The cloud, an essential component in business operations, transforms how organizations scale, innovate and adapt. However, the breadth and depth of its growing influence, are not only confined to the business realm. Cloud environments are an integral part of our daily lives, entrusted to store and transfer the most sensitive data of civilians globally. With the sheer volume of businesses and individuals leveraging the cloud, it is no surprise that such environments are now active playgrounds for attackers.

The grueling dash to maintain pace with cloud environments keeps many CISOs and security practitioners awake at night. The cloud poses a unique set of security complexities, and its ongoing evolution continues to add layers of intricacy.

The Expanding Threat Landscape

The vastness and uniqueness of cloud environments, each with a wide range of applications and connections, which have their configurations, make them increasingly difficult for IT and security teams to monitor. This complexity increases the risk of a security incident, as incorrect configurations and open APIs can be easily exploited. Threat actors often seek these vulnerabilities to enter an organization’s network and gain unauthorized access to privileged accounts. As many organizations often lack full visibility into their cloud environments, they can be unaware their cloud has been compromised, giving attackers more time to gather significant amounts of data.

With more organizations deploying and leveraging stronger cloud security controls, cybercriminals are innovating, and altering tactics and techniques to circumvent these measures. According to a recent report, Darktrace identified 10.4 million phishing emails to deceive recipients into sharing sensitive information, across its customer fleet between 1st September and 31st December 2023. Of these emails, 38% were observed utilizing novel social engineering techniques, indicating that threat actors are innovating to improve their tactics.

The rise of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, adds complexity to the evolving threat landscape. AI has drastically lowered the barrier of entry for attackers, allowing threat actors across varying levels of technical ability to carry out attacks with greater scale and sophistication. The same research revealed that of the phishing emails observed, 28% contained “a significant amount of text,” suggesting that threat actors leverage generative AI tools to help automate social engineering activity to create increasingly convincing phishing campaigns, posing a heightened risk to cloud security.

The Complex Challenges of Cloud Security

The customizable nature of the cloud also means a one-size-fits-all approach to security is no longer effective. The cloud requires a security strategy that can adapt to the specific needs of each environment.

Cloud environments are multi-layered, each with unique configurations, creating a difficult territory for security and IT teams to monitor and comprehend. Unfortunately, the current shortage of critical cybersecurity professionals adds another roadblock to securing the cloud. Despite a nearly 10% increase in the cybersecurity workforce, the gap between the demand for skilled professionals and the supply has widened, with a record-high shortage of nearly four million professionals, according to the latest cybersecurity workforce study from ISC2. Even with ongoing efforts to close this gap through initiatives like the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy enacted by the Biden-Harris Administration last year, the demand for skilled cybersecurity talent far outweighs the supply – and organizations continue to feel the pressure.

A Proactive Approach to Security Strategy

Despite the complexities and risks posed by external and internal threats, there’s light at the end of the tunnel for cloud security. Organizations must understand it requires a distinct strategy; especially as bad actors increasingly leverage AI to fight through perimeters. Starting with a proactive approach that goes beyond traditional security measures, investing in security tools that do not aim to simplify the cloud, but rather harness its complexity and using its scale and intricacy can help organizations strengthen their cloud security.

This requires organizations to holistically understand their cloud ecosystems, including user behaviors, application architectures and potential vulnerabilities. Organizations must invest in qualified IT and security personnel who implement advanced tools and build strong defensive strategies to secure their cloud environments. Organizations should also invest in accelerating and expanding their training and apprenticeship programs to cultivate a culture of cybersecurity awareness among their employees. A strong level of awareness is crucial to minimize the threat of human error and protect cloud environments.

In addition to skilled talent, organizations must invest in advanced solutions offering perspective on existing and emerging threats. AI-driven solutions can provide dynamic visibility into an organization’s multi-cloud environments, enabling a cloud-native approach to threat detection and response. Typical static security solutions only provide a snapshot of the cloud environment before deployment, missing the real-time threats that emerge post-integration. AI-driven security solutions can detect vulnerabilities with precision in real-time, allowing businesses to respond quickly and prevent disruption to business operations. Should a cloud-related incident occur, organizations should have a robust incident response plan that encourages speedy and effective responses, greatly reducing impact. Cyber resilience is a crucial, yet often overlooked, part of a holistic cybersecurity strategy.

While the cloud is important for business innovation and growth, its criticality is a double-edged sword with the increased potential for cyberattacks. Securing cloud environments is complex, but crucial in the ever-evolving digital age. By implementing a proactive security strategy, investing in skilled cybersecurity talent, and leveraging real-time,

With AI-driven security measures, organizations can reap the many benefits of the cloud while ensuring their environments are protected from advancing cyberthreats.