By CIOReview | Tuesday, August 6, 2024

This article elaborates on and identifies the differences between cloud security issues, such as risks, threats and challenges. It also lists the four cloud security threats and explains how to handle them.

Fremont, CA: All businesses encounter daily security risks, threats, and challenges. While some may mistakenly believe these terms to be interchangeable, they possess distinct nuances. Familiarizing yourself with the subtle variations between them can assist you in improving the protection of your cloud assets.

Risks, threats, and challenges each have distinct characteristics:

● Risks involve the possibility of data loss or vulnerabilities.

● Threats refer to attacks or adversaries.

● Challenges pertain to obstacles faced by organizations when implementing effective cloud security measures.

For example, Hosting an API endpoint in the cloud and making it accessible to the public Internet poses a security risk. Attackers utilizing various techniques attempt to gain access to sensitive data through the API. Safeguarding public APIs effectively while ensuring availability for legitimate users or customers presents a challenge for your organization.

An effective cloud security strategy encompasses all three dimensions, ensuring the foundation remains intact without any vulnerability. Each dimension can be perceived as a distinct perspective or approach to understanding cloud security.

Cloud Security Threats

An attack on your cloud assets to exploit a potential risk is considered a threat. Some common threats encountered by cloud security include:

● Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

● Persistent Advanced Threats

● Insider Risks

● Cyber Intrusions.

Zero-Day Exploits:

Zero-day exploits pose a significant risk to cloud users, as they target vulnerabilities in software and operating systems that the vendor has not yet patched. This means that even if you are using a cloud service hosted on someone else's computer, you are still at risk of being compromised by attackers exploiting these vulnerabilities. It is vital to stay alert and implement strong security measures to protect your data and systems from such threats.

Advanced Persistent Threats:

An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a complex and ongoing cyber intrusion in which an attacker infiltrates a network and maintains a covert presence to extract sensitive information over an extended period.

Unlike rapid "drive-by" attacks, APTs involve the assailant remaining within the system, navigating between various workloads in pursuit of valuable data to appropriate and sell to the highest bidder. The peril of these attacks lies in their potential initiation through a zero-day exploit, allowing them to remain undetected for several months.

Insider Threats:

In cybersecurity, an insider threat refers to a threat originating from within the organization, typically from a current or former employee or another individual with immediate access to the company network, sensitive data, intellectual property (IP), and knowledge of business processes, company policies, or other information that could facilitate such an attack.