We’ve gotten to the point where almost every company is adopting Cloud Computing for the many advantages recognized to this technology which stands as one of the most important trends of the coming years in terms of digital transformation.
Keeping up with this evolution, however, the need to answer some doubts and questions on criticalities related to security and on the best strategies to ensure maximum protection from the most heinous and insidious threats that can hit the cloud grows.
Cloud security is a very topical issue and raises many questions. One of the biggest doubts concerns the protection of data stored in the cloud. Many fear that data could be intercepted by hackers or that it could be lost or deleted due to technical problems or human errors.
Additionally, there is concern that the cloud may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks such as phishing, malware or ransomware. These attacks can compromise the security of user data and cause economic or reputational damage.
Another concern concerns the security of cloud infrastructures. Many users wonder whether cloud service providers take the right security measures to protect their systems against any external attacks.
Configuration problems
One of the most common causes of data breaches in the cloud is to be found in the misconfiguration of security settings aimed at protecting the corporate infrastructure. But what are the critical points of this situation? Security issues depend on several factors, including:
- the easy accessibility to the cloud infrastructure, which is located on the network to allow data sharing, exposes you to the risk of intrusions and attacks from the outside
- security controls provided by the service provider must be relied upon because many traditional technologies in enterprises are not effective for cloud environments
- companies that use cloud-based infrastructures do not have full control over them because these are located outside the corporate network and are often unable to predict and block possible hacker attacks
- often in the company there is no culture of security and often we are dealing with multi-cloud services with different settings, with a very high risk of running into an incorrect configuration and being exposed to cyber attacks.
Unauthorized access
An incorrect security configuration and credential breach can jeopardize sensitive internal data as well as user data (partners, visitors and customers).
A unlike the corporate infrastructure, in fact, the cloud-based one is external and therefore accessible from the network.
While this aspect represents one of the advantages of Cloud Computing, for anyone involved in company activities, being able to use the data even from the outside and from any device, on the other hand makes it easier to violate confidentiality.
Insecure interfaces/APIs
Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) provide several application programming interfaces APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), a set of procedures, protocols, and tools for building software that allow different applications to communicate with each other and exchange information.
In essence, APIs provide a standard for accessing the data or functionality of an application or service, allowing these features to be integrated from the outside.
The risk of violation arises in the event that the API interfaces are not adequately protected, leaving free rein to the more shrewd hackers.
Weak passwords
In the cloud, companies often don’t use secure passwords and use one for multiple logins. This underestimated levity, due to haste and disinformation, is paid for at the high price of phishing attacks and the violation of credentials and data that cybercriminals can do without great difficulty, using a single password on the various accounts to take control.
External sharing of data
As you know, one of the strengths of the cloud is the ease with which it allows you to share data. For example, when we invite a collaborator by email or when we share a URL link through which to access the shared resource. But at the same time it can become a weakness and represent a major security issue.
Accidental exposure of credentials is a concern for most businesses as it compromises the privacy and security of data and other resources hosted in the cloud.
Sharing data through public links or configuring a cloud-based repository makes access to the shared resource much less secure because the link can fall into the wrong hands or even be intercepted.
Also, with the increasing use of cloud-based email (G-Suite, Microsoft 365, etc.) and document sharing services (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive), emails are exchanged with links which may require confirmation of access credentials to documents or websites. This way capable cybercriminals can intercept these links.
Cyber Attacks – Computer Crime
For some time now, cybercrime has been a reality that threatens companies and businesses of all sizes. Cyber attacks are based on a real criminal and commercial organization that studies the profitability opportunities of the various attack operations.
For some time now, cybercrime has been a reality that threatens companies and businesses of all sizes. Cyber attacks are based on a real criminal and commercial organization that studies the profitability opportunities of the various attack operations.
DoS attacks – Denial of Service
DoS attacks are perpetrated against companies which are then forced to get rid of the problem by demanding a ransom.
DoS attacks are a type of cyber attack that prevents access to a site or platform through the overloading of accesses with a high volume of traffic.
In Cloud Computing, DoS attacks are relatively simple to carry out since cloud services are often accessible via the internet and based on distributed architectures.
Additionally, attackers can leverage the scalability of the cloud to generate massive traffic spikes, leveraging cloud services themselves as launching platforms for large-scale attacks.
To counter DoS attacksproviders often adopt security measures such as the implementation of firewalls and the use of traffic monitoring techniques to identify and block malicious traffic.
Privacy in Cloud Computing – Legal Compliance
Sharing data on the cloud, as we have seen, offers many advantages but can also create “black holes” in terms of security. Privacy is a big problem for many companies. However, this happens when relying on partners who do not have the appropriate technologies or security measures to use the Cloud Computing.
As a result, legal compliance is considered a major security issue and requires specialized compliance solutions. Data protection regulations such as GDPR, PCI DSS and HIPAA require efforts to protect the most sensitive data (credit card data, health records/files, etc.), otherwise they can face very heavy penalties.
In conclusion, is the Cloud safe or not?
We can say with certainty that the cloud is a great competitive advantage, secure,
- if you choose a reliable cloud service provider
- when used correctly
- if you take the right security measures such as the use of complex passwords, encryption of sensitive data, access limited to authorized persons only, the security of the devices used to access the cloud.
