A common misconception among organizations looking to move to the cloud is that cloud platforms are inherently secure. However, this is not accurate. With today’s level of cyber-sophistication, the confidence of hackers, and the security risk they pose it is important that organizations put the security risks of cloud computing under a microscope. Unfortunately, many organizations fail to realize the risks associated with cloud computing.
As the popularity of the remote workforce has increased, so has the demand for cloud computing and the migration to cloud environments. These changes have driven cyber-criminals to test the boundaries of cloud security causing a surge of security vulnerabilities and increased the cloud security threat. With the rapid transition to a cloud environment, many organizations are unaware of the cloud security threats that impact a cloud environment.
Below, we explore the Top 5 Security Risks of Cloud Computing that are impacting organizations, including Mid-Market Private Equity:
- Insufficient identify & access management: Access management is one of the most common cloud security risks impacting organizations. Without effective identify & access management policies, your organization increases the risk of hacking attempts. Poor access management is critical access point for any hacker, which can grant them visibility to critical systems data & business systems. With COVID-19, hackers have seen this as an opportunity to take advantage of organizations with poor access management protocols.
- Malware: More often than not, security teams assume that malware is not a cloud security issue – especially if they feel safe behind endpoint security & firewalls. That however is not the case. Ransomware, a type of malware, is the most common type of malware attack used, and is the one security teams must be aware of with multiple layers of cloud security in place to detect & respond. This type of threat is an extremely common attack vector, usually deployed via phishing emails, but many other deployment methods can be used.
- Data breaches: As cloud adoption grows, the amount of sensitive data and vital intellectual property stored on the cloud grows as well. This is due to the large amount of data flowing between employees and business systems. In addition, many companies that migrate to a cloud environment often struggle to perform regular backups, because backing up large amounts of data can be costly & difficult. These systems then become easy targets for hackers looking for security vulnerabilities.
- Insecure APIs: API’s or Application user interfaces enables direct interaction with a cloud environment. As Facebook experienced in 2018, insecure API’s can give hackers a straight path to a users or employee information. It is important that there is security oversight when using API’s and avoid reusing API keys.
- Compliance Issues: It is easy for an organization to fall into non-compliance state, which can lead to serious consequences. Security compliance stipulations are becoming more stringent by the day, with both governmental and private regulatory bodies bolstering data protection regulations. Ensuring that both client and CSP are striving to remain complaint is crucial.
How to reduce security risks of cloud computing
When looking to leverage the capabilities of cloud computing, organizations need to ensure that resources are available to maintain proper security across the cloud environment. There are several ways that RKON helps organizations improve security when it comes to cloud computing.
- Cloud Security Risk Assessments: Cloud security assessments are a great way for Private Equity & Mid-Market organizations to review their current security posture and quality of security controls that are put in place; offering a complete blueprint of any potential vulnerabilities or holes in your cloud security with a roadmap towards remediation that can be used to drive decision making on security & technology improvements in the future.
- Managed Detection Response (MDR): Managed detection response is an on-going process that offers companies the ability to identify breaches early before they impact IT infrastructure and cloud environments. From risk identification to remediation and post-mortem incident review, our MDR services unifies security for log and event management ensuring compliance coverage, detects user behavior behind security breaches, isolates threats before they become critical, and we respond to problems quickly and confidently by accelerating investigations across users and assets.
- Security Breach Recovery: Without proper security measures in place, organizations are realizing they have been breached when it’s to late. The organization has been impacted, user data is no longer secure, and hackers have infiltrated business systems. With security beach recovery we can isolate your attacker, cut access to critical systems and begin the remediation process across users and assets.
How RKON can help you secure your cloud environment
Securing your business, your employees, and your data should be your top priority. RKON end-to-end cloud security services offer comprehensive solutions for Private Equity & mid-markets. As organizations continue to move to the cloud, RKON will remain focused on providing quality security services for our clients. If you have questions on cloud security or want to learn more about the top 5 security threats by platform how to secure your cloud from threats & risks, RKON’s cloud security team is here to help.
