Amazon’s AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a popular cloud computing application which is used by people worldwide. It can help business owners reduce their IT costs. You no longer have to purchase expensive machinery and hire extra IT staff. You can use this cloud application to pay as you go to cut monthly costs for IT services.
Being a relatively new service, users do find it a bit difficult to operate. Because of lack of awareness and neglecting the security protocols users make mistakes which can lead to many security risks. These risks can turn into real damaging situations which can harm your business.
PUBLICLY PUBLISHING KEYS
In their guidelines, Amazon specifically asks their clients to not publish their EC2 and S3 private keys publicly. But a research performed in Germany, by Centre for Advanced Security Research Darmstadt (CASED), suggests that AWS users are constantly publishing their private keys on the AMIs (Amazon Machine Images). With the access to these keys, any criminal element can access the data of a particular business and use it to damage the business. They can also use the data of companies to take advantage of their clients at the expense of the company.
Because users utilize their credit cards to gain access to the AWS, their credit card information is also vulnerable when a way to access their clouds is publicly published. When using the AWS, read the provided tips and guidelines carefully to avoid this risk.
CRITICAL IPS ON PUBLIC INTERNET
Some people leave their critical IP address open for public view. This can leave a door open to the cloud application and your important data is at risk of exposure. The critical IPs should be kept secure and access to them should be limited to essential users only.
PUBLIC ACCESS TO AMIS
Amazon Machine Images are created to store your sensitive data. Sometimes users leave it out in the open where anyone can access it. Set the access to private when creating AMI and use security software to keep it secure.
Amazon continually offers webinars and instructive videos to their AWS users so mistakes like these can be avoided. Read the user instruction carefully and take a look at some of those videos so you don’t leave any open doors to your data.