With every technological innovation comes a new way hackers can compromise your company’s security, and the cloud is no exception. On the one hand, the cloud is a godsend for businesses. You can store information off site without having to worry about data loss due to physical disasters, mechanical problems, or employee error. At the same time, though, the cloud is not without its own security threats that companies can’t afford to ignore. Here are the three most serious cloud security threats that you should be prepared for.
Data Breaches
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Cyber security experts usually name data breaches as the top cloud-related threat to businesses. To understand the potential fallout from such a breach, remember back to the 2013 holiday season when Target suffered a massive breach of the credit card and personal information of more than 110 million customers. Aside from the devastating loss of consumer confidence, Target also suffered financially — the company announced this year that it will pay the victims of the hack $10 million. Cloud servers are especially vulnerable to breaches like these due to the massive amount of data stored on them.
Inside Jobs
Not all cloud security threats are external. Disgruntled, careless, or ignorant employees can also pose a serious risk to your cloud data. With disgruntled employees, especially those associated with IT who have privileged credentials and can do major damage, acting quickly is key. Once an employee is no longer with the company, immediately terminate those accounts and credentials.
Careless or poorly informed employees can pose just as much of a risk. In fact, IBM recently reported that as much as 95 percent of IT breaches are due to human error. An employee who leaves his unlocked company phone at a coffee shop is a threat to your data, as are employees who visit unauthorized websites or use easy-to-crack passwords. To combat this threat, a little bit of education in the basics of cyber security can go a long way.
Hijacked Accounts
Threats like phishing and other fraudulent attempts to take over employees’ accounts are still alive and well, and the cloud adds a new avenue through which to launch similar cyber attacks. Through your cloud application, hackers can spy on your activities, change your data, or alter your transactions. The key to prevention in this case is to ensure that hackers can’t steal your employees’ credentials. Make sure you can trace all activity to a single user and don’t allow employees to share credentials among different users.
Protecting Your Business from Cloud Security Threats
Knowledge is a powerful tool in preventing hackers from accessing and manipulating your cloud data. To learn more about how your company may be vulnerable, visit Skyhigh’s Cloud Security University. You’ll see where your company’s cloud weak spots lie and what you can do to fortify them.
The cloud has done so much for modern businesses, enabling companies to store and exchange data in ways they never thought possible. Nevertheless, as with any internet technology, the cloud comes with its share of security risks that your company should work to protect against.