{"id":842,"date":"2022-01-04T15:28:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T15:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oasisdiscovery.com\/ediscovery-unredacted\/?p=842"},"modified":"2022-01-14T17:23:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T17:23:58","slug":"3-consequences-of-cloud-misconfiguration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oasisdiscovery.com\/ediscovery-unredacted\/security\/3-consequences-of-cloud-misconfiguration\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Consequences of Cloud Misconfiguration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cloud misconfigurations\u2014gaps\nor errors that create system vulnerabilities\u2014are extremely common, especially\nwith popular cloud platforms like AWS leaving the responsibility to buyers. Cloud\nconfiguration is no simple task, even for those with experience. It goes hand\nin hand with an organization\u2019s security and performance, setting up proper\naccess controls, data sharing limitations, audit logs, and more. It\u2019s a\ncomplicated and error-prone process that\u2019s vital to get right. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequence #1: Increased Risk<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Misconfigurations\nleave organizations open and vulnerable to cyber-attacks. They are the root\ncause of most security incidents and events<\/a>. In fact, modern attackers will specifically\nscan for and target organizations with system misconfigurations. It provides\nthem with a foot in the door toward what they really want\u2014full system access. A\nU.S. Senior Administration Official stated that the Russians\u2019\nlatest hacking attempt on the U.S.<\/a> \u201ccould have been prevented with baseline cybersecurity\npractices,\u201d which would include continuous monitoring and penetration testing\nto identify misconfigurations so they could be corrected before enabling an\nattack. Beyond initial cloud misconfiguration, issues only grow as more\nprograms are added, all requiring additional configurations. In other words,\nit\u2019s an ongoing job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequence #2: Lowered Performance <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Misconfigurations\nsabotage the resilience and performance of your cloud. They are the\nmain cause of service disruptions and outages. Infrastructure company, Dyn<\/a>, unintentionally\nshutting down Verizon, Spectrum, and other large service providers across the U.S.,\na six-hour Facebook outage<\/a> that\ncaused a user-data-leak scare, among plenty more, are all examples of outages\ncaused by a \u201csimple misconfiguration.\u201d AWS users\u2014who are responsible for the configuration of\ntheir environment\u2014often make the common mistake of setting up multiple teams on\nthe same EC2 service which can cause instances to fail when teams\nsimultaneously scale up. This overloads the system limit, resulting in\nunplanned downtime. Small or large, no organization is immune to\nmisconfigurations and the issues they create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequence #3: Increased Cost<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s simple: increased risk and lowered performance lead to higher costs. There are several ways this could present itself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n