Shutterstock Image
Possible Threats to Cloud Database Security for SAP networks and how to Reduce Risk
Cloud database storage is extensively growing across the technology sector including SAP networks. Migration of databases into cloud computing environments delivers numerous security concerns that organizations have to consider as ultimate responsibility for their data security. When the organizational internal sensitive data is migrated towards cloud technology, proper security controls should be placed to ensure data integrity, availability, and confidentiality. The significant aspects of database security must be secured while data is at rest; in transit, data access must be controlled. That is why it is said:
- To assure that data is not corrupted, it is essential to have some procedures to protect data transfer from and towards the database stored in the cloud.
- To meet confidentiality demands, outsourced data in the cloud database must be encrypted all the time.
- To certify integrity, the data stored at cloud platforms must be monitored and controlled for all users, including the database administrators at the data centres.
As organizations have moved towards online database storage, an awareness of cloud security threats can help to prepare better for attacks and minimize the potential damage. So here, we are going to emphasize some potential threats to cloud database systems and clarify how the security risks can be minimized.
Types of Possible Threats
Cloud databases can lead to many threats that can affect cloud technology. A large amount of data is stored in a database, so the effects can be severe if checks and balances are not maintained properly. These threats elaborate on the dangers faced by SAP network administrators as the companies embrace large-scale cloud storage systems.
Data Breaches
Data Breaches are the most common threats to the database stored in cloud technology. Here, the hackers steal sensitive information stored in cloud technology like mailing addresses, customer credit card numbers and use these things for personal gain. As the lead at SAP is kept at a centralized location, the data breach effect can be most severe because it affects millions of individuals at a time.
Account Hijacking
During the hijacking attempt, the intruders try to access users' accounts through loopholes in software security systems or phishing to discover passwords. When the intruders get access to individual login information, they usually lock the users by changing passwords to their accounts. AT this stage, any data stored in the user's cloud can be accessed freely, including database information that delivers data of many users at one time.
Data Loss
When the hackers gain sensitive information of any individual, the one possible threat is that the intruder deletes information to create inconvenience to its owner. If the users do not keep updated files backup, then these files may be permanently lost from the cloud. Furthermore, when the files at the centralized location are deleted, the deletion can trick down all devices, resulting in files being lost from everywhere simultaneously.
APIs
This is a technical procedure through which the users can communicate with the cloud system, elaborating which permissions they have to attach third-party applications to the system. As the cloud storage companies and other entities have made significant advances in developing secure APIs like OAuth so there are always possible threats that hackers will gain any vulnerability to gain access to administrator API areas.
Cloud Servers as Malware Platforms
The services provided by cloud computing are indisputably valuable for keeping database files up to date across different devices and platforms. But what will happen if an intruder tries the exact mechanism to distribute viruses to all the user's systems simultaneously. Suppose the attackers become successful in harnessing the power of a cloud server. In that case, the malware can be spread across the whole network, and the potential damage is more dangerous if the attackers can only affect the locally stored organizational network.
Minimizing Risk
The security risk to cloud databases may be grievous, but a proper understanding of them can minimize potential damage. So, the following steps will help system administrators protect cloud databases from safeguarding the network from intrusion scenarios.
Understand Your Network Behavior
The network administrator needs to understand how and where the sensitive information is stored on the network. For example, various types of network data include data files, and data embedded in the documents must be labelled and classified correctly. In addition, guaranteeing permission must be appropriately reviewed so that the network administrators can make sure that the only authorized individual accesses each file.
Secure the Network’s Data
The next step towards reducing risk in SAP is to identify how much data each user is allowed to see. Full access should only be guaranteed to data owners. Data encryption and masking techniques must be applied to protect user data from unauthorized access. Security risks can be further minimized in the organization with security-related training and an effective risk mitigation methodology like a police check policy on persons who have access to sensitive data. Preventing potential security breaches from within the organization is a sound starting point.
Monitor the Network Properly
Significant network security teams are proactive and search for such security policies that many indicate mishandling of information. Security audits must be started on a semi-annual basis to adopt a more systematic approach to look at how the information is used and what defensive policies are required to adopt. The most often defensive method used against intrusion is understanding network vulnerabilities your system has and how the intruders can exploit these vulnerabilities for their gain.
User Security Intelligence Technologies
Security Intelligence and Event Management technologies are delivered to facilitate the active network observing and detecting areas of weakness in the defensive approach. These technologies can constantly monitor system performance analysis that can be used to identify potential breaches in real-time. SIEM replaced manual search and delivered a more comprehensive approach to the network status.
Conclusion
It is straightforward and cost-effective to reduce cloud computing risk. In any technology, the security risks can be minimized with proper education, training, and an effective risk mitigation methodology. By maintaining and establishing preemptive expertise with network activities, the network administrators can significantly enhance the incident response time and keep most cloud databases safe. The growth of security intelligence technologies can only help during these procedures if they are the only supplement but cannot replace personal attention and surveillance.
I hope that this content will prove to be beneficial for you. I will be glad if you will share your point of view in the comment section. This will not only encourage us but also helps to engage our readers with valuable information about the revolution happening in the domain of technology. To learn more about security and privacy strategies adopted at SAP visit other tagged blogs on the SAP blog that are related to data protection and privacy.
References
Chadwick, D. W., Fan, W., Costantino, G., De Lemos, R., Di Cerbo, F., Herwono, I., ... & Wang, X. S. (2020). A cloud-edge based data security architecture for sharing and analysing cyber threat information. Future Generation Computer Systems, 102, 710-722.
Chou, T. S. (2013). Security threats on cloud computing vulnerabilities. International Journal of Computer Science & Information Technology, 5(3), 79.
Hashizume, K., Rosado, D. G., Fernández-Medina, E., & Fernandez, E. B. (2013). An analysis of security issues for cloud computing. Journal of internet services and applications, 4(1), 1-13.
Jain, S., Kumar, R., Kumawat, S., & Jangir, S. K. (2014). An analysis of security and privacy issues, Challenges with possible solutions in cloud computing. In National Conference on Computational and Mathematical Sciences (COMPUTATIA-IV), Technically Sponsored By: ISITA and RAOPS, Jaipur.
- SAP Managed Tags:
