The Biggest Cloud Vulnerabilities in 2024
Companies face a variety of security risks in the cloud. However, the majority of cloud data breaches and other security incidents originate from one or more of the following 7 cloud vulnerabilities.
#1. Misconfiguration
Cloud environments have various security settings that must be properly configured to secure the environment and the data and applications it contains against attack. Security misconfigurations are one of the leading causes of cloud data breaches. For example, many cloud storage solutions offer link-based file sharing where anyone with the correct URL can access the file. While this is a convenient option, it also makes the file accessible to anyone who can guess or steal the URL.
The challenge of cloud security misconfigurations is exacerbated by the fact that many organizations use several cloud services. Each provider will have their array of configurations and built-in tools, increasing the complexity of properly and securely configuring cloud environments.
#2. Shadow IT
Shadow IT refers to employees setting up their IT solutions in the workplace. Since the IT and security teams aren’t aware of these solutions, they can’t properly monitor and secure them. Shadow IT is a particularly significant problem in the cloud due to the user-friendliness of cloud platforms and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions. Cloud storage comes bundled with email accounts, and users can register for many SaaS products with just a few clicks.
This creates security risks for the organization because sensitive corporate data can easily move into private cloud storage or SaaS applications. Once this occurs, the data is more at risk of exfiltration by these insiders or by attackers exploiting poorly secured personal cloud environments.
#3. Insecure Interfaces and APIs
Application programming interfaces (APIs) are a key component of many cloud-based solutions. APIs can interconnect microservices in the cloud or provide access to data or functionality in a cloud-hosted solution.
However, a failure to properly manage and secure these APIs can leave them vulnerable to exploitation. For example, a lack of proper access control or rate limiting could enable an attacker to make many spam requests to an API, consuming valuable cloud resources. Alternatively, an attacker may be able to exploit API misconfigurations to perform privilege escalation and gain unauthorized access to sensitive data.
Leaks of API keys and other authentication tokens are another common API security risk for cloud environments. For example, API keys accidentally pushed to public GitHub repositories could allow an attacker unauthorized access to an organization’s online accounts.
#4. Zero Day Vulnerabilities
Cloud environments are complex infrastructures built on multiple layers of software. Cloud providers use software solutions to isolate tenants on their infrastructure and provide services under different cloud service models. Cloud customers can build on this infrastructure, deploying their applications and systems.
Zero-day vulnerabilities are vulnerabilities that were identified and exploited by cyber threat actors before the software manufacturer can identify them and distribute a patch. These vulnerabilities can be especially dangerous in cloud environments since many cloud customers are sharing the same environments and using the same software solutions. Exploitation of a zero-day vulnerability in a cloud platform may allow an attacker to exfiltrate sensitive data, achieve remote code execution, or block legitimate users from accessing their cloud services.
#5. Access Management
Cloud environments lie outside the traditional network perimeter and are accessible via the public Internet. This makes it easier for attackers to gain access to vulnerable cloud infrastructure. One factor that increases these security risks is the fact that many cloud environments have subpar access controls. Some common issues include weak passwords, a failure to use multi-factor authentication (MFA), and granting excessive permissions to cloud users.
All of these factors make it easier for an attacker to gain access to and perform malicious actions within cloud environments. Poor passwords are easily guessed, a lack of MFA makes these passwords an organization’s only line of defense, and excessive access enables attackers to accomplish their goals with access to any overprivileged user account.
#6. Lack of Visibility
A lack of visibility is one of the biggest security challenges that companies face in cloud environments. This challenge arises from the design of cloud environments and many companies’ sprawling cloud deployments.
In cloud environments, companies rely on their cloud provider to manage a portion of their infrastructure stack, the percentage of which depends on the cloud service model in use. In these scenarios, the part of the cloud infrastructure stack under the provider’s control is opaque to the cloud customer, degrading cloud visibility and making security tools intended for on-prem data centers ineffective.
Cloud visibility is also degraded because most cloud users have multi-cloud deployments that span different providers’ platforms. Each of these environments has its built-in configurations and tools, which can create silos within an organization’s IT architecture and make it more difficult to achieve comprehensive, integrated visibility across on-prem and cloud environments.
#7. Malicious Insiders
Insiders can accidentally put an organization’s data and cloud infrastructure at risk via misconfigurations, shadow IT, and negligence. However, an organization also faces the risk that insiders may take deliberate malicious action against the organization.
For example, a terminated employee who retains access to corporate cloud infrastructure could attempt to sabotage the organization’s systems. This could be accomplished by deleting valuable applications or data, planting ransomware, or breaching sensitive information stored in the corporate cloud.
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