5 Cloud Security Threats That Many Businesses Face Today
Cloud technology has been a rapidly expanding force over the past few years. It has enabled businesses to adapt quickly and address the ever-changing trends in the market and the needs of the global workforce. When discussing IT outsourcing in Singapore, the cloud is an in-demand service that often steals the spotlight. The biggest benefit of cloud technology is its ability to process significant volumes of data and facilitate deployment, allowing businesses to create more dynamic and innovative working methods.
However, the expansion of cloud services does not occur without challenges. Specifically, the popularity of remote work that surged during the pandemic has introduced numerous cybersecurity threats to cloud environments. The increased use of remote work tools and cloud services has provided malicious actors with more opportunities for attack. As such, every business needs to fortify its cloud security controls.
Read on to discover the major cloud security threats challenging many businesses today.
1. Cloud Misconfiguration
Most businesses on the cloud are suffering from some form of cloud misconfiguration, which impacts overall security. A cloud misconfiguration occurs when an admin or user fails to properly establish a cloud platform's security setting. For instance, an admin might accidentally authorise unrestricted outbound access, which could cause unprivileged servers and applications to communicate.
Although it is a preventable human error, cloud misconfiguration is a major problem for many businesses. In fact, based on a study by DivvyCloud, the number of records compromised by cloud misconfiguration rose by 80% from 2018 to 2019 alone. To avoid misconfiguration, businesses should know their cloud on a profound level – they should learn all its settings, services, and permissions and take advantage of integrated security features.
2. Unauthorised data acces
Unauthorised access to data is one of the biggest risks to cloud security. As a matter of Unauthorised access to data is one of the biggest risks to cloud security. As a matter of fact, it has been reported that more than 50% of businesses consider unauthorised data access through misuse of employee credentials and improper access controls as their worst cloud security issue. Unauthorised data access involves malicious actors accessing business information, endpoints, networks, applications, or devices without the necessary permissions.
The good news is that the lack of strong access control can be addressed through a combination of security solutions and access management policies. One effective way to tackle poor access management is by developing a data governance framework for every user account. These user accounts should all be connected to a central active directory that can track and revoke access privileges.
3. Data breaches and loss
Loss of personal and sensitive data is perhaps the biggest and most critical cloud security threat most businesses face today. As more companies authorise their employees to utilise personal devices for work without adopting a strong security policy, the risk of data breaches and loss increases proportionately. Moreover, such risk could also arise when companies transfer their data to cloud storage without performing regular backups because backing up large amounts of data is difficult and costly.
Unfortunately, recovering lost data is quite burdensome, requiring plenty of time, effort, and financial resources. This usually requires businesses to recreate their lost data or convert it from hard-to-copy formats, which disrupts workflow. To avoid falling victim to data breaches and loss, it is necessary for businesses to conduct regular and extensive backups and to test their backup solutions so that they can ensure their proper and smooth functioning.
4. DDoS attacks
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is another major form of attack on the cloud that can be extremely damaging to businesses. DDoS is a malicious attack in which a server is flooded with internet traffic to prevent legitimate users from accessing connected sites and online services. Simply put, the DDoS attacker attempts to crash a site or online service by stuffing it with synthetically generated traffic.
DDoS attacks can result in server outages and monetary loss when not tackled immediately. It can also place excessive pressure on the IT professionals who are trying to bring the resources back online. To ward off DDoS attacks, companies should always check for vulnerabilities in their system, which can be exploited to perform the attacks. It is also advisable for companies to keep a backup internet connection with a separate pool of IP addresses.
5. Vulnerable APIs
Adopting cloud application programming interfaces (APIs) is considered beneficial for businesses but is often viewed as a problem for IT security teams. While APIs are designed to organise cloud computing processes, there could be times when APIs are left unsecured, enabling attackers to exploit private information. Inadequate API security is among the most common causes of cloud data breaches.
Malicious attackers can exploit vulnerable APIs by launching code injections and DDoS attacks, both enabling unauthorised access to business data. To prevent insecure APIs from causing costly data breaches, businesses should regularly examine logs from the APIs they use and put centralised cloud monitoring in place. A centralised cloud monitoring solution can send notifications about the highest priority threats and suggest how to handle them.
Conclusion
Shifting to a cloud environment gives businesses the flexibility and scalability they need to stay competitive in the unstable post-pandemic business world. However, at the same time, cloud migration exposes these businesses to various security vulnerabilities that can prove extremely damaging and financially catastrophic. To prevent these vulnerabilities and threats from affecting your business, always be proactive, and ensure you leverage the best practices for cloud security.
Should you need reliable IT security services in Singapore to protect your business data and enhance your cybersecurity posture, JK Tech is here to lend you a helping hand! JK Tech is a leading provider of outsourced IT support services in Singapore that will help protect your business from security threats or risks and maximise your productivity and profit. Among the most cost-effective services we offer are Cloud, Cybersecurity, DaaS, IT Maintenance, IT Consultancy, and more. Contact us today to learn more!