The world has changed radically in a short time as a result of digital transformation and the arrival of the era of Artificial Intelligence, it is now totally common to have virtual assistants that help us in a variety of activities of daily personal and professional life; but now it is not only that, it is incredible how practically with just thinking about it and writing a few words you can achieve everything, thanks to AI. Never before have we been more in agreement with the iconic phrase
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
-Arthur C. Clarke
However, not everything can be rosy, AI has raised multiple concerns and speculations for years, from the fear of replacing millions of jobs, to the terrifying prospect of total domination over humanity (yes, we can’t stop thinking about I, Robot). This, outside of science fiction, is really worrying for those companies that handle highly sensitive data, such as banking institutions, service providers, retailers or even governmental institutions, to mention a few. Today more than ever, it is no longer an option, IT strategies must be focused on something that little is being talked about: Cybersecurity and how AI integration impacts it.
Accelerated change
Although at first glance it may seem unrelated, the devastation caused by the COVID-19 health emergency highlighted the dizzying change in global habits and our limitations in adapting prevention measures with the same speed. The massive contagions took the world by surprise and disruptively changed our conception of the world, but also further accelerated the transition to the digital world.
Countless companies embraced remote or hybrid working, embracing these changes not to let them go, but also discovered a huge number of vulnerabilities and risks that they were not prepared for as they were so used to centralizing data on-premise; but the change brought with it a number of opportunities where the traditional way of managing their data infrastructure was limiting.
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This became a dilemma for a large majority of organizations. On the one hand, any change always involves a learning phase and a level of risk; structuring a plan tailored to their needs was too laborious to complete efficiently, not to mention that it could become obsolete in a short period of time in the face of such rapid change. On the other hand, to make a blind transition was to compromise the security and privacy of their data.
Fortunately, cloud providers, practically since their emergence, have been regulated by shared responsibility regulations. Google Cloud Platform, for its part, had anticipated contingencies involving a massive migration, and thanks to its level of expertise, made sure to adopt new security measures and align with local regulatory standards in each country.
This is allowing you to armor all your users against the most common threats, and establish a relationship of trust, focused on shared responsibility, achieving thousands of successful transitions, but as always, there were still some skeptics and of course, threats continued to evolve.
Threats
With the pandemic almost forgotten by many and a new air of tranquility, the whole world has had a series of revealing lessons learned to a greater or lesser extent. New and veteran cloud users, as well as those undecided to migrate yet, have been no exception. Contrary to the belief of not questioning methods, but results, there is growing concern about threats capable of compromising their data.
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Cloud service providers were not left out of the conversation and immediately got to work on updates to improve security shielding, after all, despite the huge success in neutralizing threats to all, it was very clear to us the importance of maintaining a culture of prevention.
Under this premise, we sought to identify security breaches, threats, risk level and how to anticipate them in order to facilitate collaboration in shared responsibility. While the providers’ focus is on protecting the infrastructure, the users’ focus is on encrypting their data, applications and access to the cloud.
Although in the first instance this is an advantage for cloud providers, who are specialized in infrastructure and threats with a wide experience advantage, on the other hand, it is very attractive for attackers to be able to deceive cloud users, whose expertise is usually focused on their line of business.
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But all is not lost, identifying a problem is the first step to solve it, and in this way we have been able to classify the possible threats and their level of risk, which I list below:
- Insufficient identity, credential, access and key managementAccesstops the threat list, because data protection begins and ends with access.
Compromising and stealing corporate credentials has become a favorite tactic of attackers.
When you have the keys, you not only guarantee access, but you can also reconfigure everything, so user authentication becomes a critical issue; if we add to this the fact that a large majority of companies maintain remote operations and require validating access to a variety of remote employees, accurate but flexible access and data governance becomes a priority. - Insecure Interfaces & APIsOrganizationsface new challenges in managing and securing APIs and other similar interfaces as the speed of development in the cloud steadily and continuously accelerates. Processes that took days or weeks using traditional methods can be completed in minutes or seconds in the cloud.
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This continuous evolution translates into the emergence of new functionalities that are improved almost daily, creating a dynamic environment that requires an agile and proactive approach to the control and correction of changes that many organizations have not yet mastered.
This leads to failures in the configuration of APIs and other similar interfaces, generating coding vulnerabilities or lack of control in access and authorization, among other things, which increases the threat of malicious activity, as it is unable to keep up with constant updates, among other factors. - Configuration error and inadequate change control
One of the most attractive advantages of the cloud is its scalability and the way it allows you to create interconnected services to facilitate workflows, however, this also means that a misconfiguration can have magnified ramifications across multiple systems.
- Lack of knowledge or understanding of the system and security settings, as well as nefarious intentions, can lead to misconfigurations.
The automated CI/CD pipeline has simplified software development and deployment, speeding up delivery times, however, if failures are not detected in a timely manner, they will also be automatically deployed in production. Hence, it highlights the relevance of having a timely control system that maintains the dynamic management approach. - Lack of cloud security architecture and strategy
Taking advantage of the benefits of the cloud is no longer a novelty, but it must be considered that these spaces and their security continue to evolve constantly. Security managers should consider that solid security is built by combining the default controls of the cloud provider plus those premium options that best fit the profile of their company or organization.
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Often there is a lack of adequate infrastructure design, which puts secure integration at risk, resulting in systemic failures that compromise security and create high-risk vulnerabilities. - Insecure software development
The cloud is a powerful environment that offers a multitude of advantages to developers, however, organizations and developers need to understand how the shared responsibility model impacts the security of their software.
As an example, a vulnerability in Kubernetes could be the responsibility of the cloud provider, while a bug in a web application using cloud-native technologies could be the responsibility of the developer. Understanding the shared responsibility model is essential to developing an appropriate infrastructure strategy. - Unsecured third party resources
Digital transformation means a hyper-connected reality where third-party services are practically an unavoidable necessity; third-party risks exist in all the products and services we consume.
With that in mind, considering that a final product or service is the sum of all the products and services it uses, an exploit can start at any point in the product’s supply chain and proliferate from there.
Attackers know this and seek to compromise the weakest link in the supply chain to spread their malware, often using the same vehicles that developers use to scale their software. - Accidental disclosure of data in the cloud
Data exposure remains a widespread concern among users of cloud services. In fact, an estimated 55% of enterprises have at least one database exposed to the public Internet. This poses a serious problem, as many of these databases lack secure passwords or require no authentication at all, making them easy targets for malicious actors.
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The fact that a large number of databases are accessible without proper security measures represents a significant security breach, so it is necessary that companies act to strengthen their security by implementing strong authentication protocols. - Misconfiguration and operation of serverless workloads and containers.
Developers continue to face challenges in managing and scaling the infrastructure needed to run their applications, especially when considering the dizzying pace at which upgrades are demanded and environments evolve. They are often required to assume greater responsibility for network control and security of their applications.
While some of this responsibility could be offloaded to the cloud provider, through the use of serverless and containerized workloads, for most organizations this lack of control of the cloud is limiting.
Therefore, it is recommended to build strong organizational practices around cloud hygiene, application security, observability, access control and secrets management to reduce the blast radius of an attack; all of which are commonly considered in the DevOps culture. - Organized crime, hackers and APT groups
Advanced persistent threat (APT) groups often focus their theft on data acquisition. As such, they are studied groups that specialize in learning about the information assets of different companies and organizations, developing tactics, and strategies to breach security breaches, as well as leveraging updates and innovations to compromise data. - Data leakage in the cloud
This occurs when sensitive data, protected or confidential information is released, viewed, stolen or used by individuals outside the organization’s operating environment. Often the owner is unaware of the theft until they are extorted, notified by the thief, or this data appears for sale or free view on the network.
- The best way to prevent this is to implement a zero trust model where multiple identity-based security controls are employed to limit privileged access to data, although of course, using too many security measures and unintuitive controls can limit workflows.
What does AI have to do with it?
As you may have already noticed, a common point with most threats derives from the speed at which the environment is updated, evolving and transforming; changes that are so dizzying that they basically outstrip the human capacity to keep up with them on their own.
This situation poses a complicated scenario for many organizations and companies widely concerned about cloud security, as the traditional way to fix it would focus on strengthening their security, increasing the number of specialists involved, however, this is costly. Worse still, this is insufficient in the face of threat overload.
Malicious hackers and APT groups have used AI to refine their attack strategies and strengthen their tactics to breach data, creating multiple threats at once to overwhelm security controls, even breaching security controls that not long ago were considered unbreakable.
Given this situation, the outlook may seem bleak and AI the ultimate threat in cybersecurity, especially when considering the evolutionary capacity that this tool has demonstrated. It is therefore necessary to remember that although powerful, it is a tool, and its functionality will depend on the user and the way it is used.
From Threat to Ultimate Guardian
We have already talked about the most relevant cloud security threats and the role that Artificial Intelligence can play as part of them, taking advantage of its functionalities for malicious purposes. This leaves us in a dilemma for organizations when it comes to protecting their data in the cloud, as it is necessary to balance costs and efficiency to maintain sustainable operations.
As already mentioned, AI is a powerful tool and its functionality depends on the user’s intentionality, it is time to talk about Google Cloud’ s solution for cloud security and how it helps to counter, mitigate and neutralize threats.
Google Security Command Center
Google Cloud is one of the youngest cloud providers, however, since its launch it has been characterized by learning from its customers and competitors, to reinvent the cloud, with efficient, comprehensive, innovative and secure solutions. Likewise, since its origins it has maintained its focus on AI as an enabler to take full advantage of the cloud’s functionalities.
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This has granted the possibility to anticipate challenges, keeping in mind the needs and requirements of its users. Under this premise, Mandiant was integrated with the purpose of creating synergy, complementing Google & Mandiant’s experience to maintain a security capable of following and anticipating the pace of threat evolution.
Giving rise to a new way to relentlessly address threats, with accessible and intuitive control to give cloud users confidence, the Google Security Command Center.
Advantages
- Centralized visibility
Google Security Command Center (SSC), hereafter SSC, uses artificial intelligence to provide centralized visibility into security in the cloud. The platform collects and analyzes data from multiple services and sources, identifying patterns and anomalies that could indicate potential threats.
This allows to have control of the current projects, resources that are being implemented, in addition to managing the service accounts that were added or removed, facilitating the correct implementation of a trust 0 strategy, strengthening security.
Helping IT security specialists to better understand risks and vulnerabilities, including being able to detect them in real time, enabling a fast and efficient response to neutralize the risk. - Automation and rapid response
SSC has leveraged artificial intelligence to drive automation that supports rapid response. The platform uses AI to generate automatic alerts, as well as classify incidents according to their severity and provide predefined corrective actions. This reduces response times to potential threats, minimizing their impact.
This automation also frees up resources and personnel for other tasks, improving management for more efficient performance, although of course, there may reasonably be justified doubts about the efficiency of automating these processes, especially how do you know if it is reliable?
That is why it is pertinent to remember that an artificial AI is trainable and improves its performance and results the larger the database that feeds its processing algorithm, this is where the integration of Mandiant makes sense and plays a vital role.
This, since it allowed reinforcing and complementing the database of threats, attack patterns and suspicious behaviors, which together with Vertex AI allowed creating ML models to take SCC’s AI to a new security dimension, allowing going beyond stopping threats by helping to create countermeasures to prevent future infections.
Efficiently enough to detect resource-oriented threats at the kernel level to detect risks in containers. In addition to helping identify security misconfigurations and compliance violations in your Google Cloud elements, helping to correct them with practical recommendations.
- Reducing complexity
All of the above sounds great, but the best part is yet to come; aware of the complexity of shared responsibility, as well as anticipating the shortage of cybersecurity specialists, the SCC is designed to reduce the complexity of security tasks and enable intuitive intervention to prevent and neutralize threats.
Transforming complex attack graphs into easy-to-understand, readable explanations of attack exposure, with indicators of affected assets and recommended mitigation actions. In addition to providing security risk and compliance reporting and privacy findings for Google Cloud. - Continuous improvement and adaptability
SSC evolves continuously, reinforcing its security capabilities, based on its experience, as well as adapting to the real requirements and behaviors of each user, which strengthens its threat detection, becoming more and more accurate.
Having the ability to improve to recognize new trends and methods employed by cybercriminals and hackers, ensuring up-to-date and efficient protection at all times.
In addition, SSC has free and premium features that allow the integration of other security agents to shield customer resources and data in the cloud, while maintaining affordable costs and superior efficiency.
The verdict
The way AI is implemented in the SSC allows organizations to expand their ability to address security risks and neutralize threats with unprecedented efficiency, making the cloud an increasingly versatile, secure and accessible infrastructure.
It is true that powerful tools such as AI can pose threats, when used for malicious purposes or carelessly, however, as a cloud service provider Google Cloud, anticipates this to provide comprehensive solutions of high reliability to each user.
Therefore, we can say that AI is a threat to our security, as much as we allow it to be, according to the use we make of it, but it can also be the ultimate guardian when it is implemented correctly and understanding that as a tool it depends on its user and continuous updating for a correct operation.
But at Amarello we know that you probably still have your doubts, or you may even remain skeptical about it, so I would like to invite you to schedule a personalized consultation to show you how our specialists can help you migrate securely to the cloud and how to strengthen the cybersecurity of your data.
