Cybercriminals have shifted their focus to cloud environments as more organizations move to the cloud to manage their operations and assets. Attackers are adopting more sophisticated and advanced methods to target cloud-native environments that are sensitive and vulnerable.

 

Cloud-based environments have become a target for cybercriminals using new tactics, techniques, and procedures. Although crypto miners were the most common type of malware discovered, attackers are also increasingly turning to backdoors, rootkits, and credential stealers.

 

In 2021, remote access to a compromised system through a backdoor will be possible in 54 percent of attacks, increasing by 9% over 2020. Last year, 51% of all attacks were carried out by worms that replicate and spread throughout a system, rising by 10% from 2020.

 

Hackers exploited vulnerabilities in open source software and popular open-source packages for compromising CI/CD tools and compromising code integrity to attack software suppliers, customers, and partners in 2021. Over the past few years, the number of attacks that affect an entire supply chain has increased, which has been felt throughout the software industry. 14.3% of the samples seen from public image libraries were supply-chain attacks last year.

 

These three recommendations can help organizations protect their cloud-native environments more effectively:

 

Runtime security should be implemented.

 

Cloud-based security strategies must include runtime protection. It is essential to protect against supply-chain attacks that can introduce vulnerabilities that can only be exploited during runtime.

 

Ensure Kubernetes security.

 

To secure Kubernetes environments at the container and orchestrator levels, you must guard against attackers who target Kubernetes UI tools and specific Kubernetes elements like cubelets and API servers. Kubernetes ecosystems need such a layered strategy to combat any attack.

 

Scan while developing.

 

Security scanning during development is essential in light of vulnerabilities such as Log4j. Therefore, you need tools that provide visibility into your entire cloud-native stack.