5 Cloud Security Threats That You Need to Be Aware Of

Data and applications are being moved to the cloud more often than ever. This creates unique Infosecurity challenges that every company and individual should be aware of.

In fact, the cloud marketing market experienced a 6.3% increase from 2019 to 2020 and is expecting to reach the value of $257.9 billion. Growth is projected to increase steadily.

Cloud computing is changing the way data is used, stored, and shared. With new processes in place and changes occurring rapidly in applications, man organizations are falling behind in cloud security.

Here are the top cloud security threats so you can educate yourself and keep your data as safe as possible.

Data Breaches

One of the top security threats associated with cloud computing is a data breach. Over 3,800 data breaches happened in the first half of 2019 alone.

Small and medium organizations suffer the most from data breaches because they don’t have the same quality of protection. They’re easy targets for people looking to steal, expose and sell data.

This threat can do serious damage to reputation and finances. it also results in the loss of intellectual property and results in serious legal liabilities.

Misconfiguration

Misconfiguration of cloud security settings is the top reason for data breaches. The way you set up your cloud can have serious consequences for security.

Cloud data is designed to be easy to access and share. This makes it difficult for organizations to protect it well from being breached. Organizations also don’t always have full visibility and control over their cloud settings. They rely on external parties to configure and secure their data.

It’s pretty easy for a misconfiguration or an oversight to results in a breach.

Account Hijacking

Account hijacking is when the login credentials are stolen from an employee. A hijacker can steal login information in various ways:

• Phishing: Stealing information or hijacking a session ID.
• Keyloggers: recording the keystrokes of users to find passwords.
• XSS attacks: using malicious scripts of code to get access.
• Brute force: guessing the password.

Even large companies like PayPal have experienced issues with account hijacking. Change passwords regularly and stay vigilent.

Insecure APIs

Application User Interfaces (APIs) are a method to ease actions in cloud computing. For example, an API can connect two different applications in a company and make it easy to share information between the two.

APIs are efficient but also come with security issues. Attackers could exploit the API and easily access data. They can also avoid detection using specific sophisticated measures.

Malicious Insiders

Even if you configured your cloud settings and optimized your infrastructure, you still have the threat of malicious insiders. These include employees, contractors, business partners, or enemies.

These attacks do not need to be malicious. They could also be caused by negligence. It helps to limit critical information to only a select few in the organization to avoid theft or mistakes.

If you want to learn more about cloud computing threats, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) released a report on the top 11 security threats and solutions in cloud computing in 2019.

Protect Yourself Against Cloud Security Threats

Cloud computing is an incredibly effective tool. For example, Amazon S3 is a powerful data storage that optimizes your data management (learn more here). But it’s essential to configure and manage your cloud environment to avoid cloud security threats.

That’s why developing a strong cybersecurity strategy for this upcoming year should be a priority.

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