Securing South Africa’s cloud workloads

In recent years, South African businesses have been moving their operations to the cloud. But this shift also brings new cybersecurity challenges.

Without clear visibility and control over cloud environments, companies risk data leaks, misconfigurations and other security gaps.

Kaspersky and ISG’s research finds nearly all organisations surveyed globally are using or plan to adopt cloud-native tools soon. Even so, 48% of business leaders say data protection and compliance are major concerns.

Below are four key cloud security challenges – and practical ways to tackle each one.

#1 Data breaches and data leakage

In the cloud, exposed data may be accessed or stolen if it is not properly secured. Sensitive business or customer information is at risk of unauthorised leaks.

• Encrypt data everywhere: Always use strong encryption for data at rest (in storage) and in transit (between services). This way, even if criminals intercept your data, they cannot read it without the keys.
• Limit data access: Apply the principle of least privilege. Only give users and systems the minimum access they need. This reduces the chance that stolen or shared credentials lead to a breach.
• Monitor data use: Log and watch all data access. Use automated alerts for unusual downloads or transfers. Early detection of abnormal activity can stop a breach before it spreads.

#2 Misconfigurations and weak access controls

Cloud environments are complex, and even simple errors, such as leaving a resource misconfigured or with overly broad permissions, can create big security holes.

• Automate configuration checks: Use a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tool. These tools continuously scan your cloud settings, flag risky misconfigurations and even fix some issues automatically.
• Perform regular audits: Regularly review your cloud setup and ensure firewalls, network rules and other settings match your security policies. Keep all systems patched and up-to-date so that known vulnerabilities cannot be exploited.
• Apply least privilege: Restrict admin rights so that only specific people can change configurations. This avoids accidental or malicious changes when no one is watching.

#3 Insider threats

Threats do not always come from outside. Employees or contractors can inadvertently or intentionally cause damage.

• Monitor user activity: Enable detailed logging and real-time alerts for unusual behaviour (e.g., accessing large amounts of data or logging in at odd hours). This helps spot both mistakes and malicious actions quickly.
• Train and educate: Keep security training up to date for all staff. Teach everyone to recognise phishing attempts and to handle data safely. Well-informed employees are one of the best defences against internal risks.
• Enforce security policies: Strictly enforce your security policies (password rules, device use, etc.) and ensure everyone understands them. Clear policies reduce careless or malicious insider actions.

#4 Insecure APIs and interfaces

Cloud services rely on APIs and interfaces, which can become entry points for attackers if not secured. Poorly coded or untested APIs can let hackers breach systems.

As companies add more cloud services and custom apps, API security becomes vital.

• Adopt secure development: Use strong coding practices and regularly test your APIs for vulnerabilities. Patch any weaknesses before attackers find them.
• Use API gateways: Deploy tools that sit in front of your APIs to monitor and control traffic. They filter out malicious requests and enforce usage policies centrally.
• Require strong authentication: Ensure every API and cloud console requires up-to-date authentication (ideally with multi-factor login). Never allow anonymous or weakly authenticated access to critical cloud services.

Building visibility and control

Addressing these issues boils down to gaining full visibility and control over your cloud workloads. You need unified monitoring, strict policy enforcement and real-time alerts so nothing hides in the shadows.

In practice, this means using tools and processes that collect logs from all cloud resources, map out configurations, and automatically enforce the right settings.

For example, Kaspersky Cloud Workload Security provides protection for cloud workloads and containerised environments.

It offers a central dashboard for encryption, configuration checks and threat detection in one place.

By combining these capabilities, it helps businesses see every cloud asset clearly and keep control over data and processes.

That level of visibility and control lets companies leverage the cloud’s benefits without undue risk.