Between 2021 and 2023, 2.6 billion personal records were compromised due to data breaches, with 82% of them involving data stored in the cloud. Given the rapid cloud adoption, Cybercriminals naturally gravitate toward vulnerabilities in cloud resources; their top three categories are SaaS(Software-as-a-Services), Cloud Storage, and Cloud Management Infrastructure.
With increasing cloud adoption by companies, the attack surface has increased. There was a 75% increase in cloud intrusions spread across multiple cloud environments. Misconfiguration is the single most common cause of breaches in the cloud, leading to 23% of cloud server security incidents.
Cloud server security, a component of broader cloud security, is a combination of technologies, policies, and best practices your organization adopts to secure your cloud servers – virtual or physical machines. It helps you secure the infrastructure that hosts applications and stores data.
What is Cloud Server Security?
Cloud server security is fundamentally a multifaceted framework that encompasses various technologies, processes, and policies designed to protect customer data, ensure privacy, and comply with stringent regulatory standards. At its core, cloud security serves two primary purposes: the prevention of unauthorized access to data and the mitigation of potential threats to cloud infrastructure. It achieves this through a meticulous balance of data security, governance, regulatory compliances, Identity and Access Management(IAM), and business continuity strategies.
Cloud server security is the collective responsibility of service providers and customers or the enterprise. It follows a shared responsibility model, with the cloud provider responsible for securing the infrastructure(server, networking, storage and facilities), while customers are responsible for securing their organization data and applications within that infrastructure. The model enables both entities to focus on their respective security tasks to ensure cloud server security is not breached.
According to Gartner, 99% of failures in cloud security will be due to users and not failures of the cloud provider which makes it imperative for an organization to evolve its cyber defenses to prevent threat actors from compromising its cyber server security.
Cloud server security aims to protect all elements related to the IT infrastructure, including servers, operating systems, data storage, and virtual machines.
Why is Cloud Server Security Critical for Businesses?
Cyber attacks have financial implications for businesses, with the average cost of attacks on firms with more than 1,000 employees in Europe and the United States estimated to be more than $53,000. Additionally, the non-tangible cost of reputational damage is more detrimental to your organization. A well-designed cloud security system emphasizing server security is essential to prevent breaches, mitigate damages, improve compliance, and enhance customer trust.
Cloud server security ensures uninterrupted business operations and prevents data breaches. Although cloud service providers offer robust security, you must complement cloud platform security features with best-of-breed security solutions to reinforce the security of cloud servers and resources. You must also build an organizational culture emphasizing responsible employee behavior, considering that human elements are the common root cause of 68% of data breaches.
Cloud Server Security vs. Traditional On-Premise Server Security
Cloud server security differs significantly from traditional on-premise server security in approaches and focus areas. It follows a shared responsibility model clearly delineating the responsibilities, with the cloud provider securing the infrastructure while the customer secures data and applications. It employs tools like cloud security posture management (CSPM) and data loss prevention (DLP) to protect individual resources rather than creating a perimeter and offers centralized control over data and applications.
In contrast, in traditional on-premise server security, organizations are responsible for all aspects of security, including hardware maintenance, software updates, and compliance checks. This perimeter-based security model secures the network perimeter with firewalls and intrusion detection systems. Organizations have to invest significantly in physical security infrastructure to protect on-site servers.
| Criteria | Cloud Server Security | On-Premise Server Security |
| Control | Cloud infrastructure security is managed by cloud providers while customers focus on data and applications security. | Organizations manage infrastructure security end-to-end. |
| Data storage | Data is distributed across multiple data centers globally, enhancing redundancy but raising issues of data sovereignty and security risks. | Data is stored on-site, offering greater control over physical access and security. |
| Data encryption | Providers offer state-of-the-art encryption at rest and in transit using advanced algorithms. | Organizations can implement custom encryption methods but require technical expertise. |
| Access Control | The provider offers role-based access control (RBAC) and multifactor authentication (MFA), often integrated with identity and access management (IAM) services. | Internal policies govern access control, including physical access with security measures such as biometric systems. |
| Compliance | Cloud providers are responsible for compliance with regulatory standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) | Organizations have to manage regulatory compliances internally. |
| Physical Security | Cloud providers have extensive multi-layer physical security measures to prevent unauthorized access. | Organizations must implement physical security measures, including secure server rooms and surveillance. |
Common Cloud Server Security Threats
Cloud server security threats refer to attacks on your cloud assets that exploit vulnerabilities in your cloud infrastructure and applications. Your security team must always be on guard since the cybersecurity threat landscape constantly evolves, with new vulnerabilities emerging. Some common cloud server security threats are as follows.
1. Data Breaches
In a data breach, unauthorized users access your organization’s sensitive information without your knowledge or permission. The impact of a data breach depends on the type of information stolen, and it can range from damaging an organization’s reputation to selling your customers or employees personally identifiable information on the dark web. Capital One data breach is one of the largest data breaches ever with a hacker unauthorizedly accessing 100 million customer records.
Your security team can take an average of 277 days to identify and manage data breaches, while those involving lost or stolen credentials can take up to 328 days to identify and contain.
2. Misconfigured Cloud Services
Misconfiguration is the single most common cause of cloud breaches, leading to almost a quarter of all security incidents. Lack of configuration governance creates unprotected environments, such as not creating appropriate privacy settings or leaving default administrative passwords in place. Even minor errors, such as leaving an Amazon S3 bucket publicly accessible, can lead to severe data exposure.
3. Malware
Malware, an abbreviated form of “malicious software,” is computer code that exploits any programmable server, device, or network. Its objectives include access denial, data destruction, misinformation, monetary theft, and more. Ransomware is a common form of malware, increasing 84% over 2023. It employs encryption to hold the victim’s data, and upon receiving money or ransom, the attackers restore access.
4. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks
The attack overwhelms the cloud server with malicious traffic, preventing users from accessing connected online services and sites. In 2023, DDOS attacks increased by 31%, with cybercriminals launching an average of 44,000 attacks daily.
5. Phishing
Phishing attacks involve sending fraudulent communications that appear to come from genuine or credible sources. The objective is to trick people into taking actions that benefit the attacker. Email is the most commonly used channel for phishing attacks, as 40% of all email threats are phishing. The attackers coax victims into divulging confidential information.
Cybercriminals often use phishing techniques to steal login credentials to hijack accounts. Once they gain control over an account they can manipulate data or launch further attacks.
6. Zero-Day Exploits
It targets vulnerabilities in popular software and operating systems that the vendor has yet to patch. Some vulnerabilities have no official patches when discovered, enabling cyber attackers to exploit them to gain a foothold within your cloud environment and expose your cyber servers to threats.
7. Internal Threats and Human Error
The internal threats come from within the organization usually by a current or former employee who has direct access to company servers, sensitive data, and intellectual property. These people can carry out attacks to serve their personal interests or to harm the organization as an act of revenge.
Human error is responsible for 68% of data breaches. It includes mistakes such as using weak passwords or failing to follow security protocols.
8. Advanced Persistent Threats
It is a sophisticated cyber attack in which an intruder establishes an undetected presence within an organization’s cloud server and network to steal sensitive data over a prolonged time. The attacker persists in the environment, screening every workload to search for sensitive information to steal and sell.
Key Components of Cloud Server Security
Cloud server security encompasses various components that work in tandem to protect data, applications, and infrastructure. The key elements of cloud server security are.
1. Network security
Your cloud infrastructure and applications are protected by securing the network through firewalls and network segmentation. A secure cloud perimeter is created by implementing VPNs(virtual Private Networks) and VPCs(Virtual Private Clouds) which are used to host business-critical resources and applications. Network traffic is encrypted between cloud facilities, enhancing data security during transmission.
2. Data Encryption
Data is encrypted both while stored and during transmission using robust encryption protocols, such as AES-256 for data at rest and TLS for data in transit. For example, AWS provides built-in encryption for various services, such as Elastic Block Store (EBS), Simple Storage Service (S3), and Relational Database Service (RDS).
The cloud provider offers key management services to enable you to manage encryption keys securely and control access to encrypted data. Additionally, the cloud also helps you secure file shares and communication and maintain good data storage resource hygiene for cloud data protection.
3. Secure Access Controls Across Multi-Cloud Environments
Cloud server security follows the principle of least privilege and optimizes entitlements for human and machine identities to cloud infrastructure and resources. Identity and Access Management (IAM) enables you to manage access to cloud servers and resources and implement policies enforcing principles of least privilege and entitlements. Cloud provider’s IAM features give you full control and visibility to manage cloud resources centrally. This includes multi-factor authentication (MFA) and role-based access control (RBAC) to ensure that only authorized users can access specific resources.
To secure access to cloud server security and resources, you can complement cloud platform IAM solutions with SentinelOne Singular Identity or Singularity AI CIEM.
4. Security Monitoring and Threat Detection
You must continuously monitor cloud environments to detect anomalies and potential threats. Amazon offers tools such as Amazon GuardDuty, while the equivalent Google Cloud tool is Cloud Security Command Center, which offers visibility into security risks to cloud servers and across resources. It helps identify cloud server vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in real-time.
You can also use third-party security platforms to visualize the threat landscape and respond swiftly to incidents. These platforms use AI-based anomaly detection algorithms to identify and detect unknown threats, which are analyzed to determine their risk profile. It provides real-time alerts on intrusions and policy violations, which helps reduce the time to remediate and contain the negative impact.
5. Physical Security
Cloud providers’ data centers use state-of-the-art multi-layer physical security controls, surveillance, and environmental controls to protect cloud servers from physical threats. The physical security measures include custom-designed electronic access cards, biometrics, alarms, vehicle access barriers, perimeter fencing, metal detectors, and laser-based intrusion detection systems.
6. Zero-Trust Security
In a Zero-trust security approach, users and devices accessing cloud servers are continuously verified through multiple mechanisms to establish trust before granting access. It helps you protect applications hosted and data stored on cloud servers. IAM(Identity and Access Management) is an integral component of Zero Trust security enabling you to control access to cloud servers that host applications and store data. It enables you to verify every user and device’s access rights and privileges based on context, such as the role, location, and the data they are requesting.
7. Compliance and Governance
Cloud service providers comply with various industry standards such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, and GDPR which help ensure security practices meet regulatory requirements and cloud server security is not compromised. Additionally, continuous compliance checks and audits help to maintain security standards and identify deficient areas for improvement.
You can also use automated compliance checks to ensure your organization adheres to relevant legal, regulatory, and industry standards, such as GDPR and HIPAA. They enable you to monitor cloud resources against benchmarks and maintain documentation for audits.
8. Incident Response and Change Management
Cloud security platforms provide you with automation and simulation tools to minimize response time and mitigate damage from security incidents.
A prompt incident response and change management is a critical components of a robust cloud server security framework. It enables you to respond to security breaches by following a defined risk mitigation process.
Cloud Server Security Best Practices
The security of public cloud infrastructure is one of the top concerns cited by executives and a barrier to their organization’s cloud adoption. Enterprise customer misconfiguration has been the key contributing factor to public cloud breaches, making cloud servers as vulnerable as on-premise servers. You must follow cloud security best practices and implement policies to ensure cloud server security is not compromised.
1. Implement Strong Access Control and Least Privileged Access
To ensure secure, controlled access to the cloud, you must enforce strong password policies, permission timeouts, and other features. You must also use MFA to add an extra layer of security beyond passwords.
You must follow the principle of least privilege by granting users the minimum entitlements required for their roles. You must optimize entitlements for humans and machines and regularly review and modify permissions to ensure they remain appropriate.
2. Encrypt Data
You must use robust encryption mechanisms for sensitive data stored in the cloud and for data being transmitted between environments. You can leverage secure protocols such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) to protect data in transit.
3. Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing
Vulnerability assessment helps you identify weak areas within your organization’s IT landscape that need attention to enhance the security of cloud servers. Penetration testing helps your organization understand the potential implications of a successful attack by exploiting vulnerabilities that may compromise cloud server security.
A proactive vulnerability assessment enables you to proactively identify, prioritize, and remediate weaknesses to minimize risk to cloud resources and ensure operational continuity. Singularity Vulnerability Management helps you discover at-risk assets and evaluate their posture with continuous vulnerability assessment. You must use both automated tools and manual techniques for penetration testing to identify and exploit vulnerabilities to assess real-world impact and use the inputs to create incident response plans and remediation measures.
4. Continuous Threat Monitoring and Detection
You must use automated tools to monitor cloud environments for unauthorized access, data breaches, or suspicious activities in real-time. You can use an AI powered Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tool to monitor all your data and workflow.
You can leverage Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tools to continuously monitor configurations and detect misconfigurations before they expose vulnerabilities.
How can SentinelOne help?
SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security provides a comprehensive Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) with efficient and scalable runtime protection. The AI-driven cybersecurity platform offers advanced threat-hunting capabilities. Its threat intelligence engine conducts an in-depth analysis to identify possible misconfigurations across all renowned cloud services. It leverages over 2,000+ built-in checks to detect misconfigurations, enabling you to write custom security policies. The automation helps to resolve misconfiguration promptly, preventing potential threats and significantly improving your cloud server security.
The integrated CNAPP also includes Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), and SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM), offering you a comprehensive cloud security solution that helps prevent incidents that may impact cloud server security. SentinelOne collaborates with leading identity and network vendors to deliver validated Zero Trust capabilities enabling organizations to adopt a Zero Trust security model successfully.
Conclusion
Skepticism among executives about cloud security remains a significant barrier to cloud adoption, even as business benefits are a key driver for implementing cloud technologies. Cloud adoption is expected to generate $3 trillion in EBITDA value for enterprises by 2030, which makes cloud computing implementation inevitable for them.
Cloud service providers have architectured secure-by-design infrastructure and layered security built into their platform and services, which help improve your organization’s overall security posture.
The organization must take a holistic approach to cloud security, complementing services provider security features with third-party cloud security point solutions and integrated platforms, based on their specific needs and priorities. It will help them protect their cloud infrastructure, applications, and data against existing threats and be prepared for emerging vulnerabilities and risks. Book a demo to learn more about SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security which will help you secure your cloud infrastructure and data assets.
FAQs
1. Benefits of using cloud servers
Cloud servers provide advantages of scalability, flexibility, cost efficiency, and accessibility. It enables businesses to scale up and down server capacities to adjust to fluctuating business demand. The organization saves costs by minimizing investments in hardware and ongoing maintenance expenses. Additionally, cloud servers enhance accessibility, enabling users to access data from anywhere.
2. Why use a cloud-based system?
Cloud computing delivers flexibility and reliability, improves performance, and lowers IT costs. It helps businesses drive innovation and improves time to market. All this drives revenue growth opportunities in multiple ways, including acceleration of new-product lead time, new market entry, and response to competitive threats.
3. How to secure a cloud server?
You can secure cloud servers by restricting access to authorized users and enforcing a least-privileged access policy. You must also install firewalls and intrusion detection systems and keep operating systems and software updated with security patches.
You can utilize specialized cloud security point solutions or integrated platforms to ensure foolproof cloud server security.
4. Which cloud server is most secure?
There are three types of cloud servers: public, private, and hybrid. Private cloud servers are the most secure since they are dedicated to a single organization that Provides resources on-demand through a self-service portal. Private cloud servers offer the benefits of scalability and flexibility associated with cloud computing, along with the access control, security, and resource customization of on-premise infrastructure.
5. What is server security in cloud computing?
Server security in cloud computing ensures the protection of infrastructure, applications, and data hosted and stored on servers across public, private, and hybrid clouds. It is achieved through an integrated approach combining technologies, processed,s and best practices to enable you to mitigate threats associated with intrusions, malware, data breaches, and other risks and vulnerabilities.