The purpose of this article is to discuss cybersecurity issues with moving to the cloud. As organizations increasingly migrate their applications and data to the cloud, traditional network security architectures become less effective. Without additional security solutions, security policies within cloud applications are governed within the application itself. It decides the security posture over your data. Many applications only require a username and password, and that is a recipe for bad security.
Cybersecurity Issue #1 – Data Security
The first cybersecurity issue with cloud applications is that data security and privacy become paramount concerns as sensitive information is stored in the cloud. Without additional security controls, your end users may be able to login to their cloud-based CRM and download your entire customer list to their personal PC. They could have unfettered access to download whatever they want. Organizations must implement robust encryption, access controls, and data loss prevention measures to safeguard against unauthorized access, data breaches, and compliance violations.
Cybersecurity Issue #2 – Identity Management
Managing user identities and controlling access to SaaS applications pose significant challenges. Weak identity and access management practices can lead to unauthorized access, insider threats, and data leaks. Implementing strong authentication methods and least privilege access controls is crucial to mitigate these risks.
We all trust our application owners to clean up old accounts of people who have long been terminated or moved to a different role, right? Although people may have good intentions, it’s easy to mis-manage user accounts across multiple cloud-based applications. “I didn’t know they had access to that application” is not an excuse. Let me be clear. Every cloud-based application is a new directory that cybersecurity and IT both need to manage. That includes ensuring that people who have access to those cloud environments should have access and access should be removed when they no longer need it.
Cybersecurity Issue #3 – BYOD
A big challenge from a security standpoint in moving to the cloud is the fact that you are allowing people to connect over a browser to corporate applications. Without additional security controls, that browser can be initiated from anywhere in the world on any device. Most often, it is initiated from the end users home PC. Home PCs have many security issues for accessing corporate data and using corporate services in the cloud.
Home PCs likely have the following cybersecurity issues:
- They save work-credentials
- No antivirus (or “free” antivirus)
- No firewall
- Requires no authentication
- Can download data
- Can upload data
- Most likely not patched and has vulnerabilities
- May already have malware or spyware installed
The fact that your end users use their home PCs to access the same corporate data and services that your secured corporate devices use works against your cybersecurity posture. Organizations must enforce strict policies against the use of BYOD devices for work by implementing strong security controls.
Cybersecurity Issue #4 – Vendor Due Diligence
Whether its a bad actor, advanced persistent threat, hacker, or a bad vendor, cybersecurity professionals must protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of corporate data. Vendor lock-in and supply chain risks arise as organizations rely on SaaS providers. Assessing vendor security practices, including data protection measures and compliance posture, is essential to mitigate these risks effectively.
Nothing sucks more than investing millions of dollars into a cybersecurity program only to have your data compromised because it was in a SaaS application and the vendor didn’t take cybersecurity as serious as you did. Organizations must understand the risks they now share as a result of their third party hosting services and data for them. Anytime you outsource IT to a third party, you have inherited their cybersecurity posture.
Cybersecurity Issue #5 – Integration
Integration with existing IT systems and infrastructure introduces security challenges such as misconfigurations and insecure APIs. Secure coding practices, thorough security assessments of third-party integrations, and API security measures are necessary to minimize these risks. We have seen multiple cases where a misconfiguration brought some of the worst compromises in history, including the CapitalOne incident where an unauthorized party gained access to customer information through a misconfiguration in their third party hosted services.
Conclusion
Addressing these security challenges requires a holistic approach involving collaboration between organizations, SaaS vendors, and cloud service providers. By implementing effective security controls, monitoring for threats, and continuously improving security posture, businesses can navigate the complexities of cloud-native SaaS applications more effectively. One model that is gaining momentum in the cybersecurity space is SASE (Secure Access Service Edge). SASE solutions are designed to protect data in the cloud from non-authorized devices, incorporate identity and access management, data loss prevention, and device hygiene controls.