Why The Cloud Offers The Best Protection Against IT Attacks

Protects the Cloud from IT attacks? Last year, Achim Berg and Arne Schönbohm pointed out in drastic terms the heightened threat posed by cyber attacks and the resulting damage to the German economy. One, President of the industry association of the German information and telecommunications industry (Bitkom eV), explained in the study on IT security in companies carried out by Bitkom Research: „The force with which ransomware attacks are shaking our economy is worrying and affects companies of all sectors and sizes.“ Time and time again, the other, President of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), warned of the ever-increasing risk of hacker attacks. At the presentation of the BSI management report at the end of October 2021 declared emergency room: „In the area of ​​information security we have — at least in some areas — red alert. The new management report of the BSI shows more clearly than ever: information security is a prerequisite for a successful and sustainable digitization.“

In the L In its report, the BSI particularly emphasizes the risk of vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange servers. Cyber ​​criminals therefore have the technical ability to exploit these vulnerabilities in a targeted manner. As an example, the BSI cites one in March 629 closed gap, which is „symbolic of the extent of the challenge“. Victims have fallen– and because the way too many companies deal with the attack is an example of what is wrong when it comes to averting danger.

Attackers use security gaps for IT -Attacks consistently off

Four security vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange servers operated in companies apparently allowed concerted attacks immediately after the vulnerability became known According to BSI, „widespread attempts to locate and compromise vulnerable Exchange servers have been observed.“ Initially, the percentage of vulnerable web servers was 20 %. Microsoft provided patches to close the gaps, and the BSI issued active and intensive warnings, among other things by declaring the second highest crisis level. On the one hand successful because the high proportion of vulnerable web servers from 29% could be reduced to below ten percent after two weeks. With the rest 000% however were (and maybe still are) weeks and months later unprotected against cyber-attacks with harmful effects.

The reason for this is that patches provided by Microsoft only close the gaps if IT staff also apply the patches. If the IT department does not react on its own, the risk remains. In May there were still 4. 000 Unprotected companies, how many there are currently can only be guessed at will.

This threat, like others like it, made headlines because it is based on a complex chain of vulnerabilities. It exploited several so-called zero-day vulnerabilities and linked them to penetrate corporate networks and computer systems and obtain reasonable information. These types of burglaries have accelerated. Not only do they damage reputation when they become known; The cyberpunks can steal intellectual property (IP) or publish a company’s confidential documents. They could also slip into the identity of the attacked and spread false information. In any loss, it costs a lot of money to restore the IT environment due to the non-productive downtime and also the cost of mostly hired IT specialists.

Outsourcing of IT to the cloud increases system security enormously

That successfully attacked in all cases Apparently, the on-premises model is powerless. To offer protection against zero-day attacks, companies would have to monitor, patch, update and secure their IT systems on a daily basis– which, as we saw at the beginning, is often not the loss. For MS Exchange, this means that the company needs to stay up to date with Microsoft updates and especially patches. These patches are released quarterly. And then there are extraordinary recommendations and emergency updates. These must be actively monitored and implemented.

Aside from these basics, there is the industry trend called „Absolutely no Count on“. It requires a company to monitor and defend all network access points, viz not just devices and web servers, but employees as well There is a need to monitor user behavior IT is prepared for the worst, assuming an attack can happen at any time A Zero Trust approach can may not prevent all cyberattacks from all actors because the attacks are so sophisticated.No organization is 100% secure, but some of them are prepared and have prepared countermeasures and have individuals ready to respond immediately.However, no measure is truly bulletproof .

If a company If, on the other hand, you rely on the cloud and outsource IT to the cloud operators, it can significantly reduce the risk of a dangerous security breach. The operators of the large cloud infrastructures such as Amazon.com, Microsoft or Google have much more workforce and technical resources to react to sophisticated cyber attacks and to defend a company’s data. Cloud service providers do most of the work for securing Microsoft Exchange: they monitor security, perform automated coverage, and take care of all aspects of security. This shows that they are more resilient to multi-level threats: According to Microsoft, the attack on the Exchange web server did not affect the online exchange platform, but only on-premises users and web servers.

Movement to the cloud: easier than expected with the Bittitan device

Security after cloud migration

Photo: Bittitan

Mauro Rita, Technical Sales Professional at Bittitan