What Is Data Security in Cloud Computing?

Introduction  

The increasing volume of data exchanged between businesses and cloud service providers creates risk factors for purposeful and unintentional breaches of private information by unreliable third parties. Most cloud service data breaches are caused by criminal activities, insider threats, malware, weak credentials, and human mistakes.  

Generally speaking, the characteristics that make cloud services simple for employees to access through IT systems make it challenging for businesses to prevent illegal access. Thus, businesses of all sizes must reconsider their network security procedures to reduce unwanted data transfers, service interruptions, and reputational harm. Organizations using cloud services are subject to new security risks posed by public APIs and authentication. Organizations may profit from cloud computing, which is now generally acknowledged, by maintaining a robust security posture.  

Biggest Defense Breaches So Far 

After discussing the fundamentals of a data breach, it’s time to look at our ranking of the five greatest data leaks and breaches over the years. 

• A Data Leak From CAM4: 
  The commercial video streaming service CAM4 exposed 10.88 billion recordings in March 2020. Sensitive information was the exposed data. Additionally, since many of the disclosed email addresses were connected to cloud storage, attackers may acquire access to personal images and corporate data if they were able to obtain the leaked data and successfully carry out phishing scams on those individuals. 
  
• LinkedIn Data Breach (2021)
  In a Dark Web forum, information about 700 million LinkedIn members was advertised for sale in June 2021. 92% of the 756 million users of LinkedIn were affected by this vulnerability. The information was leaked in two waves, with the first leak revealing 500 million members and the second leak including the hacker “God User” bragging about selling a database of 700 million LinkedIn users. 
• Yahoo Data Breach: 
  One of the largest incidents we have ever witnessed is this. Although it occurred between 2013 & 2014, Yahoo didn’t disclose it until 2016. In the beginning, it was thought that the hackers had obtained data from over 500 million people. Later, that figure increased to 1 billion users; and finally, in 2017, Yahoo altered the estimate, changing it to 3 billion users.  
• First American Financial Corporation:
  A vulnerability that exposed 885 million users was disclosed by First American Financial Corporation in May 2019. Sensitive user information was exposed in this hack. Additionally, none of the information needed verification to be viewed. The business claims that a “design flaw” on its website caused the data breach.  
• Data Breach at Marriott International: 
  In 2018, Marriott International revealed the problem, claiming that attackers had stolen the data of over 500 million guests at Starwood hotels. Additionally, according to Marriott, more than a billion consumers’ credit card data and expiration dates were taken. They are unsure, nevertheless, as to whether the intruders succeeded in decrypting the data. In the end, a Chinese intelligence agency seeking to compile data on US residents was blamed for this incident. 

Why Companies Should Prioritize Cloud Security? 

With the development of technology and the widespread use of cloud storage, it is strongly urged to take additional steps to secure your data. 

• It Helps Against Security Breaches: 
  Data protection on cloud storage platforms becomes even more crucial, particularly if you choose a public cloud option that grants access to a third party. The customer must go to a hybrid system to safeguard their data. 
• It Aids in Monitoring Remote Work: Cloud security measures protect cloud-based infrastructure, applications, and cloud users’ data. Your data is vulnerable to malware & phishing on the internet, which pose a great security risk. Saving the same in the cloud adds several layers of protection, ensuring data security.   
• It Facilitates Disaster Recovery: 
  Everyone knows that any disaster may happen at any time and significantly impact your data and business if you are not adequately safeguarded.  
• It Strengthens Connections and Improves Database Security Levels:
  Many businesses that employ cloud storage have been exposed to the public significant, maybe sensitive data. The leaks were not intended, but they also cannot be greatly avoided. 

Types Of Threats 

Cloud services have changed how organizations host programs and store data while posing new security risks. 

• Identity and access management: These issues include not using multi-factor authentication, using weak passwords, configuring access points incorrectly, not having access management systems, and not automating the rotation of cryptographic keys and certificates. 
• A takeover of an account: Attackers may attempt to monitor user interactions and transactions, provide false information, change data, and drive users to malicious websites. 
• Vulnerable public APIs: Application interfaces must be protected against both unintentional and intentional efforts to access sensitive data, from authorization and control to encrypted data and activity monitoring. 
• Insiders with malicious intent: A former or current employee or contractor having access to a company’s network, systems, or data may purposefully abuse such access in a way that results in a data breach or compromises the organization’s information systems’ availability. 
• Data sharing: Many cloud services are intended to simplify data sharing across businesses, which broadens the attack surface for attackers who now have more potential targets to acquire sensitive data. 
• Attacks known as denial-of-service (DoS) enable an attacker to harm organizations without having access to their internal networks or cloud services accounts. These attacks can impact numerous organizations at once.   

Best Practices For Optimized Cloud Safety And Security  

To safeguard infrastructure, one should take into account the following top cloud security best practices: 

• Include user-level data security in cloud computing in protective layers. Your company is vulnerable to a variety of hazards and dangers in the cloud environment. Maintaining your compliance with internal and external data security in cloud computing requirements might be essential. 
• Control user access to cloud-based software 
• Educate the employees. You must train your staff if you want to increase the database security level of your cloud ecosystem. 
• Use a private virtual cloud 
• Set up a defense against the threat of cloud phishing and malware 

Conclusion  

We could have included a lot more data breaches in this list, but we hope this gave you a good insight into a problem that is becoming more and more widespread worldwide. Without a sound strategy for cybersecurity, organizations will continue to be targets of cyberattacks as a result of the business world’s fast digital transition. Due to the reforms and advancement of legislation governing user protection, companies must take action right away. When it comes to compliance and user safety, obtaining control and visibility is essential. Various Data Security Courses are instructing you to build a career in cyber security to deal with practical situations. UNext Jigsaw is highly recommended if you’re interested in earning a PC certificate degree in data security.