Data Breaches
Data breaches due to human error, faulty apps, and poor security measures become easy targets for cyber-attacks. The types of data at risk includes information not meant for public release such as intellectual property, trade secrets, financial data, and also personal and personally identifiable information like health records. While data breach is not a concern restricted to cloud computing, it continues to persist as a prime security area for cloud enterprises.
Ineffective Data Management
Inadequate measures for credential, identity, and key management can allow cyber attackers illegitimate access to data with damaging consequences for both organisations and end users. Bad actors masquerading as authentic users can read, delete, and modify data to suit their purposes. They can also snoop and release malware to affect targeted systems like with Trojans.
Insecure Interfaces and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
Software user interfaces and APIs have to be designed to protect against accidental and malicious circumvention of policy such as those intending harm to the system.
System Vulnerabilities
Vulnerabilities in the operating system put the security of data and services at a grave risk. They can be used by attackers to infiltrate systems to steal data and disrupt operations. Sharing access to memory and resources can open up new avenues for perpetrators of cybercrime. These loopholes in the components of the system need to be closed with advance planning and regular supervision.
Account Hijacking
While account hijacking in itself isn’t a new phenomenon, cloud computing has opened up a new platform for it. This is the flip side of technological advancement, with as many ways to sabotage it as there are positive channels to use it. Account hijackers can manipulate an authentic user’s credentials to wreak havoc on society to various extents, some of which can have far reaching consequences.
