Why is Cybersecurity Needed in Cloud Computing?
You might be wondering why the cloud needs cybersecurity to keep it safe. But the truth is, if cybersecurity does not protect data in the cloud, all the little pilferers will descend and devour others' riches. Cybersecurity may be important for a self-contained computer network, but as soon as your organization connects to the cloud, you absolutely must have professional, knowledgeable cybersecurity experts. Your organization’s very survival may depend on it.
Threats
Cybersecurity threats to cloud-based initiatives are periodically cataloged by industry mavens. Thought leader CSO provides a glimpse of some of the Dirty Dozen most recent threats:
- Data breaches — Either from human error or a targeted attack, data breaches can reveal proprietary information, customer data, and more
- Insufficient identity, credential, and access management — Rogues posing as legitimate users can modify, delete or simply read and copy sensitive data; they could also release malicious software into an organization via the cloud
- Insecure interfaces and application programming interfaces (APIs) — The cloud provider does not offer strong APIs, weakening overall security for general cloud services
- System vulnerabilities — Exploitable bugs in programs allow attackers to infiltrate a system to steal data or take control of the system, disrupting service operations.
- Account hijacking — Cloud services (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) offer a new entry point for hijackers to use a legitimate user’s credential to monitor transactions, twist data, and redirect clients to sites controlled by other bad actors
- Malicious insiders — As if anonymous intruders were not enough, organizations have to be wary of insider threats, such as a system administrator who can access and sell sensitive information
- Advanced persistent threats (APTs) — APTs, parasitical cyber-attacks that infiltrate cloud-based systems, allow hackers to steal data; these attacks may take months of planning and execution and will blend in with normal data traffic
- Data loss — Beyond intentional threats, data can disappear from the cloud due to fire, earthquake, flood, or accidental deletion
- Insufficient due diligence — Evaluate emerging technologies and cloud services with an eye toward security weaknesses; avoid rushing to adopt cloud technologies whose vendors do not perform due diligence
- Abuse and nefarious use of cloud services — Fraudulent account sign-ups, “free trials,” and payment siphoning frauds are all exponentially worse in the cloud
- Denial of service (DoS) — A targeted cloud service can be forced to consume enormous amounts of finite system resources, slowing down services for real clients
- Shared technology vulnerabilities — Sharing infrastructure, applications or platforms can leave one vendor vulnerable from another vendor’s poor security
More to Come
In January of 2018, a design feature common to many microprocessors was revealed to be vulnerable to malicious Javascript coding. Meltdown and Spectre affect everything from smartphones to IoT devices to server banks.
Cloud service providers have an enormous problem with these new lines of attack; CSO points out the normal application isolation no longer exists because a malicious attacker can use a guest virtual machine (VM) to log in as a root user and read the host kernel. Patches only go so far to squash the threat; users need to demand their cloud providers replace processors with the vulnerabilities (though replacements may be hard to find, says IT clearing house The Register).
Help!
Can the cloud be used for good, as well as for evil? Certainly, in the hands of educated, highly trained cybersecurity professionals. CNBC outlined potential costs to individual companies recently, showing that ransomware can cost a firm an average of $713,000, with only around a fifth of typical small- to medium-sized companies ready to deal with ransomware threats. Cloud computing can centralize and subsidize costs so per-company expenses to fend off these threats drop. The cloud security is completely dependent, though, on the strength of those cybersecurity professionals knowing how to stop ransomware attacks.
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