Top 5 Cloud Vulnerabilities to Watch Out for in 2022 - Alert Logic (2023)

Cloud computing has completely revolutionized the professional landscape, enabling businesses of all sizes to keep up with the increasing pace of business.

As companies around the world continue to embrace cloud technology, the global market for cloud services continues to grow. Indeed cloud computingis expected to reach 947.3 billion by 2026, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3%. But with all the benefits the cloud has to offer, there is one caveat: cloud vulnerabilities.

That was the result of a survey93% of companies are concernedabout the dangers associated with cloud computing. Does this mean that the risk is greater than the reward? Not really.

Let's examine five cloud vulnerabilities to watch out for in 2022 and how to create a cybersecurity strategy to protect your data while safely reaping the rewards of cloud computing.

1. Account Theft

Account hijacking, also known as session riding, is a cloud threat that steals users' account credentials.CSO ranks account hijacking fifthon their list of cloud computing threats and vulnerabilities seen in 2020.

There are several ways attackers can hijack accounts, including:

• Phishing:Redirect users to an unsecured website to steal their information or hijack their session ID
• Keylogger:A program that records users' keystrokes, including user IDs and passwords, and sends the information to attackers
• Buffer Overflow Attacks:Overwriting data in memory with malicious data designed to give the attacker unauthorized access
• Cross-Site-Scripting (XSS)-Angriffe:A type of injection attack in which the attacker sends malicious scripts through a web browser to access vulnerable accounts
• Brute Force Attacks:When attackers gain access to accounts by guessing the password—usually using software

Account hijacking is not new. 2014 an Egypt-based researcherdiscovered a security vulnerability in PayPalThis left approximately 150 million accounts open to this type of attack. Fortunately, the threat was resolved before any damage occurred. Seeing a corporate giant like PayPal vulnerable to PCI compliance data breaches served as a warning to everyone to look into their own cybersecurity strategies.

How do you protect yourself against account theft?

First and foremost, create secure passwords and change them regularly. This keeps you protected from brute force attacks. You should also consider using multi-factor authentication (MFA) whenever possible. This adds an extra layer of security, making it harder for attackers to access your account remotely.

Many successful account takeover attempts are due to phishing. Be careful when clicking on web and email links and when receiving password reset requests to protect yourself from attacks. And if you have employees using cloud services, be sure to educate them about cloud computing vulnerabilities so they know how to spot account takeover attempts.

Consulting with a threat detection expert is also an effective way to prevent account theft. You can scan for potential vulnerabilities in your network and take steps to better protect your data from these types of attacks.

2. Data Breaches

At least you knew3,800 data breachesoccurred in the first half of 2019? Not only did these breaches represent approximately 4.1 billion compromised records, they also resulted in a 54% year-over-year increase.

Data breaches are a problem that can result in the loss of millions of dollars every time. AccordinglyVerizon 2019 Data Breach Investigation Report, 43% of victims were small businesses. One of the main reasons small businesses bear the brunt of data breaches is that they don't have the same level of protection as global corporations. They are easy targets and tend to be hit hardest when their data is compromised.

The consequences of a data breach can be:

• Negative impact on brand reputation and loss of trust from partners, clients and customers
• The loss of important intellectual property
• fines and other penalties
• Legal Actions

Additionally, you should include other cybersecurity-related expenses such as: B. Forensics and Incident Response.

In 2019, Capital One experienced one of thelargest data breaches in the United States, which cost the company more than $300 million to fix the problem.

Data breaches can be devastating for businesses of all sizes.

How do you protect yourself from data breaches?

There are several ways you can become a victim of a data breach. Someone in your organization could download malware, or an attacker could exploit various cloud vulnerabilities to remotely bypass your network security. Attackers can also physically access your computer to steal information.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to preventing data breaches, but some best practices include:

• Regular security checks so you always know who has access to your data
• Secure and encrypted servers that allow you to access your data through your cloud center
• A comprehensive incident response plan that includes:Cloud security

3. Insecure APIs

Application user interfaces (APIs) are a popular way to streamline cloud computing. Commonly used in offices, APIs facilitate the exchange of information between two or more applications. Known for their convenience and efficiency gains, APIs can also be a source of cloud vulnerabilities.

By exploiting insecure APIs, attackers can easily access corporate data and launch DDoS attacks. Additionally, sophisticated attackers can take several measures to evade detection when launching API attacks.

As organizations increase their reliance on APIs, there is a growing number of attacks targeting them.According to Gartner, it is believed that API-related abuse will be the most common attack vector by 2022.

How do you protect against API attacks?

There are a few steps you can take to protect your cloud system from API attacks:

• Run penetration tests that emulate API attacks
• Use SSL/TLS encryption for transmitted data
• Strengthen your authentication controls with MFA
• Be selective about who you share your API keys with and discard API keys when they are no longer needed

These are all precautions to ensure the security of your APIs, but developers are also responsible for building APIs with stronger authentication.

4. Malicious insiders

Even if you protect yourself from the other types of cloud security attacks, you could still be vulnerable to malicious insiders, including current and former:

• Employees
• contractor
• Business partner

Enemies with unauthorized access to your systems could steal information, destroy data and sabotage your IT systems. according to aPokemon report 2020:

• Insider attacks have increased by 47% since 2018
• The cost of insider attacks has increased by 31% since 2018
• Only 23% of insider threats were malicious; Most insider attacks were due to negligence

How do you protect yourself from malicious insiders?

Unfortunately, organizations are more vulnerable to insider threats than outside attacks for one simple reason — the threat doesn't (usually) exploit cloud vulnerabilities to access sensitive data.

The good news is that insider threats can be prevented by being proactive. That means limiting access to critical data -- giving individuals access to the information they haveneed to knowand nothing more. You should also conduct regular security audits and revoke access if necessary.

You can decide how often audits are conducted, but best practice is at least twice a year. Some organizations conduct quarterly audits, while others conduct one every month.

For insider threats that arenotvicious,Consider conducting training on best practices for protecting data and systems. Teach your employees how to avoidphishing attempts, the importance of changing passwords regularly, and other important security protocols.

5. System Vulnerabilities

System vulnerabilities are another of the more common cloud security vulnerabilities and can occur for many reasons. The integration of an insecure third-party application can or will result in system riskspoorly configured security toolswithin your cloud systems.

Some of the more common system vulnerabilities that could negatively impact your cloud services include:

• Missing input validation on user input
• Inadequate logging and monitoring
• Improper error handling
• Don't close your database connections

How do you protect yourself against system vulnerabilities?

There are several steps you can take to address system vulnerabilities, including encrypting your data and implementing acomprehensive intrusion detection systemthat works in cloud, on-premise and hybrid environments.

You could also try providing oneWeb Application Firewall (WAF)to protect your web applications from various cloud computing threats and vulnerabilities such as DDoS attacks, SQL injections and man-in-the-middle attacks.

Protection of your cloud systems

Developing a strong cybersecurity strategy in 2022 will help you avoid the costs and headaches that come with data breaches. Alert Logic can help you protect your data and fix cloud security vulnerabilities before they become bigger problems.

Our Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solution offers best-in-class protection that can be customized to meet your business needs.Watch our video on MDRto see how Alert Logic can help you improve your cloud security.

Related reading: Top 5 Cyber ​​Security Threats in 2022