The cloud has become an essential tool for many businesses today, as the digital world is growing quickly. Cloud computing greatly improves the efficiency of resource and data management. Additionally, it greatly facilitates business or operational scaling. As most companies are going to the cloud, this may lead to issues with cloud data security. Everyone is aware that reports of data breaches have a detrimental effect on a business’s reputation and will harm the organisation as a whole. This article will cover some of the common misconfigurations that might lead to cloud data breaches, as well as security tips to help safeguard your cloud environment.

What is a misconfiguration?

A single misconfiguration in your cloud computing could lead to a catastrophic security incident. Misconfiguration could relate to improper access controls, overly permissive settings, neglected permissions or any unforeseen security flaws that could expose your environment to threat actors. This can lead to compromised data, malware injection or even a ransomware attack.

Misconfiguration is widespread due to the complexity of cloud computing configurations. According to the Gartner Survey, 80% of security breaches are caused by misconfiguration-related issues. Gartner also forecasted that by 2026, 60% of organisations worldwide would prioritize cloud misconfiguration as a cloud security priority. This demonstrates that in the future, more enterprises will see the importance of tightening their cloud security by learning and comprehending cloud security configurations.

Let’s examine some of the most prevalent misconfigurations that might pose a significant security risk to your environment.

What are some of the common misconfigurations of Cloud Data Breaches (and tips to secure your cloud environment)

Cloud data breaches can occur due to a wide range of misconfigurations. Let’s explore some of the most common human errors or misconfigurations that could weaken your cloud environment’s security.

Publicly Accessible Buckets

If cloud storage buckets (such as Amazon S3, and Google Cloud Storage) are misconfigured in such a way that they become publicly accessible, or if a misconfigured storage bucket allows data to be easily exfiltrated. Any user who gains access to the link has access to your sensitive data which can lead to several high-profile data leaks. Furthermore, if the data stored are unencrypted, these plain text sensitive data could fall into the hands of bad actors.

Overly Permissive IAM (Identity and Access Management) or Role-Based Access Control

Over granting permissions to users, applications and roles such as assigning administrative rights when only ‘read’ access is required could expose sensitive data or unauthorized access if credentials are being compromised. To avoid such incidents, it is recommended that users only receive minimum access based on their role requirements.

Unrestricted Inbound/Outbound Network Access

Although it may seem apparent, one of the most crucial ways to lower the likelihood of cyberattacks is to properly block and permit traffic to just relevant IP addresses or ranges rather than simply using the “allow all” rule. By blocking all unknown or unwanted traffic, bad actors would have a tough time exploiting.

Unencrypted Data Storage

It is recommended that sensitive data stored in cloud storage services (such as AWS RDS, and Azure Blob Storage), are encrypted. This adds another layer of protection. If Access control is misconfigured, persons who are not supposed to have access to these data will be able to access the encrypted data. Having said that, failing to enable proper encryption configuration could have disastrous consequences if unencrypted data slips into the wrong hands.

Bonus: Default or Weak passwords

While this might not be a misconfiguration by itself. Combining weak or default passwords with some of the misconfigurations mentioned in this article might cause an organisation’s cloud portal account to be compromised. If these accounts fall into the hands of actors with malicious intent, they might cause irreversible damage to your environment. For example, with a misconfigured access control, these compromised accounts could have administrative rights that can delete business-critical data from cloud databases. Furthermore, if these business-critical data are not encrypted, they may be exfiltrated by the hackers and the plain text data would be exposed. These data could be the client’s data which could result in a breach of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).

Organisations should have policy in place to start disallowing usage of default passwords and enforcing usage of strong passwords for cloud environment. It is also recommended to implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for another layer of protection.

Summary

In conclusion, moving to the cloud provides numerous benefits such as cost-saving, improved scalability and many more. If the misconfigurations mentioned above are present in your cloud environment, The benefits do not outweigh the compromised security. As a result, it is critical to understand how to address these challenges. Organisations should prioritise closing the knowledge gap on cloud security for their employees by providing competency training in cloud computing and implementing policies to ensure that the employees who handle such cloud configurations have adequate knowledge of cloud security and how to secure them properly.

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