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Does your business use cloud platforms like Microsoft 365, AWS, and Google Cloud?

Chances are, you do. And these services can be a massive advantage when it comes to cost savings, flexibility, and scalability. But they can also be a security risk, and many Australian businesses are blissfully unaware of this.

If you’re using the cloud in your business, you need to be aware of the security threats in this area. In this post, we’ll show you how configuration mistakes in cloud platforms can lead to data breaches, and what you can do to prevent this.

What’s the issue here?

According to Gartner, 99% of cloud security failures have been the customer’s fault, and this is often a result of misconfigurations.

What does this mean exactly? Let’s look at a few common issues.

One common problem involves the use of “storage buckets”. These are virtual containers for cloud data, like the “folders” in your computer. This includes facilities like OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, Google Drive etc. If these buckets are configured to be public instead of private, or poorly encrypted, or have mismanaged access policies, your data is at risk.

In simple terms, badly configured cloud storage buckets mean attackers can more easily gain access to your critical data. In 2023, for instance, Microsoft exposed 2.4 terabytes of customer data due to a misconfigured bucket.

Another issue is the fast pace of modern cloud development. A lot of teams are so rushed that they overlook certain data stores, and this leads to resources like test buckets and retired workloads staying online much longer than they should. These can often contain sensitive data and are easy and high-stakes targets for attackers.

Here’s what you need to do

The good news about cloud misconfigurations is that they’re easy to fix. Here’s how:

• Adopt the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) across your organization. In basic terms, this means that every human or program can only access information that’s necessary for the task at hand. It’s a good way to minimize human error, accidental exposure, or malicious access.
  
  
• Cloud adoption is moving too fast and becoming too complex for human analytics to keep up with configuration changes. This is where you need automation. Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tools, for example, can detect misconfigurations, enforce predefined security rules, and constantly monitor for issues like exposed storage.

Work with the pros

Here at Aryon, we help organisations improve their security and defend against common and emerging threats. We can help you identify and fix issues with cloud misconfigurations and give you (at least) one less thing to worry about.

Get in touch with us to learn more about how we can work together.