What Is Cloud Security?

Cloud security refers to the collection of technologies, policies, controls, and procedures to protect cloud-based systems, data, and infrastructure. As organizations increasingly store critical data and run applications in public, private, or hybrid cloud environments, new security risks emerge. These risks differ from traditional on-premises threats, demanding strategies to control access, protect sensitive information, and detect potential breaches.

Cloud security best practices involve a combination of technical and operational measures to protect data and infrastructure in cloud environments. Key areas include data encryption, access management, network security, and continuous monitoring. Organizations should also focus on incident response planning, security training, and compliance with relevant regulations.

Cloud security functions across multiple layers, focusing not only on preventing unauthorized access but also on enforcing compliance with regulatory standards. Key concerns include data breaches, misconfigurations, insecure APIs, and account hijacking.

Let’s take a close look at the top 10 cloud security challenges we’ve identified in the last year that need to be closely monitored in 2025 and beyond.

1. Advanced AI-driven threats

Throughout 2023, AI exploded as a megatrend that changes the risk landscape significantly – both positively and negatively. We’ve seen AI-powered DDoS attacks, where attackers use automation to adjust threat vectors based on real-time analysis of success against various attack surfaces, and ransomware and malware that can adapt to the environment and replicate using existing and newly discovered vulnerabilities.

The potential for generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) is a double-edged sword, and the cloud security landscape feels uncertain as attackers come up with more and more sophisticated attacks.

In 2023, hackers managed to abuse the growing popularity of OpenAI’s well-known tool, ChatGPT. The chatbot was found to be “hallucinating” in its responses to questions about coding packages and libraries and recommending things that didn’t exist.

Hackers went ahead and created malicious packages with the same names, so developers receiving the same recommendations from ChatGPT would download the malicious software.

Although the threat is of great concern, it’s not all doom and gloom, according to Google Cloud’s own CISO. While it’s true we expect to see AI help attackers, AI should also give defenders a significant advantage because AI is good at amplifying capability based on data — and defenders have more data.

2. Phishing and Social Engineering

Human behavior remains one of the staples in any list of risks, both as an external threat as well as an internal one due to disgruntled employees.

As an external threat, phishing is still one of the most effective attacks. Humans are always the weak link in the security chain, and AI is making defending from social engineering attacks even harder due to the ease with which deep fakes can be produced that appear to be someone you know, to automated, convincing emails, messages, and chats with no grammar errors or that take on the tone and style of a specific person.

In the cloud, IAM (Identity and Access Management) is the first line of defense when focusing on the prevention of unauthorized users and devices from accessing cloud assets.

Leaked credentials and bypassed authentication processes are very dangerous and can lead to massive disasters, such as data breaches and unauthorized access to sensitive resources.

 

3. Evolving regulatory frameworks

As technology advances, we see more and more updates and additions to compliance laws and standards ensuring both businesses and customer data are adequately protected.

Maintaining compliance with the increasing complexity of frameworks and benchmarks can become overwhelming very quickly, especially for small teams.

For example, in 2023, we saw multiple updates to CIS benchmarks for cloud services including Azure, AWS, and Kubernetes.

For financial institutions, the implementation deadline for DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) is also quickly approaching, with the release scheduled for early 2025 (17th of January).

All told, 2024 is a pivotal year for compliance and companies must keep up with the evolving regulations and maintain a good cloud security posture to protect themselves from emerging cybersecurity threats.

 

 

4. Quantum computing for password cracking

Widely used encryption algorithms such as RSA were originally designed to withstand traditional computing attack methods, requiring a significant amount of computations to be made in order to crack passwords.

The entire cryptographic landscape is currently based on this solution, with RSA protecting sensitive data everywhere. But developments in quantum computing keep advancing and threaten to make the impossible number of computations achievable.

As a result, it’s expected that traditional encryption methods might one day become obsolete. The day quantum computing attacks will become possible is named Q-day, and it might be around the corner.

 

 

5. Complexity in multi-cloud environments

It’s often said that the real killer in cloud security is the complexity. Cloud platforms and products have evolved in a granular fashion and security has followed suit. One often quoted Gartner prediction is that 99% of cloud security failures through 2025 will be due to user error as admins struggle to keep control of sprawling estates.

Cloud service providers offer menus of products and services running into the hundreds, each with their own security configuration, and in a multi-cloud environment this complexity is amplified.

Managing data security in multi-cloud environments can be especially challenging due to cloud providers’ different configurations, security policies, even their vocabulary. As new tools appear, fully understanding a multi-cloud infrastructure can become harder. Remember, a certified AWS cloud expert is not an Azure cloud expert by default, and vice versa.

 

6. Cybersecurity alert fatigue

Stress and burnout are rampant among cybersecurity professionals and the impact of user fatigue is no secret – thousands of alerts and logs that signal everything and anything that happens in the cloud is not a helpful approach. In many cloud security setups, the default process is to alert for every event, regardless of its criticality.

This flood of alerts can quickly become overwhelming for cloud security professionals who become used to severe or critical alerts popping up every day. When everything is critical, nothing is. So, this can desensitize them, and when an actual breach occurs and legitimately critical alerts are sent out, they can end up being overlooked.

This approach can also turn into a resource hog, giving security practitioners an endless list of tasks to work through that might not achieve the desired results.

 

7. Executive decisions and responsibilities

One of the biggest challenges a CISO or CTO faces when approaching the board or C suite for funding is justifying their cybersecurity spend. There has long been a perception gap between the cost of security versus the cost of a breach and the simple truth is, you can spend some money up front to reduce the likelihood of a breach, or you can spend more later when the breach has happened.

The global average cost of a data breach has climbed 15% over the last three years and with lagging investment, only about one third of breaches are picked up by an organization’s own team.

Furthermore, we’ve seen how decisions made by individuals in executive positions make or break a company through their impact on the company’s security strategy. Look at the SolarWinds case as an example, where the SolarWinds CISO ended up being investigated for fraud over failure to fully disclose security gaps and issues in the company.

There’s also the issue of how those responsible for executing on the security strategy are impacted by executive decisions. The SEC investigation into SolarWinds found that “the volume of security issues being identified have outstripped the capacity of Engineering teams to resolve.”

 

8. Insider threats and privilege misuse

Sometimes, it’s easy to focus on preventing unwanted access from external actors and forgetting that harm can also be done from the inside. Malicious or unintentional actions by employees with privileged access can pose significant security risks.

Estimates vary but most research agrees that more than half of security breaches experienced are a result of internal threats or abuse of privilege.

 

9. Cryptographic keys management

Managing encryption keys effectively is critical for safeguarding data. With the growing volume of encrypted data in the cloud, ensuring secure storage, access, rotation, and revocation of encryption keys has become challenging.

Why is the way you store and manage cryptographic keys so important? A good example is the leak of 38TB of secrets that occurred in 2023, when a GitHub repository owned by Microsoft’s AI research division provided a link to a misconfigured Azure storage resource.

Microsoft AI Researchers exposed crypto keys, passwords, and other data through a storage account that could be accessed using leaked SAS (Shared Access Signature) tokens. If encryption keys are leaked, the effort of encrypting data goes to waste.

And it’s not just about protecting data but maintaining access to it. If an encryption key expires before it’s rotated out, you could end up losing access to precious data.

10. Incident Response

Preventative cybersecurity measures will only take you so far. Developing and implementing robust incident response plans specific to cloud environments is essential.

According to the annual M-Trends report by Mandiant, part of Google, global median dwell time was down to 16 days in 2023 from 21 the year before, meaning attacks are being detected more quickly than ever before.

Although this decrease is in part down to better tools and better approaches by defenders, an explosion in ransomware is also driving this number down as the point of these attacks is to make themselves known for extortion purposes.

So, when it comes to responding to an active incident, speed is of the essence.

Cloud Security Strategy Roadmap

While the challenges of cloud security can seem overwhelming, having a comprehensive and strategic roadmap in place can guide your journey towards a secure cloud environment. Whether you’re a CISO, a Cloud Security Expert, or a Senior System Administrator, this roadmap is tailored to meet the unique requirements of your organization’s cloud security posture.

1. Assessment and Understanding of the Current State:

• Security Posture Analysis: Understand the current security posture by evaluating the existing security controls, policies, and configurations.
• Risk Assessment: Identify potential risks, vulnerabilities, and threats specific to your cloud environment, including unauthorized access, data loss, and insider threats.
• Compliance Alignment: Ensure that your cloud infrastructure aligns with industry regulations and standards like PCI-DSS, GDPR, and HIPAA.

2. Creating a Security Framework and Policies:

• Define Security Objectives: Establish clear and measurable security goals that align with organizational priorities.
• Implement Security Frameworks: Utilize recognized frameworks such as NIST or ISO/IEC 27001 for a structured approach.
• Develop and Enforce Policies: Create comprehensive security policies, including identity and access management (IAM), endpoint security, and multi-factor authentication (MFA).

3. Implementing Security Controls and Tools:

• Leverage Security Solutions: Implement tools like CSPM tool for managing cloud security, and consider CNAPP security for application protection.
• Utilize Firewalls and Real-time Protections: Employ firewalls and real-time security solutions to protect against cyberattacks, phishing, and malware.
• Secure Cloud Data and Infrastructure: Use cloud security compliance platforms to ensure data protection and integrity across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

4. Monitoring, Reporting, and Incident Response:

• Continuous Monitoring: Implement continuous monitoring of security threats, unauthorized access, and configurations through platforms like CSPM.
• Regular Reporting: Generate regular reports on security performance, compliance alignment, and potential vulnerabilities.
• Incident Response Plan: Develop a robust incident response strategy to address breaches and attacks, ensuring timely mitigation and recovery.

5. Ongoing Evaluation and Improvement:

• Review and Update Security Measures: Regularly review and update security measures to stay ahead of evolving threats and security landscape changes.
• Provide Continuous Training: Educate security teams and employees on emerging threats, security best practices, and ongoing compliance requirements.
• Evaluate Emerging Technologies: Keep up with new technologies and approaches in cloud security, like cloud security strategy best practices, to continually innovate and strengthen your security posture.