As organizations accelerate their digital transformation efforts, more industrial workloads, systems, and data are being integrated with or migrated to the cloud. While the cloud offers scalability, flexibility, and efficiency, it also introduces new and often underestimated security risks, particularly for industrial environments where IT and OT must coexist.
In this article, we’ll explore the five biggest cloud security risks businesses face today, especially in critical infrastructure and industrial settings, and how to address them before they pose a risk to your operations.
Identity & Access Management (IAM) Weaknesses
Poorly managed IAM is one of the most common and dangerous cloud vulnerabilities. Over-permissioned accounts, weak password policies, and the absence of multi-factor authentication (MFA) create opportunities for attackers to gain a foothold in IT systems and pivot into OT environments. These risks are often exacerbated by factors like “privilege creep” and infrequent user account maintenance.
Strategies to address IAM weakness
- Enforce multi-factor authentication for all users, including contractors and third parties.
- Apply least privilege access so users get only what they need, nothing more.
- Use role-based access control (RBAC) with clear separations between IT, OT, and cloud administrator roles.
- Conduct regular audits to remove stale or unused accounts.
- Use Federated Identity solutions like Azure AD or Okta to centralize identity management and authentication.
Third-Party Risks
Cloud infrastructure often relies on a web of third-party service providers. A breach in one vendor’s environment can have cascading effects that can introduce vulnerabilities that may affect your own systems. For industrial businesses, this can mean unintended exposure of critical control environments.
Strategies to Address 3rd Party Risks
- Vet cloud vendors thoroughly. Ask for their security certifications, audit results, and breach history.
- Include security requirements in vendor contracts, including SLAs for incident response and breach notification.
- Limit third-party access to critical systems and monitor all third-party activity closely.
Cloud Exposure of Critical Infrastructure
Cloud adoption can inadvertently expose sensitive OT systems to the public internet if not properly segmented. Even a minor misconfiguration can increase your exposure and potentially provide access to critical control systems, putting uptime, safety, and compliance at risk.
Strategies to Address Cloud Exposure of Critical Infrastructure
- Implement network segmentation and Zero Trust architecture. Never assume implicit trust based on network or location.
- Isolate OT from cloud/IT networks using firewalls, VLANs, and DMZs.
- Avoid direct cloud-to-OT connections. Route data flows through secure intermediaries such as data diodes or brokers.
- Encrypt all data in transit and at rest between OT and cloud systems.
- Use secure remote access gateways or jump servers, with MFA and session logging.
- Disable legacy remote access protocols that could leave a backdoor open.
Poor Configuration Management
In the cloud, a single misconfiguration can have immediate and damaging consequences. Unfortunately, many organizations lack visibility into what “normal” looks like across their cloud footprint. That can lead to dangerous blind spots.
Strategies to Address Poor Configuration Management
- Establish a configuration baseline using tools like AWS Config, Azure Policy, or GCP Config Validator.
- Implement continuous compliance scanning and change control to detect and prevent unauthorized or risky configuration changes.
- Integrate these tools with your security monitoring platform to alert on drift or anomalies in real time.
Expanded Attack Surface
Every new cloud-connected device, workload, or interface increases your potential attack surface. In industrial environments, a misconfigured cloud storage bucket, forgotten VPN concentrator, or improperly exposed API can potentially expose mission-critical systems to cyber threats.
Strategies to Address an Expanded Attack Surface
- Use micro-segmentation and isolate cloud-connected assets from the rest of your environment.
- Apply strict firewall and security group rules to limit inbound/outbound traffic.
- Perform regular external attack surface scans to identify exposed services and vulnerabilities.
- Embrace Zero Trust: verify every user, device, and connection before granting access.
You Don’t Have to Take on Cloud Security Alone
Cloud technologies can empower industrial businesses to move faster, operate smarter, and scale efficiently. But security needs to be built in from the start. As IT and OT systems converge, the risks grow more complex. Your defense strategy needs to evolve with them.
At Agilix Solutions and Applied Technologies, we help industrial customers navigate the complexities of cloud adoption while safeguarding their most critical assets. Our cybersecurity and infrastructure professionals can help assess your current risks, so you harden your cloud posture and your digital transformation doesn’t become your biggest vulnerability.
Don’t wait until it’s too late. Reach out to our industrial networking pros to schedule an OT Cybersecurity Assessment and start the process of protecting your company from cloud vulnerabilities.