With almost half of all cyber attacks now taking place in cloud environments, securing cloud systems has become a critical business priority.

Research shows that 45% of data breaches now involve cloud infrastructure, a sharp rise from just 20% in 2020. As organisations continue to move data, applications, and day-to-day operations into the cloud, cyber criminals are increasingly targeting this shift.

The financial impact is significant. With the average data breach costing businesses millions globally, even a single cloud security failure can cause long-term operational and reputational damage. 

Understanding the most common cloud cyber threats and how to defend against them is essential for any organisation today. 

What Are the Latest Cyber Threats in Cloud-Based Data Breaches?

As cloud adoption accelerates, cyber criminals are increasingly targeting cloud infrastructure, user access, and configuration weaknesses. While cloud platforms themselves are highly secure, most successful attacks exploit how systems are configured, accessed, or integrated.

Below are some of the most common and damaging cyber threats facing businesses operating in the cloud today.

Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is designed to prevent legitimate users from accessing cloud systems and services.

These attacks overwhelm cloud infrastructure with high volumes of traffic, exhausting system resources and making applications or services unavailable. For businesses that rely on cloud platforms, DoS attacks can disrupt critical operations, prevent customer access, and cause significant financial and reputational damage.

Hijacked Accounts

Account hijacking occurs when cyber criminals gain unauthorised access to cloud accounts, often through stolen credentials or weak passwords.

Once inside, attackers can exploit cloud resources, access sensitive business data, or impersonate legitimate users with full system permissions. Hijacked accounts may go undetected for long periods, increasing the scale and cost of a breach.

Credential Phishing and Identity-Based Attacks

Identity-based attacks are one of the fastest-growing cloud security threats. Rather than attacking infrastructure directly, cyber criminals target users through phishing emails, fake login pages, or MFA fatigue attacks.

By tricking users into approving access or handing over credentials, attackers can bypass traditional security controls and gain legitimate-looking access to cloud systems, making these attacks particularly difficult to detect.

Cloud Malware Injection Attacks

Cloud malware injection attacks involve embedding malicious software into cloud services or workloads, including ransomware, spyware, or other harmful code.

Attackers may inject malware through phishing emails, compromised SaaS or PaaS components, or by uploading infected files after gaining access to cloud accounts. Any weakness in cloud applications or infrastructure can be exploited if security controls are insufficient.

API and Cloud Integration Abuse

Modern cloud environments rely heavily on APIs and third-party integrations to connect applications, services, and workflows.

If APIs are poorly secured, attackers can exploit them to access data, manipulate systems, or move laterally within a cloud environment. As businesses adopt more connected cloud services, unsecured integrations increasingly represent a major attack surface.

Misconfigured Cloud Security

Misconfiguration remains one of the most common and preventable causes of cloud data breaches.

Incorrect access controls, unsecured storage, outdated software, and missing patches can leave cloud environments exposed. Even small configuration errors can create significant security gaps, making cloud systems an easy target for cyber criminals.

How Can You Protect Cloud Systems From Cyber Threats and Data Breaches?

Protecting cloud environments requires a layered security approach that combines strong data protection, continuous monitoring, and strict access controls. Rather than relying on a single tool or setting, effective cloud security focuses on reducing risk across people, systems, and infrastructure.

The following measures can help form the foundation of a secure cloud strategy for modern businesses.

Encrypt Cloud Data

Encrypting data ensures that even if information is accessed unlawfully, it cannot be read or used without the correct decryption key.

Encryption protects sensitive business data both at rest and in transit, significantly reducing the impact of a potential breach and supporting compliance with data protection regulations. Without the correct key, encrypted data is effectively useless to attackers.

How Does Encryption Work?

Encryption converts readable data into an encoded format using secure algorithms and encryption keys. Only authorised users with the correct decryption key can restore the original information.

Modern cloud encryption uses continuously rotating keys, making it extremely difficult for cyber criminals to decrypt data, even if they manage to gain access to cloud storage or systems.

Monitor Cloud Infrastructure in Real Time

Continuous monitoring allows businesses to detect threats early and respond before incidents escalate.

Real-time infrastructure monitoring provides visibility across cloud systems, applications, and user activity, helping identify unusual behaviour, security gaps, or attempted breaches. Rapid alerts enable faster investigation and remediation, reducing downtime and potential damage.

Restrict Access to Cloud Data

Limiting access to cloud systems and data reduces the overall attack surface and lowers the risk of both external and internal threats.

By enforcing role-based access controls and the principle of least privilege, businesses can ensure users only have access to what they need. This helps prevent unauthorised access, insider threats, and the misuse of compromised accounts.

Use Managed Cloud Security Solutions

Managing cloud security effectively requires specialist expertise and constant oversight.

Working with a managed IT and cloud security provider enables businesses to benefit from proactive monitoring, threat detection, vulnerability management, and expert guidance. This approach ensures cloud environments remain secure, compliant, and resilient as threats continue to evolve.

Winning the Arms Race Against Cyber Criminals

Cloud cyber threats continue to evolve, and attackers won’t wait for businesses to catch up. As organisations increase their reliance on cloud platforms, securing data, systems, and user access must be treated as an ongoing process, not a one-time fix.

At Lyon Tech, we help businesses stay ahead of cloud cyber threats by assessing existing environments, identifying vulnerabilities, and implementing practical security measures tailored to how each organisation operates. From securing access and monitoring infrastructure to improving staff awareness, our approach focuses on reducing real-world risk.

Cyber criminals act quickly, often exploiting small gaps before they are noticed. Taking proactive steps now to secure your cloud environment can prevent costly breaches, downtime, and long-term damage to your business.

If your data or applications live in the cloud, now is the time to ensure they are properly protected.