3 Shocking Cloud Security Truths That Could Cost Your Business Millions
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Embracing the cloud? Let's ensure it's a smooth sail, not a stormy ride. Here are 3 eye-opening cloud security facts every CISO and his staff need to know:
1. Cloud Breaches Are Usually Preventable
It's a tough pill to digest, but the reality is that most cloud breaches are preventable. Gartner's research suggests that a whopping 99% of these breaches stem from avoidable configuration errors. Such oversights, like leaving ports unrestricted or having over-privileged credentials, are akin to leaving your front door wide open.
But here's the silver lining: with the right tools and strategies, these pitfalls are entirely avoidable. Start by gaining a comprehensive view of your configuration landscape. After all, you can't safeguard what you can't see.
Use automated discovery and mapping to illuminate your entire cloud attack surface down to the individual component level; document subnets, resource dependencies, and settings to establish a security baseline reflecting best practices. From there, you should maintain continuous configuration monitoring and swift alerts for any deviations. By setting up these guardrails, you're not just reacting to threats but proactively fortifying your cloud fortress.
With this level of cloud visibility and control, you can proactively lock down cloud security and prevent most breaches.
2. Your Own Cloud Teams May Be the Weak Links
It might be a tad unsettling, but sometimes, the very team managing your cloud could inadvertently introduce vulnerabilities. Your DevOps team, while brilliant at their core tasks, might not always have security at the top of their minds. Amidst tight schedules, they might inadvertently overlook security best practices.
Some common examples include poor password hygiene, leaving insecure default settings untouched, and opening unneeded network ports. While not malicious, these oversights create vulnerabilities that attackers exploit.
Knowledge is power. This doesn't mean pointing fingers, however, empowering them. Introduce a dedicated, security-centric review of infrastructure-as-code configurations for gaps before they go live. Incorporate a risk assessment gateway or stage in your CI/CD pipelines to catch and rectify misconfigurations during pre-production. Remember, it's about building a culture of security, where every team member is a vigilant guardian of your cloud assets.
When humans are involved, simple mistakes will happen. Reducing cloud security risks of your own teams through configuration intelligence oversight can be extremely powerful.
3. The Business Damage Is Immense When Cloud Security Fails
It's natural to think, "It won't be us." But the numbers from IDC paint a different picture, with 75% of enterprises having faced at least one cloud breach. When it does happen, compromised configurations make investigation and recovery excruciatingly slow. The aftermath? A painstakingly slow process, eroded customer trust, and significant financial implications.
Lack of visibility into what changed leaves IT admins scrambling to puzzle out the root cause. Outages drag on for hours, days, or weeks, destroying customer trust and revenue. Then there are the costs of regulatory fines, lawsuit settlements, and damaged market reputation. A single cloud breach could cost your company millions, even billions in market value. Just ask Yahoo after their $350 million settlement.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
With robust configuration risk intelligence, you can swiftly pinpoint the root cause and bounce back faster. Detailed change tracking and advanced analytics empower rapid root cause analysis, and get systems back online in minutes, not weeks, when adversity strikes.
In today's data-driven world, a cloud breach could single-handedly sink your digital transformation vision. Tight configuration control is the foundation for realizing the cloud's potential safely.
Want to find out more about Configuration Risk Intelligence and how Evolven can help you prepare for these cloud challenges? Contact Evolven today.
