With the increasing adoption of cloud services, organizations are storing more and more data in the cloud. Despite benefits like scalability, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness, it comes with a number of security challenges. Cloud breaches can lead to sensitive data exposure, financial losses, and reputational damage, necessitating the need to ensure data protection and compliance.
Measures like encryption, access controls, and incident response plans to protect their data from potential threats and breaches. In this article, we look at top cloud data security challenges, their potential costs, and how to mitigate these risks.
9 cloud data security challenges that are relevant today
Before delving into the challenges, it is important to understand the landscape of cloud data security and why these challenges have such a profound impact on businesses. Cost is the main component – breaches or data theft involve tangible and intangible costs.
First, companies that fail to comply with relevant data security laws and regulations can face heavy fines, a financial burden that their financial reserves might not be able to handle in the long term. Apart from fines and sanctions, there is also a chance that data breaches could result in a large loss of customers, coupled with an equally large loss of revenue.
Finally, the long-term costs, such as loss of reputation and reliability, can affect customer acquisition in the long term and dramatically alter business opportunities. Many companies have been forced to scale down significantly or shut down completely due to a data breach.
While cloud data security challenges might be a problem for all industries, those that are routinely dealing with personal and sensitive information, like healthcare, medicine, aviation, and insurance are more likely to feel the effects at a larger scale.
1. Lack of visibility and control
Without visibility, ability organizations will struggle to maintain security and compliance and have a tough time identifying and remedying potential threats.
Data visibility and control involves full knowledge of what data is stored, where it is stored, who can access the data, and what data security measures can be best employed to mitigate potential risk.
Various means of visibility and control, like data classification better equips businesses to deal with data loss or theft quickly and easily, as reported by the Cloud Data Security Report by Netwrix. Use these suggestions to bring better visibility and control:
- Implement a cloud security posture management (CSPM) solution to gain visibility into cloud infrastructure and automate security controls.
- Use a cloud access security broker (CASB) to monitor and control access to cloud applications and data.
- Use security information and event management (SIEM) solutions to collect and analyze security data from the cloud.
- Establish a cloud security governance framework to ensure that security and compliance policies are being followed.
- Regularly review and update cloud security and compliance policies and procedures.
- Educate employees on cloud security best practices and the importance of maintaining visibility and control.
2. Cloud data breaches
Cloud data breaches occur when unauthorized individuals gain access to sensitive information, resulting in a loss of data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. These breaches happen due to factors such as weak passwords, misconfigured cloud services, and phishing attacks.
Data breaches damage business reputation and its finances. In fact, according to an IBM Security report on the cost of data breaches in 2022, 83% of organizations in their survey have had at least one data breach, with the average total cost of a breach at $4.35 million. To reduce data breaches,
- Use multi-factor authentication to protect against unauthorized access to cloud data.
- Use encryption to protect data while in transit and while at rest.
- Regularly review and update cloud security and compliance policies and procedures.
- Use security information and event management (SIEM) solutions to detect and respond to security incidents.
- Conduct regular security assessments to identify vulnerabilities.
- Educate employees on correctly identifying, avoiding, and mitigating phishing attacks.
Interesting Read: “Cloud Data Security Challenges”
3. Inadequate compliance
Ensuring compliance with various regulations such as SOC 2, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS can be a major challenge for organizations, especially with poor visibility and control over their cloud infrastructure.
Non compliance may lead to severe financial penalties, in addition to direct and indirect costs to address compliance risks. A GlobalScape report estimates the average cost of non-compliance issues for organizations at around $14.8 million. Organizations can minimize compliance risks by deploying the following solutions:
- Establish a cloud security governance framework to ensure compliance with security and compliance policies.
- Use a cloud access security broker (CASB) to monitor and control access to cloud applications and data.
- Use security information and event management (SIEM) solutions to collect and analyze security data from the cloud.
- Conduct regular security assessments to identify existing and potential vulnerabilities.
- Use encryption to protect data at all stages.
- Regularly review and update cloud security and compliance policies and procedures.
- Educate employees on cloud security best practices and the importance of maintaining compliance.
4. Insufficient encryption
Insufficient encryption refers to not applying enough encryption to data in transit and at rest, which makes it more vulnerable to attacks. With the increasing use of cloud services, the risk of sensitive data being intercepted, stolen, or tampered with increases.
Employing encryption, according to the top 5 in the IBM report, can dramatically reduce the cost of a data breach of any kind. Organizations can improve encryption by deploying the following strategies:
- Use encryption to protect data, whether at rest or in transit.
- Use encryption key management solutions to secure encryption keys and manage their lifecycle.
- Regularly review and update encryption policies and procedures.
- Use security information and event management (SIEM) solutions to detect and respond to security incidents.
- Regular security assessments to identify vulnerabilities related to data encryption.
- Educate employees on encryption best practices and the importance of protecting sensitive data.
Suggested Read: “Data Sprawl”
5. Unsecured third-party access
Unsecured third-party access refers to the risks associated with granting access to third-party vendors, contractors, and other external parties to access their cloud data and infrastructure. These parties may not have the same level of security controls and policies in place, thereby increasing the risk of data breaches and compliance violations.
According to the IBM report, third-party involvement is one of the factors with the greatest impact on increasing the overall cost of data breaches. To minimize third-party access, take the following steps:
- Conduct thorough security assessments of third-party vendors and contractors before granting them access to your cloud data and infrastructure.
- Establish and enforce security controls and policies for third-party vendors and contractors.
- Use a cloud access security broker (CASB) to monitor and control access to cloud applications and data by third-party vendors and contractors.
- Regularly review and update security policies and procedures for third-party vendors and contractors.
- Use security information and event management (SIEM) solutions to detect and respond to security incidents related to third-party vendors and contractors.
- Educate employees on the importance of managing third-party risk and how to identify and avoid potential threats related to third-party vendors and contractors.
- Implement a vendor risk management program to assess and mitigate risks associated with third-party vendors and contractors.
- Use encryption to protect data in transit and at rest, including when it is accessed by third-party vendors and contractors.
6. Complex multi-cloud environments
A complex multi-cloud environment refers to the use of multiple cloud services and providers, which can make it difficult to maintain visibility, control, and consistency of security and compliance policies across different environments. Managing it can be more challenging as it requires organizations to adapt to different platforms, configurations, and security requirements.
Complex multi-cloud environments call for complex security systems, which are cited in the IBM report as the top factor when it comes to increasing the potential cost of a data breach for organizations. Organizations can adopt the following strategies to embrace multi-cloud environment strategy:
- Develop and implement a comprehensive cloud security management strategy that addresses the unique security and compliance requirements of a multi-cloud environment.
- Use a cloud management platform (CMP) to manage and automate security and compliance policies across different cloud environments.
- Use security information and event management (SIEM) solutions to collect and analyze security data from across different cloud environments.
- Conduct regular security assessments to identify vulnerabilities and ensure compliance across different cloud environments.
- Use encryption to protect data in transit and at rest, across different cloud environments.
- Regularly review and update security and compliance policies and procedures for each cloud environment.
- Educate employees on best practices for managing security and compliance in a multi-cloud environment.
7. Misconfigured cloud services
Misconfigured cloud services refer to risks associated with poor configuration, such as not setting proper access controls, failing to encrypt data, and outdated software. These can make it easier for attackers to access sensitive data and can also increase the risk of compliance violations.
A Gartner report finds that in 2025, most cloud data security failures can be tracked to the customer. This is substantiated by another report from AlertLogic, which states that about 35% of all breaches occur as a direct result of misconfigured cloud services. Configure cloud services better by adopting the following steps:
- Implement a cloud security governance framework to ensure that security and compliance policies are being followed when configuring cloud services.
- Use a cloud management platform (CMP) to manage and automate security and compliance policies for cloud services.
- Regularly review and update cloud service configurations to ensure they comply with security and compliance policies.
- Use security information and event management (SIEM) solutions to detect and respond to security incidents related to misconfigured cloud services.
- Conduct regular security assessments to identify vulnerabilities in cloud service configurations.
- Educate employees on best practices for configuring cloud services and the importance of maintaining security and compliance.
- Use encryption to protect data in transit and at rest, including when it is accessed by third-party vendors and contractors.
8. Insider threats
Insider threats are a significant concern for organizations as they adopt cloud services. It refers to the risk of malicious or accidental actions by employees, contractors, or third-party vendors that can compromise the security and integrity of cloud data and infrastructure. Insider threats can include stealing sensitive data, misusing cloud resources, and intentionally or unintentionally compromising security controls.
Insider threats pose a greater challenge for organizations because perimeter security measures are often insufficient to address them. A report by Carnegie Mellon University CERT finds that insider threats to cloud security remain a complex and complicated issue, as both human error and the malicious intent of insiders contribute to it. Address insider threats by deploying the following strategies:
- Implement a comprehensive insider threat management program that includes regular employee training, monitoring of employee activity, and incident response procedures.
- Use security information and event management (SIEM) solutions to detect and respond to security incidents related to insider threats.
- Conduct regular security assessments to identify vulnerabilities and ensure compliance across different cloud environments.
- Regularly review and update security and compliance policies and procedures for each cloud environment, including keeping track of who has access to which data
- Use encryption to protect data in transit and at rest, across different cloud environments.
- Implement strict access control policies to limit the access of employees and third-party vendors to sensitive data and systems.
- Implement data loss prevention (DLP) solutions to detect and prevent the unauthorized exfiltration of sensitive data.
9. Lack of cloud security expertise
Not having enough trained and experienced personnel to effectively manage and secure cloud services can lead to misconfigurations, lack of visibility, and an increased risk of security breaches and compliance violations. This ties into earlier points, as a complex system, coupled with a lack of cloud security experts and relevant positions, can exacerbate the vulnerability of organizations to data breaches and security loopholes. Organizations can improve their in-house expertise in cloud security by adopting the following steps:
- Invest in training and education for employees to develop cloud security expertise.
- Hire experienced cloud security professionals to manage and secure cloud services.
- Partner with a cloud security managed service provider (MSSP) to provide additional expertise and resources.
- Use a cloud management platform (CMP) to automate security and compliance policies and provide visibility into cloud environments.
- Regularly review and update cloud service configurations to ensure they comply with security and compliance policies.
- Use security information and event management (SIEM) solutions to detect and respond to security incidents related to misconfigured cloud services.
- Conduct regular security assessments to identify vulnerabilities in cloud service configurations.
- Educate employees on best practices for configuring cloud services and the importance of maintaining security and compliance.
Improve cloud data security and posture with Protecto
A lot of the challenges discussed above can be mitigated by using a Data Privacy Management platform. Protecto’s Data Posture Intelligence identifies risks associated with enterprise data by analyzing usage, access, and sensitivity associated with enterprise data in just a few hours.
By applying privacy engineering, data analysis, and AI to automate the complex steps in the discovery of risks associated with enterprise data, Protecto allows companies to get quick visibility into which users have access to the data, and how the data is used.
These insights in a matter of just a few hours, Protecto helps organizations to get a jumpstart on understanding their privacy and compliance risks and implement a complete data posture framework to improve visibility and control over data.
Protecto is easy to deploy, use and manage so data teams can get a jumpstart in performing activities such as finding vulnerable data and data-related activities, auditing user permissions, and generating compliance reports within a few hours.
Contact us today to understand how Protecto can help you address your data security and privacy risks.
