Cloud computing continues transforming how organizations use, store, and share data, applications, and workload. Unfortunately, Cloud Computing has also introduced a variety of security threats and challenges. With so much going into the cloud and into public cloud servers, these assets become the natural targets for security threats.
According to the Vice President and the Cloud Security Lead at Gartner Inc, Jay Helser, “The volume of public cloud utilization is growing rapidly so that inevitably leads to a greater body of sensitive stuff that is potentially at risk.”
In contrast to what people might think, the major responsibility for protecting corporate data in the cloud is not the service provider but the customer. Heiser says, “We are in a cloud security transition period in which the focus is shifting from the provider to the customer.” He states, “Enterprises are learning that huge amounts of time spent trying to figure out if any particular cloud service provider is ‘secure’ or not has virtually no payback.”
The following are the top cloud security threats regarding cloud-security issues.
Data Breaches
To breach the data might be the main objective of the targeted attack, or it might just result from human error, application failure, or poor security practices. It may involve any information that was not intended for the public. This includes personal information regarding health, financial information, personality identifiable information, property information, or trade secrets.
The organization’s cloud-based data might hold value to different parties for various reasons. The data breach risk is not unique to that of cloud computing. However, it does consistently rank as number one when it comes to customers.
Insecure interfaces and application programming interfaces (APIs)
Cloud providers have exposed various software user interfaces (UIs) or application programming interfaces (APIs) that the customers can use to manage and interact with the cloud services. Provisioning, management, and monitoring are all performed using these interfaces. The security and availability of the general cloud services depend on the APIs’ security. They should be designed to defend against accidental and malicious attempts to circumvent the policy.
Insufficient identity, credential, and access management
Criminals impersonating legitimate employers, operators, or designers can read, change, and sometimes even delete data. They can issue the control plane and management functions and steal data in transition or even release malicious software that originates from a genuine source. Consequently, inadequate identity, qualification, or critical administration can enable illegal access to data and hypothetically catastrophic damage to organizations or end-users.
Account Hacking
Account hijacking or hacking is one of the oldest kinds of cloud corruption. However, cloud services have added a new threat to the landscape. If the attackers access the user’s credentials, the hackers can easily eavesdrop on numerous activities and transactions. They can also manipulate the data, return the falsified information, and redirect the customers to illegitimate websites.
The account and service instances may become the new base used by attackers. With these stolen credentials, hackers might also gain access to critical areas of cloud computing services, allowing them to compromise their confidentiality, availability, and integrity easily.
System Vulnerabilities
System vulnerabilities can be defined as exploitable bugs in systems that attackers can easily use to penetrate a system for data theft, taking entire control of the system and/or disrupting the service operations. Susceptibilities within the operating system apparatuses might put the security of all these services and data at significant risk. 
With the introduction of multi-tenancy in the cloud, schemes from various establishments have been placed close to each other and given access to shared memory and resources, which creates a new attack surface.
Data Loss
The data stored in the cloud might be lost for reasons other than malicious attacks. Data could be lost due to accidental deletion by the cloud service provider or a physical catastrophe like a fire or an earthquake. This might lead to permanent data loss until the provider has taken measures to back the data up correctly.
Denial of Service (DoS)
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks have been designed to prevent service users from accessing the data and applications. By compelling the targeted cloud service to ingest inordinate amounts of finite system resources – like processor power, network bandwidth, and disk space – the attackers might cause the system to slow down and leave all legitimate users without access to the services.
About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.