6 Ways Hackers Attack Cloud Services and What to Do About It

Video Transcript:

As companies continue to migrate to the cloud in record numbers, there are many benefits to having a cloud-based IT infrastructure from reduced hardware costs to flexibility to an improved collaboration environment. 

Yet even though it’s possible to keep your data secure in the cloud with the right measures in place, the cloud can also create a false sense of security. Unfortunately, cloud attacks do occur often. And many of these attacks are aimed at small businesses. 

In fact, 43% of cyber attacks target small businesses with many of these attacks now focused on cloud environments. 

However, small to mid-sized companies need not lose sleep over a possible cloud computing attack. A few simple security measures will go a long way in preventing such attacks from occurring. 

But, first, let’s look at some popular types of cloud computing attacks that allow hackers to infiltrate a company’s cloud data. 

Account hijacking is a common way hackers infiltrate a company’s cloud and gain unauthorized access or control of a cloud computing account and its data. Password cracking methods or guessing login credentials are often tactics used in account hijacking. 

User account compromise is another common cloud computing attack where an attacker gains entry into an account via the account owner’s actions, often by tricking the user into revealing login credentials or exploiting a flaw in a system application that the user employs.

A side-channel attack is another sneaky method. In a cloud environment, attackers can carry out a side-channel attack by placing a malevolent virtual machine on a legitimate physical host used by the cloud customer. This grants the attacker access to all sensitive information like passwords or encryption keys on the targeted machine. These types of attacks can also be used to disrupt the operation of a system or to manipulate its behavior.

A cloud attack called a Denial-of-Service attack seeks to render a computer or network resource inaccessible to its designated users. This often involves flooding a cloud service with a significant amount of traffic. The system then becomes overwhelmed and unable to process legitimate requests. With this type of attack, the effects can be severe from financial loss to major service disruptions. 

Next up are cloud malware injection attacks. Here ransomware or viruses are injected into the cloud infrastructure. This allows the hackers to undermine the affected resources, erase data, or utilize the resources for their own benefit.

Another form of attack is called cookie poisoning which involves unauthorized alteration or injection of harmful content into a cookie used by a website or web application. A cookie is a small piece of data stored on a user’s computer. In SaaS and other cloud applications, cookies often hold credential data. A cookie poisoning makes it possible for attackers to gain access to the website or web applications.

While these and other types of cloud service attacks do happen, with as many as 79%

of companies with cloud data experiencing at least one cloud breach, the good news is there’s a lot that can be done to prevent these attacks. 

In large part, attacks occur due to the increased adoption of cloud services and potential vulnerabilities in cloud configurations as small businesses often have less IT security resources and expertise.

Yet, with a few measures, attacks can be kept at bay. And some minimal investments in your IT security can go a long way to protect your company data. 

Monitoring accounts regularly is the first step. You also need to frequently scan and test the cloud configuration. Setting up rules for inbound traffic to control which traffic can reach your cloud resources and which cannot is also important. This will help to block malicious traffic before it even makes its way to your cloud. 

Setting up a cloud-native application protection platform, or CNAPPS is also worth considering. According to Gartner, CNAPPS are an integrated set of security and compliance capabilities designed to help secure and protect cloud-native applications across development and production environments.

Another way hackers can get into your cloud is through storage buckets. Avoid unnecessary storage buckets and delete them when possible, as they can be a significant security risk. When a hacker gains access to one of your publicly accessible storage buckets, they gain access to sensitive data. 

Make sure you have monitoring and logging tools in place for your cloud infrastructure as well. This provides visibility into your system’s health and activity, helping you to identify issues before they even become problems.

Finally, have a fast, effective remediation process in place to quickly repair and recover in the invent of a cloud computing attack. 

Want to enjoy all of the benefits of cloud computing for your business minus the stress and worry of an attack or how to manage an attack if one does occur? 

Contact MyTek, an Arizona-based IT services company dedicated to helping Arizona businesses stay safe in the cloud so they can grow and prosper.