Chapter 15: Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a new technology that allows you to access computer applications, data storage, and webmail over the internet. The use of cloud computing enables a decentralized workforce while lowering operational costs and offering data security. Many organizations nowadays are moving their data and infrastructure to the cloud due to these advantages. However, the cloud environment likewise contains several dangers and risks for businesses. Attackers are exploiting security flaws in the cloud software to gain unlawful access to valuable data that is kept there.

Cloud security is becoming increasingly important for both individuals and organizations. This chapter explains the various methods for attacking the cloud environment, which highlights underlying vulnerabilities. Understanding these assaults and vulnerabilities assists Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) as well as cloud consumers in developing secure cybersecurity measures to safeguard their...

Living on Cloud 9

Cloud computing is an on-demand delivery of IT capabilities, in which IT infrastructure and applications are provided to subscribers as metered services over networks. Examples of cloud solutions include Gmail, Facebook, Dropbox, and salesforce.com.

Cloud services are delivered using internet technologies, which can include public, private, or hybrid models. Let's look at these briefly next:

• Public cloud services: These are offered by providers such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. These services are available to the public and can be used by anyone who registers for an account. The provider manages the infrastructure and applications and makes them available on a pay-as-you-go basis.
• Private cloud services: These are offered by organizations such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Rackspace. These services are used by the organization that owns them and are not available to the public. The provider manages the infrastructure and applications and makes...

Attacking the cloud

The cloud has its security challenges as we're about to find out. Let's discuss some of the challenges we face when securing the cloud environment.

Cloud security

One of the biggest concerns with cloud computing is security. When your data is stored in the cloud, you need to be sure that it is safe and secure. Here's the secret about cloud security: it's just another network infrastructure that we might be including within our own networks. So, the exact same threats that we experience against our internal networks (including wireless) are the same threats we see with the cloud. Things such as injection attacks, authentication issues, data leakage, misconfiguration, coding issues, passwords, and web server/app weaknesses are just a few of them. However, I'd be failing you if I didn't at least talk about a couple of them, so here we go:

• Make sure you choose a reputable cloud provider with a good reputation for security...

Tools and techniques of the attackers

To attack the cloud, a hacker will need tools to do so. Here, we will discuss some of the more common tools that are available.

The tools

A container image is a software package that includes an operating system, application, runtime, and other components. These containers are frequently reused throughout the industry and may include open source libraries with security concerns. These flaws endanger not only the security of each container but also that of the entire container engine. Tools such as Clair, Twistlock, and Trivy are great options for attacking containers.

Looking to find attack Kubernetes, also known as K8s? Most of the vulnerabilities we find are based on misconfiguration. Sysdig (sysdig.com) is a great tool to not only scan for vulnerabilities but also for validating container images.

Believe it or not, attackers use Google hacking techniques to identify Amazon Cloud storage services (called S3 buckets)! If you remember...

Best practices for securing the cloud

The first thing that you can do to improve the security of your cloud-based systems is to enable SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) encryption. This will help to protect your data from being intercepted by attackers.

You can also improve the security of your systems by using firewalls and an IDS (intrusion detection system) and an IPS (intrusion prevention system). These devices can help to protect your systems from being attacked by malicious traffic.

Here's a list of other things you can do:

• To protect your data, you should enforce the use of data encryption and access controls. This includes data that is in rest as well as in motion.
• Disaster recovery planning is another critical factor when securing your cloud-based systems. You should have a plan in place in case of a natural disaster or a security incident.
• Enforce SLAs to ensure your cloud provider meets the security requirements you have...

Summary

In this chapter, we covered how cloud computing is a benefit, and also how it may be a challenge for us to secure. We discussed some ways in which the cloud is vulnerable to being attacked. We shared some of the tools and techniques attackers may use. And finally, we talked about some best practices to help you secure the cloud.

The important thing to remember is that many of the same weaknesses and attacks we see within the cloud are the same as what we've learned about on our normal networks and that they are just as much of a target for attackers.

In the next chapter, we'll talk about how the attackers look at cryptography and what we can do about it.

Questions

As we conclude, here is a list of questions for you to test your knowledge regarding this chapter's material. You will find the answers in the Assessments section of the Appendix:

1. All of the following can be configured in a cloud environment except which one?
   1. IaaS
   2. PaaS
   3. SaaS
   4. LaaS
2. What does a cloud-hosting SaaS environment provide?
   1. Development options
   2. Testing options
   3. Software hosting
   4. Improved security
3. Which of the following is separated by a cloud-based firewall?
   1. Hosts
   2. Networks
   3. ACL
   4. Permissions
4. How many kinds of cloud-hosting environments are there?
   1. Five
   2. Four
   3. Three
   4. Two