Top 3 Cloud Computing Security Vulnerabilities

This blog will address the top 3 cloud computing

security vulnerabilities and how to protect against them.

1. Misconfigured Cloud Storage

Cloud storage is one of the wealthiest tech areas for criminals. Companies continue to make the mistake of failing to properly configure cloud storage, which ends up having a high cost. The security company Symantec reports that 70 million records were stolen in 2018, mainly due to cloud storage misconfiguration. This report also emphasized the various tools that allow cybercriminals to detect misconfigured cloud storage to target.

 One way to protect against this is by enforcing adequate restrictions to prevent unauthorized access to your cloud infrastructure. Without this, you can put your enterprise at risk. Insecure cloud storage buckets can result in a threat actor gaining access to data stored in the cloud and subsequently downloading confidential data. 

How to Prevent Misconfigured Cloud Storage:

It’s always a good idea to double-check cloud storage security configurations upon setting up a cloud server. While this may seem obvious, it can easily get overlooked by other activities such as moving data into the cloud without paying attention to its safety. You can also use specialized tools to check cloud storage security configurations. These cloud security tools can help you check the state of security configurations on a schedule and identify vulnerabilities before it’s too late, controling who can create and configure cloud resources. Many cloud computing issues have come from people who want to move into the cloud without understanding how to secure their data.

2. Insecure APIs

 Application user interfaces (APIs) are intended to streamline cloud computing processes. However, one of the problems is, if left insecure, APIs can open lines of communications for attackers to exploit cloud resources. APIs have been surging and will be a threat used more frequently by attackers to target enterprise application data. 

How to Prevent API threats:

With increasing interdependence on APIs, attackers have found common ways to exploit insecure APIs for malicious purposes. Developers will often create APIs without proper authentication controls. Thus, these APIs are entirely unsecured and open to the internet, and anyone can use them to access enterprise data and systems. A vast number of software developers also don’t think attackers will see backend API calls and don’t put appropriate authorization controls in place. If this is not done, the compromise of backend data is trivial. Finally, it’s crucial to encourage developers to design APIs with strong authentication, encryption, activity monitoring, and access control. APIs must be secured.

3. Loss or Theft of Intellectual Property

 For any company, intellectual property (IP) is undoubtedly one of the most valuable assets. It is also vulnerable to security threats, especially if the data is stored in the cloud. Unfortunately, if these cloud services are breached, attackers can access sensitive information stored in them. For many organizations, the IP is the data they own, and data loss means they lose their IP. 

 Data alteration: When data is altered to not be restored to its previous state, it can result in a loss of complete data integrity and might render it useless.

Data deletion: An attacker could delete sensitive data from a cloud service, which poses a severe data security threat to an organization’s operations.

 Loss of access: Attackers can hold information for ransom (ransomware attack) or encrypt data with vital encryption keys until they execute their malicious activities.

How to Prevent Theft of Intellectual Property:

·      Keep operating systems and all software up to date.

·      Encrypt sensitive data.

·      Use data protection software.