{"id":824947,"date":"2025-05-22T14:50:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=824947"},"modified":"2025-05-22T14:50:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:50:17","slug":"securing-south-africas-cloud-workloads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/824947\/securing-south-africas-cloud-workloads\/","title":{"rendered":"Securing South Africa\u2019s cloud workloads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In recent years, South African businesses have been moving their operations to the cloud. But this shift also brings new cybersecurity challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without clear visibility and control over cloud environments, companies risk data leaks, misconfigurations and other security gaps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kaspersky and ISG\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/go.kaspersky.com\/cws?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_term=May+2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>research<\/strong><\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below are four key cloud security challenges \u2013 and practical ways to tackle each one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>#1 Data breaches and data leakage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Encrypt data everywhere:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limit data access:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Monitor data use:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>#2 Misconfigurations and weak access controls<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Cloud environments are complex, and even simple errors, such as leaving a resource misconfigured or with overly broad permissions, can create big security holes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Automate configuration checks:<\/strong> Use a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tool. These tools continuously scan your cloud settings, flag risky misconfigurations and even fix some issues automatically.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Perform regular audits:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Apply least privilege:<\/strong> Restrict admin rights so that only specific people can change configurations. This avoids accidental or malicious changes when no one is watching.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>#3 Insider threats<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Threats do not always come from outside. Employees or contractors can inadvertently or intentionally cause damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Monitor user activity:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Train and educate:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Enforce security policies:<\/strong> Strictly enforce your security policies (password rules, device use, etc.) and ensure everyone understands them. Clear policies reduce careless or malicious insider actions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>#4 Insecure APIs and interfaces<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As companies add more cloud services and custom apps, API security becomes vital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Adopt secure development:<\/strong> Use strong coding practices and regularly test your APIs for vulnerabilities. Patch any weaknesses before attackers find them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Use API gateways:<\/strong> Deploy tools that sit in front of your APIs to monitor and control traffic. They filter out malicious requests and enforce usage policies centrally.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Require strong authentication:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Building visibility and control<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In practice, this means using tools and processes that collect logs from all cloud resources, map out configurations, and automatically enforce the right settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.za\/enterprise-security\/cloud-workload-security?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_term=May+2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Kaspersky Cloud Workload Security<\/strong><\/a> provides protection for cloud workloads and containerised environments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It offers a central dashboard for encryption, configuration checks and threat detection in one place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By combining these capabilities, it helps businesses see every cloud asset clearly and keep control over data and processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That level of visibility and control lets companies leverage the cloud\u2019s benefits without undue risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In recent years, South African businesses have been moving their operations to the cloud. But this shift also brings new cybersecurity challenges. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":824950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[345,4070,1446],"class_list":["post-824947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-cloud","tag-cybersecurity","tag-kaspersky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":824951,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824947\/revisions\/824951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}