Why is Misconfiguration Such a Big Cloud Security Risk?
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Did you know that, by 2025, the analyst house Gartner predicts that 99% of cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault?
Why?
Cloud misconfigurations.
It’s a common misconception among businesses that the cloud has inherent security flaws. This isn’t the case at all. In fact, the cloud is often a lot more secure than on-premises servers and infrastructures.
This is because cloud services providers (CSPs) like Amazon, Microsoft and Google spend billions of dollars each year ensuring their underlying infrastructure is safe and secure. As a result, cloud services are almost impenetrable to hackers.
The problem isn’t the cloud itself. It’s how organizations use it. Read on to find out why.
The Cloud and The Shared Responsibility Model
To understand cloud misconfigurations, we first need to understand the nature of cloud services. You see, the cloud works on a shared responsibility model. In this paradigm, the CSP is responsible for securing the infrastructure of the cloud service, while the client - that’s you - is responsible for securely configuring the service itself.
Trouble arises when cloud customers either incorrectly configure these services or forget to configure them at all. This issue is, unfortunately, very common. In fact, in 2018 and 2019, cloud misconfiguration breaches cost companies almost US$5 trillion.
What Are Cloud Misconfigurations?
A cloud misconfiguration occurs when an organizations fails to properly configure the settings, policies or identities associated with a cloud service. This can leave the data and applications they use either exposed to the public internet. It can also result in data leakage, data theft or inappropriate use of sensitive data.
While, on first look, you might think it’s easy to avoid misconfigurations in the cloud, this isn’t the case. They pose a huge risk to cloud environments, and are the biggest security challenge organizations must overcome in the coming years.
One of the reasons cloud misconfigurations are so common is the fact that each cloud service comes with its own unique settings and policies. While an organization might be able to correctly configure one service or application, that doesn’t mean they’ll find it easy to do the same for other services they use.
On top of this, we must remember that cloud service providers frequently update their offerings with new tools, solutions and features. Every time this happens - and it happens often - organizations will need to reevaluate their settings to ensure everything is still as it should be. Otherwise, they may be at risk of a beach without even knowing it.
Lastly, we must remember that most organizations have started embracing the cloud rather quickly and somewhat haphazardly. Without a security strategy in place, forgotten cloud instances and applications may secretly be leaking out data, while organizations are none the wiser.
The Risks Of A Cloud Misconfiguration
While misconfigurations are accidental, that doesn’t mean that compliance organizations, customers or partners will look on these breaches lightly. At the end of the day, any instance where data security is undermined could be looked upon as a violation of data privacy laws under regulations like HIPAA, GDPR and CCPA.
So, if you suffer a misconfiguration, you could end up with a hefty compliance fine, damaged customer trust and lost revenue. Small businesses, in particular, may struggle to recover from the fallout of a cloud misconfiguration. With compliance fines often ranging up to 4% of annual turnover, organizations may find it difficult to stay afloat.
Moreover, while some SMBs think that they can suffer data breaches without anybody knowing, this is now far from the case. Hackers are often on the lookout for cloud instances that have accidentally been left public. Even if you manage to avoid the initial fallout of a cloud misconfiguration, hackers may steal the data you’ve left public, resulting in a larger-scale breach that hits the headlines.
How To Prevent Cloud Misconfigurations
It’s in your company’s best interest to get a handle on cloud misconfigurations and securely use the cloud - not only to improve cybersecurity but to boost efficiency too.
Incorrectly using the cloud can dampen employee productivity, hamper innovation and drive up costs. By correctly managing the cloud and configuring it strategically, your business will benefit in numerous ways over the long term.
However, navigating the cloud requires expertise and specialist cybersecurity skills. Configuring and managing multiple cloud environments is not easy. That’s why many SMBs look to us to help with cloud configuration reviews and cloud security management.
Secure Your Cloud Workloads Today!
Do you require assistance in determining the best course of action for your cloud requirements? We can help. If you currently have an IT team, or are starting from scratch, we can help you with our cloud security solutions to discover and remediate cloud misconfigurations, and improve cloud efficiency. Contact us today to find out more.
