Cloud Computing Security Issues

Existing malware infections are among one of the many worries with unsecured personal device use. Outdated operating systems and other device software can easily be abused by malicious criminals. Other family member’s devices on an employee’s home network can be vectors for malware as well. CWPPs check for vulnerabilities in static code, perform system hardening, and identify workload misconfiguration, all of which can help to reduce security risk. Use cases can include system file integrity monitoring, application whitelisting, host-based firewalling, patching and configuration management, anti-malware scanning, and endpoint threat detection and response.

The phrase is used to refer to both negligent and malicious actions by employees that compromise an organization’s security. Unintentional threats can arise through anything from weak passwords to misconfigurations. While well-intentioned human error is likely the more common source of insider threats, there are still examples of employees making some shady choices. David Puzas is a proven cybersecurity, cloud and IT services marketer and business leader with over two decades of experience.

Evolving beyond legacy security solutions

From there, teams can reduce their cloud security risks, stay in compliance, and transition to a Zero Trust Network Access system that mitigates cloud computing threats. Threat actors often use cloud applications and environments as part of social engineering attacks. With the growing use of cloud-based email and document sharing services (such as G-Suite, Google Drive, Office 365, and OneDrive), it is easy for attackers to trick employees into granting access to sensitive data.

Data loss can occur due to various issues, including lost or damaged data, hardware issues, loss of access due to natural disasters, and malware attacks for which the cloud service provider is unprepared. Insiders such as employees and business partners have access to sensitive data. Therefore, it’s feasible that hackers will gain access to our private information or sensitive data if the security of a cloud service is breached. Incorrectly configured cloud security solutions settings frequently cause cloud data breaches.

Unsecured Interfaces or APIs

It’s a natural fear that the platforms we use might be able to access this data or it may somehow be exposed to the public in any way. These days, the cyber threats we face are becoming even more advanced, sometimes even past our species. Non-person identities can refer to anything from virtual machines to serverless functions to compute. Since 2007, IMI certifications help global members advance in their careers and gain the trust of the business communities they serve with their identity and access management skills.

CSPs provide you with well-documented application programming interfaces to increase flexibility for users. You might run into problems, however, if you don’t secure the interfaces for your cloud-based infrastructure. If you are not careful, attackers could use customer documentation to identify and exploit ways to steal confidential data from your cloud environment. Insider threats are most commonly known as those agents within an organization that may accidentally or intentionally exploit their position and authorization to allow third-party access into a network. The detection of a malicious insider in cloud-based software is even more difficult due to the lack of infrastructure control and heightened accessibility.

Cloud Security Risks and Solutions

We recommend adjusting them more towards stricter permissions to help “gate” against security threats. Phishing with malware payloads works by impersonating trusted parties and baiting victims into opening infected files or links. Employees can be targeted to infect enterprise cloud storage, databases, and other networked structures. Once infected, these types of malware can spread to cause all types of disruption, or more commonly, incur an organization-wide data breach. The new remote connectivity climate has left many organizations blind-sighted, with few or no remote-ready enterprise computers and phones to provide their employees.

• Offering ongoing training is the best way to prevent employees from falling victims to these scams and compromising your company’s sensitive data.
• Sanctioned app misuse is when apps approved by IT are not used as intended.
• Containers provide another example of the newer cloud security challenges that have no real parallel in legacy architectures.
• Many security threats exist here — for example, CSA cited poor API implementation by CSPs or improper cloud app use by customers.
• Terms laid down in contracts should take into account internal and external attacks as well as human mistakes.

To mitigate this risk, companies should always use authentication systems for all the sensitive data in the firm. With the cloud, however, it’s challenging to centralize that flow of information. Businesses have network resources scattered all over the place, and cloud applications get provisioned outside of an IT management team. The consequence is reduced visibility and auditing capabilities for the enterprise. CWPP is a workload-centric security product that protects workloads—applications or other resources—running on one or more virtual machines , containers, or serverless functions. The unique aspect of CWPP is that it sees and protects a workload as a single unit, even if it runs on multiple servers or cloud instances across multiple clouds or data centers.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

According to the 2020 Trustwave Global Security Report, the volume of attacks on cloud services more than doubled in 2019 and accounted for 20% of investigated incidents. The report goes on to show that although corporate and internal networks remain the most targeted domains – representing 54% of incidents – cloud environments are now the third most targeted environment for cyberattacks. Because cloud infrastructure is designed to be easily accessible and promote data sharing, it can be difficult for organizations to ensure their data is only being accessed by authorized users.