Over the last 12 months, since the end of 2020, the frequency of cyberattacks on cloud services has increased — today, it is amongst the most sophisticated form of digital terrorism in the modern workplace. Maintaining a vigilant eye on your cloud service is critical to today’s business ecosystem. As more industries gradually adopt cloud services and migrate to them - due to their flexibility and productivity, not to mention reduced cost - this attracts predators. In this article, we’re going to talk about the benefits of constant cloud vulnerability management. Mainly what such a service prevents, and why it might be critical to your security measures.
The danger of cloud vulnerabilities
Cloud computing is the latest trend in the IT industry. It has been adopted by many companies to reduce costs, optimize resources, and the fact that it provides their employees with a more flexible work environment. Cloud computing is an excellent tool for businesses to store their data securely while also having access to it from anywhere in the world at any time of day or night. However, there are some risks associated with cloud vulnerabilities that need to be addressed before adopting cloud computing.
In the last 18 months, 79% of businesses have experienced at least one cloud security breach. What’s even worse is that during that same period over 43% reported 10 or more of these attacks. Why is that? Well, attackers have become rather efficient at exploding cloud services, at using sophisticated and cutting-edge methods to infest and decimate malware. Add that to the fact that 92% of organizations currently host some if not all of their data on a cloud and suddenly you have a very attractive playground for digital malcontent. A breach, a normal attack, costs a corporation an average of 3 to 4 million dollars. And, in many cases, hackers can get that same amount from either their employers - who hired them to tamper with your infrastructure - or through the selling of data acquired from your databases — in other words, it’s a huge payout, one where part of the profits are being diverted to better tech, better information gathering, better recruitment. One of the most important things to understand about the cybercrime landscape is that hackers are not lone wolves, or a couple of kids hauled up in their parent's basement, but a refined, highly competent team of experts with massive funding. They are collectives with benchmarks and acute business practices — some of which rival your own.
The dangers of cloud vulnerabilities can be categorized into two types: technical and non-technical. Technical risks include data loss, data breach, system crash, and malicious attacks on the cloud infrastructure. Non-technical risks include privacy issues and data ownership rights.
Cloud vulnerability challenges
A survey conducted in 2020 uncovered that the biggest challenge when it came to cloud-based vulnerability management was compliance and auditing. 52% of those interviewed said they were having issues with auditing security issues, which they knew would eventually lead to security breaches.
Other issues most companies uncovered were the following:
- Wrong user privileged access.
- Controlling cloud storage and cost.
- Governance and compliance issues.
- Lack of cloud management expertise.
- Accidental exposure of credentials.
The biggest hurdle, most organizations agree on when it comes to cloud-native security vulnerabilities is human error. Your employees are your biggest risk. They are the ones that will expose you, unintentionally, to threats.
The benefits of vulnerability management in the cloud
Let’s list the main advantages of cloud-based vulnerability management services, and how they can help you solve some of your biggest issues when it comes to cloud computing and storage.
Improved infrastructure security
The key benefit of a cloud security solution is that it superchargers your infrastructure and reduces your risk exposure. By implementing proactive threat management, deployed to your many endpoints - devices, access ports, applications, etc., you will have a better grasp of your security platform — primarily how you can react, mitigate exposure, and your overall management of attack scenarios.
Faster response
By having a cloud-based vulnerability management service you avoid gaps in time between security breaches or vulnerability reports and remediation. The high availability of this service means that you can keep systems running smoothly despite component failures or breaches. By constantly monitoring, backing up data, and creating failsafe protocols your system is always ready in case a disaster strikes.
24/7 Prevention
Live monitoring, 24/7, 365 days a year means your team will be able to react to issues and address them in real-time. Hackers are well aware of your business hours, of your operating staff turn -over, they have done their research on you. They will, to put it bluntly, attack in the middle of the night when you are least expecting them when you are more vulnerable, and, more importantly, when they know you’re asleep.
That is why constant monitoring is key to managing your cloud vulnerabilities.
Get the best from your budget
A scalable cloud vulnerability management service can adapt to your budget and needs. Spend less money on managing vulnerabilities. For example, a service of this type can predict when you will have periods of high traffic, server capacities maxed before they crash — during this period you’ll pay an extra, but once the demand dwindles, your charges are reduced.
Achieve constant, continuous, cloud vulnerability management
These are just some of the benefits of these types of services — they can also manage regulatory landmines and compliance challenges. It doesn’t matter if you’re running one server or having a hundred of them around the world, you need to keep your system protected. Cloud vulnerability management services are dynamic and are continually updating their strategies and tactics. Contacting specialists in the field and hiring out third-party suppliers is critical. They help out by mitigating your risk levels and taking on most, if not all, of the security responsibility off your hands.