Cybersecurity incidents occur when businesses do not take adequate measures to protect their IT infrastructure. Cybercriminals exploit its vulnerabilities to inject malware or extract sensitive information. Many of these vulnerabilities exist in businesses that use cloud computing platforms to conduct business.
Cloud computing makes businesses more productive, efficient and competitive in the market. This is because employees can easily collaborate with each other even if they are not in the same location. However, this also brings some risks.
Cloud platforms allow employees to store data on servers and share it with colleagues at any time. Businesses are taking advantage of this by hiring top talent from around the world and making them work remotely. This helps businesses save costs while ensuring high-quality work performance.
However, to maintain these advantages, cloud platforms must be secure and continuously monitored to detect threats and suspicious activity. Cloud monitoring prevents security incidents because the tools and people responsible for finding and analyzing vulnerabilities and suspicious activity address them before they cause harm.
Cloud monitoring reduces security incidents, Here are some of the ways cloud monitoring can help businesses achieve this goal:
1. Proactive problem detection
It’s better to proactively detect and mitigate cyber threats in the cloud rather than wait until serious damage has been done before reacting. Cloud monitoring helps businesses achieve this, preventing downtime, data breaches, and other negative impacts associated with cyberattacks
2. User behavior monitoring
In addition to the general monitoring performed by cloud monitoring tools, cybersecurity professionals can use them to understand the behavior of specific users, files, and applications to detect anomalies.
3. Continuous monitoring
Cloud monitoring tools are designed to work around the clock, so any issues can be addressed as soon as an alert is triggered. Delayed incident response can escalate problems and make them more difficult to resolve.
4. Extensible monitoring
The software programs that enterprises use to monitor their cloud computing platforms are also cloud-based. This allows enterprises to extend their protection capabilities to multiple cloud platforms as they scale.
5. Compatible with third-party cloud service providers
Cloud monitoring can be implemented even if an enterprise integrates a third-party cloud service provider into its cloud computing platform. This enables businesses to protect themselves from threats that may come from third-party providers.
Cybercriminals attack cloud computing platforms in different ways, so cloud monitoring is necessary to stop any attack as quickly as possible rather than allowing it to escalate.
Common cyberattacks launched by malicious actors include:
1. Social engineering
This is an attack in which cybercriminals trick employees into providing them with their work account login details. They will use these details to log into their work account and access employee-only information. Cloud monitoring tools can spot these attackers by flagging login attempts from unrecognized locations and devices.
2. Malware infection
If cybercriminals gain unauthorized access to cloud platforms, they can infect cloud platforms with malware that can disrupt business operations. Examples of such attacks include ransomware and DDoS. Cloud monitoring tools can detect malware infections and alert cybersecurity professionals so they can respond quickly.
3. Data leakage
If cyberattackers gain unauthorized access to an organization's cloud platform and view sensitive data, they could extract the data and leak it to the public. This could permanently damage the reputation of the affected businesses and lead to lawsuits from affected consumers. Cloud monitoring tools can detect data leaks by detecting when unusually large amounts of data are pulled out of the system.
4. Insider attack
Cybercriminals can collude with suspicious employees within the enterprise to illegally access the enterprise’s cloud platform. With the permission and direction of suspicious employees, criminals will attack cloud servers to obtain valuable information that can be used for malicious purposes. This type of attack is difficult to detect because cloud monitoring tools may assume that illegal activity is routine work that employees are doing. However, if monitoring tools detect activity occurring at unusual times, it can prompt cybersecurity personnel to investigate.
Implementing cloud monitoring allows cybersecurity professionals to proactively detect vulnerabilities and suspicious activity in cloud systems, protecting their businesses from being vulnerable to cyberattacks
Post time: Aug-21-2024