Tag: cloud security
Microsoft 365 accounts are being compromised worldwide
A vast botnet of over 130,000 compromised devices is now attacking Microsoft 365 accounts worldwide. A botnet is a network of computing devices that have been surreptitiously taken over by hackers and are being controlled remotely without the owners’ knowledge. Microsoft 365 accounts are suffering from ‘password spray attacks’ by the botnet. This involves mass attempts to use large numbers of common passwords to infiltrate users’ Microsoft accounts, targeting basic authentication procedures and thereby bypassing multi-factor authentication.
Bucket shop bargains for cybercriminals
Researchers have revealed current vulnerabilities in Amazon’s data storage services, the knock-on effect of which could potentially result in the biggest supply-chain attack in the internet’s history. In November 2024, watchTowr Labs decided to show how a significant Internet-wide supply-chain attack could be caused by abandoned infrastructure left unattended and forgotten on the internet. The researchers chose to focus on an Amazon business data storage service, known as ‘S3 buckets’.
Storm gathers over the cloud
News of the mass exploitation of ownCloud customers as a result of a zero-day vulnerability follows revelations earlier this month of a critical security vulnerability in Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. Reports of gaping security flaws in cloud services come at a bad time for cloud service providers in general and Microsoft in particular. The Seattle-based computing giant is currently doing its utmost to persuade the US, UK, and Australian governments that its Azure Government Cloud is the best way for the AUKUS trio to securely update cross-border information and enhance mutual collaboration. This might prove problematic for Microsoft, whose Azure platform was recently proven to have a critical vulnerability, and some of whose government clients suffered a series of serious breaches earlier this year.
Cloud security compromised by constant upgrades
There is mounting evidence that companies may have been naive in accepting Big Tech’s optimistic assurances that sensitive data can be stored more securely in the cloud than on the company’s own servers. In its latest Attack Surface Threat report, Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks reveals that the cloud has now become “the dominant attack surface”, with four out of five security vulnerabilities observed in organizations across all sectors coming from a cloud environment.