result in significant financial damage, loss of reputation, and legal consequences.
• Malware is malicious software that’s designed to infiltrate and infect cloud workloads to compromise the integrity of data and the availability of apps, services, and workloads. Malware typically spreads through infected files or compromised applications, and it allows attackers to disrupt services, steal data, or create backdoors into an IT environment for future attacks. Malware can propagate quickly across shared resources to infect multiple users and services.
• Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts data within an IT environment, including on cloud servers. Ransomware renders files and data inaccessible until a ransom is paid to the attackers. Because attackers often target critical data and services, ransomware can cause significant operational disruptions and financial losses.
• Phishing attacks rely on deception to trick users into divulging sensitive information like login credentials or credit card numbers. By creating malicious websites that appear to be legitimate or by sending emails that seem to come from a trusted source, attackers are frequently able to get information that allows them to access cloud accounts and data. This allows them to perform a variety of malicious actions within the cloud environment.
• Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks are designed to overwhelm cloud services by flooding them with excessive traffic, rendering them unavailable to legitimate users. DoS attacks can result in significant downtime and loss of revenue. Because they may be executed using a variety of techniques, these attacks can be more difficult to spot and mitigate.
• Insider threats occur when someone with access to cloud resources misuses their privileges to steal data or cause harm. These threats may be malicious insiders, as when a disgruntled employee steals confidential information or allows a cyberattack to be launched from within the cloud environment. They may also be accidental, as when users inadvertently expose sensitive data to the public.
• Advanced persistent threats (APTs) are prolonged and targeted cyberattacks. In an APT, attackers gain access to a targeted cloud environment and remain there undetected for as long as possible, during which time they may exfiltrate large amounts of data and severely compromise the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of data, applications, and workloads.
• Account hijacking is when attackers gain unauthorized access to cloud accounts, typically through stolen credentials or by exploiting vulnerabilities. Once attackers have control of an account, they can use it to manipulate data, disrupt services, or conduct additional attacks.

There are several flaws and weaknesses within cloud environments that may be exploited by attackers.

• Misconfiguration: When security settings for cloud services aren’t properly configured, it leaves cloud environments and systems exposed to potential attacks. Misconfiguration may be the result of human error or an inadequate understanding of cloud security best practices.
• Unpatched software: Outdated software often contains vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers to gain unauthorized access to cloud environments or to disrupt services. Regularly updating software and following best practices for patch management are critical tasks in maintaining a strong security posture.
• Weak authentication: Authentication mechanisms are critical to ensuring that only authorized users have access to cloud environments. Weak passwords, lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA), and overly permissive access policies can leave cloud environments vulnerable to unauthorized access by attackers.
• Insecure APIs: Application programming interfaces (APIs) enable a variety of applications and systems to interact with cloud services. When APIs are not properly secured, monitored, and updated, attackers may exploit vulnerabilities within APIs to gain unauthorized access to cloud resources, cloud applications, or sensitive data.
• Insufficient encryption: Encryption protects data in transit and data at rest from unauthorized access. When IT teams fail to encrypt data or when weak encryption practices are used, it may allow sensitive information to be intercepted and accessed by attackers.

IT and cybersecurity teams face a variety of hurdles when it comes to maintaining a strong security posture and mitigating cloud security issues.

• The complexity of multicloud environments: Today’s IT infrastructure is often a hybrid mix of multicloud environments, private cloud solutions, and on-premises technology. Ensuring consistent security controls across multiple cloud service providers like Akamai, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud can be complex. Security teams must have knowledge of each provider’s unique security settings and best practices to maintain a unified security posture.
• The pace of cloud innovation: As cloud service providers continue to introduce new services and functionality, security teams must continuously deploy ‌new protections for these new technologies.
• Integration issues: Integrating a cloud security platform with existing IT stacks, workflows, and other cloud services is a challenging and time-consuming proposition. Custom solutions and additional configurations are often required when compatibility issues arise.
• Skills shortages: Many IT teams have difficulty finding and retaining the skilled professionals required to implement and manage cloud security measures. The rapidly evolving nature of cloud technologies and cloud security threats has led to a constant demand for IT specialists with up-to-date skills and knowledge.
• Maintaining compliance: Maintaining compliance with evolving regulatory requirements can be extremely difficult in cloud ecosystems. Cloud environments are inherently dynamic, challenging teams seeking to comply with industry standards and government regulations concerning the collection, use, privacy, and sovereignty of data.
• Balancing security with customer experiences in employee productivity: When implementing robust security measures, IT teams must take great care to avoid security measures that introduce latency or that limit the flexibility of cloud computing infrastructure for customers and users.

Security teams can employ multiple layers of defense and take several steps to mitigate cloud security threats.

• Implement strong access controls: Identity and access management (IAM) solutions prevent unauthorized access to cloud resources by ensuring that only authorized entities can access sensitive data. IAM security tools also practice the principle of least privilege, ensuring that users have only the minimum permissions they need at any given moment, preventing misuse or escalation of privileges.
• Deploy multi-factor authentication (MFA): By requiring users to provide multiple forms of verification, MFA solutions add an extra layer of protection against cloud security threats. MFA solutions help protect against account hijacking and unauthorized access, even when passwords have been compromised.
• Perform regular security audits and assessments: Regularly auditing security settings and conducting vulnerability assessments can help identify and address potential security concerns. Audits also ensure compliance with security best practices and help promote a strong security posture.
• Implement real-time monitoring and incident response: By continuously monitoring cloud environments, security teams can detect incidents at the moment they occur, allowing for faster response and mitigation.
• Adopt Zero Trust security solutions: The Zero Trust approach to security requires entities to be continuously authenticated and authorized, ensuring that no user or device is trusted by default. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access and lateral movement within a network.
• Automate security processes: Automation reduces the likelihood of human error such as misconfiguration. It also enables faster response times to security incidents.
• Put robust data protection measures in place: Strong encryption for data in transit and at rest helps protect sensitive information from unauthorized access and eavesdropping. Data loss prevention (DLP) tools help establish clear data classification and data security handling policies.