5 Secrets you didn't know about Cloud Security

By Cloud Computing Outlook | Sunday, October 11, 2020

Although cloud has become a primary IT strategy, many still have concerns over its security. And have raised even more as the reliance on the cloud has increased drastically

Fremont, CA: As intriguing as the promises of cloud computing are, enterprises at first were cautious of giving up data and workloads to the cloud for reasons such as security and privacy. Although cloud has become a primary IT strategy, many still have concerns over it. And have raised even more as the reliance on the cloud has increased drastically.

Here are five dark security secrets of doing business in the cloud.

Economical yet Unsecure

Mass economics means cheap costs, as cloud companies have a massive amount of hardware. It keeps the prices low but also makes it easier for attackers since finding one hole in one instance can pop open numerous instances.

Shared Devices

The economic advantage of the cloud is that the cost of upkeep and physical maintenance is shared with others. But the power that comes from completely controlling the hardware is lost, and the user has no clue who is using the same device.

Extra Layer of Software

Cloud instances come with an extra layer of software sitting under the operating system, and it’s completely beyond a user’s control. The OS may get root accessed, but the user would generally have no idea about what is going down below. The undocumented layer could be used to do anything to the data as it flows through.

Excessive Cloning

Many cloud architects prefer the model of using smaller machines, which can be started and stopped depending on the fluctuation of demands. Because of the simplicity of making small machines exactly the same, it will also mean duplicating many of the same secrets. If some private key is used to sign documents or to log in to a database, all of the cloned instances will have it.

Attackers can have Access to Resources

A vital trait of the cloud is that it instantly adapts to demand. If there’s a peak in requests, the cloud can spin up new versions of a user’s machine. In short, it is very easy to create fake demand. An attacker can trigger one of the user’s apps to spin up new instances by several thousand quick visits. And request a new instance soon after triggering the cloud to expand, and soon everyone will be sharing the same memory space as the user.