Cloud Security Threats: 2022 Edition

SOFTWARE SECURITY

Article | May 18, 2022

In the past couple of years, the world has gone through a rapid digital transformation, which has led to a deeper penetration of modern technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and others. As a result, smart businesses are shifting their digital resources to the cloud to benefit from features such as streamlined operations, centralized data storage, increased operational flexibility, and hassle-free data transition. As per a study conducted in 2022, nearly 94% of businesses around the world are using at least one cloud service. Every enterprise possesses large volumes of sensitive data, including financial statements, business designs, employees’ identity information, and others. As organizations worldwide migrate from on-premises working to a remote working model, more data is being stored in the cloud than ever before, making cloud security one of the most crucial aspects for businesses today. 5 Proven Tips to Strengthen Cloud Security Hygiene for Businesses With the advent of cloudification and the increasing use of cloud-based applications, the prevalence of cybercrime has increased significantly. For instance, in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a significant spike in cybercrime, with reports of a 600% increase in malicious emails. Furthermore, a report from the United Nations says that cybercrime will cost the world economy $10.5 trillion every year by 2025. Even though cloud networks, such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services, have their own data protection measures for securing the cloud services they provide, it does not mean that businesses utilizing these services should rely solely on their security measures and not consider adopting additional measures. So what are the tactics modern businesses should adopt to improve cloud security hygiene? Let’s see: Deploy Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) When it comes to keeping hackers out of user accounts and protecting sensitive data and applications used to run a business online, the traditional username and password combination is often not enough. Leverage MFA to prevent hackers from accessing your cloud data and ensure only authorized personnel can log in to your cloud applications and critical data in your on- or off-premise environment. MFA is one of the most affordable yet highly effective controls to strengthen your business's cloud security. Manage Your User Access It is crucial for your business to ensure adequate permissions are in place to protect sensitive data stored on cloud platforms. Not all employees need access to certain applications and documents. To improve your cloud security and prevent unauthorized access, you need to establish access rights. This not only helps prevent unauthorized employees from accidentally editing sensitive company data but also protects your company from hackers who have stolen an employee's credentials. Monitor End User Activities Real-time analysis and monitoring of end-user activity can help you detect anomalies that depart from usual usage patterns, such as logging in from a previously unknown IP address or device. Identifying these out-of-the-ordinary events can stop hackers and allow you to rectify security before they cause mayhem. Create a Comprehensive Off-boarding Process After an employee leaves your firm, they should no longer have access to any company resources, including cloud storage, systems, data, customers, or intellectual property. Unfortunately, completing this vital security duty is sometimes put off until several days or weeks after an employee has left. Since every employee is likely to have access to a variety of cloud platforms and applications, a systemized deprovisioning procedure can assist you in ensuring that all access permissions for each departing employee are revoked and prevent information leaks. Provide Regular Anti-Phishing Training to Employees Hackers can acquire access to protected information by stealing employees' login credentials using social engineering techniques such as phishing, internet spoofing, and social media spying. As a result, cybersecurity has now become a collective responsibility, making comprehensive anti-phishing training necessary to educate your employees about these threats. As unscrupulous hackers frequently come up with new phishing scams by the day, regular anti-phishing training is essential for developing formidable cloud security. Bottom Line Cloud security hygiene no longer consists solely of strong passwords and security checks. Instead, it is a series of innovative procedures that organizations use nowadays to leverage cloud networks. With more businesses moving towards the cloud and cyberattacks on the rise, it is the responsibility of your organization to remain vigilant and protect itself from cyberattacks.

SOFTWARE SECURITY

Article | June 6, 2022

The subject of how information security impacts different industry sectors is an intriguing one. For example, how does the finance industry fare in terms of information security compared to the health sector, or the entertainment business? Are there some sectors that face greater cyber-threats and risks than others? Do some do a better job of keeping data secure, and if so, how and why?A new study of credit management professionals has revealed that improving the quality of data and decision-making will be a top priority for the credit industry in the next three years. The research, from Equifax Ingnite in collaboration with Coleman Parkes, takes a deep dive into the views of credit management pros across retail, banking, finance and debt management/recovery sectors.

DATA SECURITY, PLATFORM SECURITY, SOFTWARE SECURITY

Article | August 20, 2022

During 2019, new privacy laws were introduced, and many current laws evolved in the United States and across the global landscape. With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in full effect, we saw expensive fines levied upon companies that fell victim to data privacy breaches. As we move into a new year, probably the biggest takeaway from 2019 is that being proactive and having a data privacy strategy in place is important to help mitigate the risk of a data privacy breach. The regulatory landscape continues to evolve as states and countries actively pass new expanded requirements for privacy and cybersecurity regulations. While laws in the U.S., like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), are getting significant attention, many other states and countries are actively amending their breach notification laws to include tighter restrictions.

Article | February 12, 2020

On December 16, 2019, the U.S. Coast Guard disclosed a security incident at a facility regulated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA). Forensic analysis suggests that the incident might have begun when an employee clicked on a link embedded in a phishing email.This action enabled a threat actor to set Ryuk ransomware loose on the facility’s network. Ultimately, the infection spread to all IT network files, leading Ryuk to disrupt the corporate IT network and prevent critical process control monitoring systems from functioning properly. Phishing is one of the primary infection vectors for most ransomware families, but there’s an interesting twist with this particular family. As noted by Malwarebytes, a typical Ryuk attack begins when a user opens a weaponized Microsoft Office document attached to a phishing email. Opening the document causes a malicious macro to execute a PowerShell command that attempts to download the banking trojan Emotet. This has the ability to download additional malware onto an infected machine that retrieves and executes Trickbot.