Cloud Security Threats Surge as IAM Attacks Rise

The number of Cloud-based cyber-attacks escalated during 2024 and identity and access management breaches emerged as the main target while raising security concerns throughout the world.

Cloud-hosted infrastructure attack frequencies have increased dramatically so that Palo Alto Networks reports organizations will see five times more daily cloud-based alerts by 2024 than at the beginning of the year. Research shows Identity & Access Management works as a main entry point since exposed credentials threaten entire cloud infrastructure safety structures.

Attacks against critical cloud resources successfully target Identity Management systems as well as storage and virtual machines and containers because their number of high-severity alerts is increasing. IAM tokens function as cloud entry points for attack groups who focus their efforts on credential compromise. The report revealed that impossible travel event alerts originating from IAM systems increased by 116% simultaneously with multiple suspicious cloud storage object downloads that mirrored a 305% growth rate.

Atmospherical breaches are successfully executed through the exploitation of IAM credentials. The 2024 ransomware attack stole more than 90,000 credentials from 110,000 domains. China-based cyber group Storm-2077 uses IAM credential hunting methods for cloud system intrusions.

Risk management calls for the improvement of Identity & Access Management policies and real-time cloud monitoring and service region restrictions along with encryption for cloud storage systems. The protection of cloud-based operations requires strong Identity & Access Management security systems because cyber threats continue to develop in their sophistication.