Ten Cloud Cybersecurity Mistakes No One Is Talking About
Author
Naj Husain
Date Published
Cloud technology has revolutionized IT infrastructure and the way businesses store and protect their data. Due to its relative infancy, companies are applying outdated thinking to how to secure it and protect against the modern threat landscape. We’ve identified the ten most common mistakes organizations are making in their cloud cybersecurity posture.
Mistake #1: Overestimating Perimeter Security Tools
Businesses tend to overestimate the ability of their perimeter security tools to identify threats. These tools are designed to look for evidence of compromise. Cybercriminals have become quite sophisticated and design their payloads to be “slept” for an extended period of time to evade these tools. If you need evidence of this fact, the question to ask yourself is this: if perimeter tools are failsafe, why do we ever hear of successful attacks, breaches, and ultimately companies paying ransoms? When threats slip through the cracks of perimeter security, they make their way into backups, which is a critical last line of defense against ransomware.
Mistake #2: Believing 3-2-1-1-0 Is Enough in the Cloud
Cloud customers mistakenly believe that the 3-2-1-1-0 rule that they’ve been using in their on-prem environments is enough in the cloud. This rule states that there should be three copies of the data stored on two different media (one of which is off-site and one in the cloud) and that the entire backup should contain zero errors.
There is a high degree of focus on immutability and air gapping. However, an immutable and air gapped backup that contains ransomware, malware, or corruption is completely useless when recovering from backup and, in fact, could send the organization into a constant cycle of reinfection.
Mistake #3: Deploying Security Tools Built for On-Premise Environments in the Cloud
Cloud offers the advantage of being able to spin up (and subsequently spin down) environments and incredible elasticity with its autoscaling capabilities. However, when security tools designed for an on-prem environment are used in the cloud, ephemeral instances and new workloads are not automatically captured in backups. To do this using tools designed for an on-premise environment requires a complex and slow process that demands a large team. Even then, they are not operating in real time. Only cloud native security tools can detect new workloads in real time and ensure that they are captured in backup data.
Mistake #4: Not Understanding the Security Risks of Ephemeral Instances
Most businesses, even if using cloud native security tooling, tend to dismiss the threat ephemeral instances (also referred to as “spot instances”) pose. The thought process is that because these instances “die” by design, there is no need to capture them in backups nor scan them for threats. The reality is that these instances can provide an entry point for ransomware and because they “die,” all of the data is gone forever. If these instances do become infected, there will be no data available for forensic analysis. The result is often a situation where an organization cannot determine the root cause of a persistent threat.
Mistake #5: Trading One Security Risk For Another
If a cloud security tool views, accesses, or in any way takes custody of data, it is trading one security risk for another. There’s a great saying in technical risk management of “who watches the watchers?” If your security tool is compromised, so is your data. A more modern and secure approach is to use a security tool that does not access your actual data in any way.
Mistake #6: Mistaking Cloud Availability For Cyber Resilience
While cloud providers offer a level of protection against threats like unauthorized access through robust IAM features, ransomware attacks pose a unique challenge and fall squarely under the customer’s purview in the Shared Responsibility Model.
While the cloud can offer high availability and redundancy for data and applications, it does not automatically guarantee cyber resilience. Cyber resilience involves more than just having access to data or services; it encompasses the ability to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from cyber threats or incidents.
Mistake #7: Using Security Tools With A Bad ROI
Most security tools require a robust team with specialized knowledge to secure maximum protection. With the cloud industry being relatively new, employees with this level of expertise can be extremely costly. Couple this with the need to investigate endless false positive alerts, and the overhead to operate them is untenable. Look for tools that have a human component behind the scenes to investigate alerts and ensure time is not being wasted on false positives. This helps ensure your team is not going “alert blind” and are only responding to alerts that are to be taken seriously.
In addition to the overhead factor, the ROI of most tools is upside down. They typically justify ROI simply on the fact that they make the claim to help organizations avoid cost by way of averting data loss and paying a ransom. However, they are very expensive and in practical terms, represent a hit to the budget. Organizations should instead turn to tools that can pay for themselves in actuality through features such as global deduplication and compression (see Mistake #9: Paying Too Much For Backups).
Mistake #8: Telling a White Lie on Cyber Insurance Applications
Most cyber insurance policy applications ask if backups are being scanned for ransomware and malware. Security leaders wince at this question and often find a way to justify checking the box that says, “yes.” This is a big mistake. While this is technically insurance fraud, insurers are unlikely to pursue legal action. However, this is grounds for them to deny your claim in the future and/or terminate your coverage.
Mistake #9: Paying too much for backups
Backups often represent 30% of a company’s total cloud bill. In an age where FinOps is becoming a standard practice, backups are often overlooked as a place for substantial cost savings. Instead of taking advantage of tools that have global deduplication and compression capabilities, organizations often make the mistake of lessening their retention period. When this practice is combined with a lack of scanning for threats and the knowledge that cybercriminals “sleep” their payloads to outlast retention periods, it is a recipe for disaster.
Mistake #10: Not Scanning Backups for Threats and Continually Recovery Testing Them
The convenience and scalability of cloud backups have made them increasingly popular. It’s critical to maintain timely backups as they provide a last line of defense against ransomware attacks and a mechanism to roll back other undesired changes to the environment.
However, there is a crucial security gap that often goes unnoticed: the failure to implement robust ransomware, malware, and corruption scanning of backup data and regular recovery testing of those backups. Oftentimes, the first time backups are tested is during a recovery event when under duress to get all systems back online.
Modern Cloud Infrastructures Require Modern Cybersecurity Thinking
Using thinking, processes, and tools built for traditional infrastructures leaves organizations open to threats from cybercriminals. This path can be costly by way of tools that cost too much to deploy and operate as well as data loss, customer loss, reputational loss, and the need to pay ransoms in hopes of having company data returned.
Cybersecurity in the cloud requires a cloud native approach that acknowledges the differences between cloud and traditional architectures and environments.
About Elastio
Elastio detects and precisely identifies ransomware in your data and assures rapid post-attack recovery. Our data resilience platform protects against cyber attacks when traditional cloud security measures fail.
Elastio’s agentless deep file inspection continuously monitors business-critical data to identify threats and enable quick response to compromises and infected files. Elastio provides best-in-class application protection and recovery and delivers immediate time-to-value.
Recover With Certainty
See how Elastio validates every backup across clouds and platforms to recover faster, cut downtime by 90%, and achieve 25x ROI.
Related Articles
AI-Ready & Ransomware-Proof FSx for NetApp ONTAP Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSxN) has become the gold standard for high-performance cloud storage, combining the agility of AWS with the data management power of NetApp. Today, this infrastructure is more critical than ever. As unstructured data volumes explode and enterprises race to feed Generative AI models, FSxN has evolved into the engine room for innovation. It holds the massive datasets that fuel your AI insights and drive business logic. You cannot build trusted AI on unverified data FSxN delivers the trusted, high-performance platform your enterprise relies on. But true trust requires more than uptime—it requires integrity. As enterprise architectures evolve, so do the threats targeting them. The sheer scale of unstructured data creates a massive blind spot where ransomware can hide, silently corrupting data over weeks. If the data residing on your trusted storage is compromised, your AI models are being trained on poisoned assets. The Imperative: Verified Data for Trusted AI Today, Elastio is introducing comprehensive Ransomware Recovery Assurance for Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP. We now provide a layered defense that validates the integrity of the data within your primary volumes, SnapMirror replicas, and AWS Backups, ensuring that your storage is not just available, but provably clean. The Three-Tier Defense for FSxN To understand where Elastio fits, we must look at the modern FSxN protection architecture. A resilient implementation typically relies on three layers : Primary Filer: Your active, high-performance workload.SnapMirror Replica: A near-real-time, read-only copy used for disaster recovery with low RPOs (e.g., 5 minutes).AWS Backup: A daily recovery point for long-term retention and compliance. Until now, verified recoverability across these layers was a blind spot. Elastio eliminates that uncertainty by integrating with the entire chain to validate data integrity before a crisis occurs. The Risk of Silent Corruption Ransomware attacks frequently begin subtly, bypassing perimeter defenses and modifying data blocks without triggering immediate alerts. If these corrupted blocks are replicated to your SnapMirror destination or archived into your AWS Backup vault, you aren't preserving your business—you are preserving the attack. Just having backups is not enough. To ensure resilience, you must answer three questions about your recovery points : Are they safe?Are they intact?Are they recoverable? Introducing Elastio Recovery Assurance for FSxN Elastio delivers agentless, automated verification for FSxN environments. Our platform connects to your infrastructure to perform deep-file inspection, providing : Behavioral Ransomware Detection: We identify encryption patterns that signature-based tools miss, including slow-rolling and obfuscated encryption.Insider Threat Detection: We detect malicious tampering or unauthorized encryption driven by compromised credentials.Corruption Validation: We identify unexpected data corruption that could render a backup unusable during a restore. This coverage spans the entire lifecycle. Elastio scans your SnapMirror replicas for immediate RPO validation and utilizes AWS Restore Testing to validate your AWS Backups without rehydrating production data. Complementing NetApp’s Native Defenses Elastio is designed to work with your existing security stack, not replace it. NetApp’s native Autonomous Ransomware Protection (ARP) is an excellent first line of defense, monitoring your production environment for suspicious activity in real-time. Elastio complements ARP by operating beyond the production path. We focus on the recovery chain, performing deep-dive analysis on your backups and replicas. If ARP flags a potential threat in production, Elastio allows you to instantly identify which historical recovery point is clean, verifiable, and safe to restore . Compliance: From "Prevention" to "Proof" Regulatory pressure is shifting. Frameworks like DORA, NYDFS, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS are moving away from simple backup retention mandates toward requirements for demonstrable recovery integrity. Auditors and cyber insurers no longer accept "we have backups" as an answer. They require proof that those backups can be restored. Elastio automates this reporting, providing a validated inventory of clean snapshots that satisfies the most stringent compliance and risk requirements. Recommended Architecture for Provable Recovery To achieve maximum resilience with FSxN, we recommend the following layered approach : Replicate: Use SnapMirror to maintain a secondary copy with a 5-minute RPO.Retain: Use AWS Backup to enforce retention policies.Validate:Run Elastio Hourly Scans on SnapMirror replicas to catch infection early.Run Elastio Restore Tests monthly on AWS Backups to verify your vault. Conclusion In the current threat landscape, ransomware is not a matter of if, but when. Your data is only protected if it can be recovered. With Elastio’s new support for Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, you can move beyond checking a backup box and gain true recovery assurance. In just minutes per TB, you will know if your data is clean or compromised, and be ready to recover with confidence. 3 Key Takeaways AI Integrity Requires Clean Data As FSxN drives generative AI and unstructured data growth, silent corruption becomes a critical risk. Elastio prevents "poisoned" datasets by detecting corruption inside the storage layer.End-to-End Validation Elastio secures the entire FSxN lifecycle, providing deep inspection and clean recovery verification for primary volumes, SnapMirror replicas, and AWS Backups.The "Production and Recovery" Defense Elastio operates outside the production path to complement NetApp’s Autonomous Ransomware Protection (ARP), validating snapshots to ensure you always have a safe place to restore from.
The Immutability Blind Spot AWS Logically Air-Gapped (LAG) Vaults are a massive leap forward for cloud recovery assurance. They provide the isolation and immutability enterprises need to survive catastrophic cyber events. But immutability has a dangerous blind spot: it doesn’t distinguish between clean data and corrupted data. If ransomware encrypts your production environment and those changes replicate to your backup snapshots before they are moved to the vault, you are simply locking the malware into your gold-standard recovery archive. You aren’t preserving your business; you’re preserving the attack. Today, Elastio has closed that gap. We introduced a new integration with AWS LAG that ensures only provably clean recovery points enter your immutable vault. By combining our deep-file inspection with a new Automated Quarantine Workflow, we prevent infected data from polluting your recovery environment. The Risk: "Immutable Garbage In, Immutable Garbage Out" The core principle of modern resilience is simple: Immutable storage isn't enough—data integrity must be proven. Ransomware attackers are evolving. They no longer just encrypt production data; they target backup catalogs and leverage "slow burn" encryption strategies to corrupt snapshots over weeks or months. Standard signature-based detection tools often miss these storage-layer attacks because they are looking for executable files, not the mathematical signs of entropy and corruption within the data blocks themselves. If you copy an infected recovery point into an AWS LAG Vault and lock it with a compliance retention policy, you create a restoration loop: every time you attempt to recover, you re-infect the environment. The Elastio Solution: Verify, Then Vault Elastio has updated its recovery assurance platform to act as that gatekeeper. We utilize machine learning-powered ransomware encryption detection models designed specifically to catch advanced strains, including slow encryption, striped encryption, and obfuscated patterns. Here is the new workflow for AWS LAG customers: Ingest & Inspection: As workload backups or snapshots are generated, Elastio automatically inspects the data for signs of ransomware encryption and corruption.The Decision Engine: Based on the inspection results, the workflow forks immediately:Path A: The Clean Path. If the data is verified as clean, it is routed to the customer’s Immutable LAG Vault. Once there, it undergoes automated recovery testing on a set schedule to prove recoverability.Path B: The Infection Path. If data is flagged as infected, it is blocked from entering the clean LAG vault. Instead, the compromised snapshot is automatically routed to a Quarantine Vault, which can itself be configured as a separate Logically Air-Gapped Vault. Optionally, Elastio can trigger the deletion of the local copy immediately after the move to either the clean or quarantine vault is complete, eliminating the need to maintain local retention. Why This Matters for the Enterprise For CISOs, Cloud Architects, and Governance teams, this workflow shifts the posture from "hopeful" to "provable." Audit-Ready Compliance: Whether you are dealing with NYDFS, HIPAA, or cyber insurance requirements, you can now prove that your immutable archives are free of compromise.Reduced Incident Response Time: By automatically segregating infected data, IR teams don't have to waste time shifting through thousands of snapshots to find a clean version. Elastio points you directly to the last clean copy and the first infected copy.Cost Control: You stop paying for premium, immutable storage on data that is useless for recovery. Real-World Value Elastio delivers outcome-driven security. With this update, we provide: Provable Recovery: You don’t just think your backups will work; you have a verified, clean report to prove it.Ransomware Impact Detection: Identify the exact moment of infection to minimize data loss (RPO).Integrity Assurance: Validate that no tampering has occurred within the data before it becomes immutable. Take Control of Your Recovery Don't let your backup vault become a ransomware repository. Ensure that every recovery point stored in AWS LAG is verified, validated, and clean. 3 Key Takeaways Immutability != Integrity Locking unverified data creates a "restoration loop" where ransomware is preserved alongside your critical assets.The "Verify-Then-Vault" Gatekeeper Elastio sits upstream of your AWS LAG Vault, inspecting every recovery point. Only verified clean data is allowed to enter your gold-standard archive, ensuring it remains uncompromised.Automated Quarantine Infected snapshots are instantly routed to a secure Quarantine Vault for forensic analysis, isolating threats without contaminating your clean recovery environment or slowing down response teams.
Scan Backups with Amazon GuardDuty Malware Protection for AWS Backup Cybersecurity teams are under pressure: attackers are faster, stealthier, and increasingly targeting backups. Amazon’s announcement of GuardDuty Malware Protection for AWS Backup is an important step forward for cloud security teams. But while detection is essential, detection alone does not equal ransomware readiness. This is where the Elastio and GuardDuty integration becomes a force multiplier. From Alerts to Ransomware Readiness Security leaders understand this: alerts tell you what is happening, but they do not guarantee you can survive what happens next. Modern adversaries: Bypass prevention controlsEncrypt backupsHide inside trusted servicesLeave your environment looking healthy while recovery points are already corrupted With the new integration: GuardDuty detects anomalies, malware, compromised credentials, and suspicious API behaviorElastio responds automatically by scanning data for corruption, ransomware encryption, and malwareCompromised data is quarantinedClean recovery points are validated and preservedFindings are pushed to Security Hub, IR platforms, or SOAR workflows Elastio converts threat alerts into recovery assurance. You do not simply know something bad happened; you know your last clean copy is safe. What It Means for Your Security Teams GuardDuty provides threat visibility: It detects suspicious behaviors across S3, EC2, EBS, IAM, and other AWS services.Elastio provides proof of survivability: It verifies that your data is intact, unencrypted, unmodified, and recoverable. For Incident Response Teams Compromised data is automatically quarantinedElastio identifies the last known clean restore pointFile level forensics and malware details are surfaced instantlyTeams can investigate safely before triggering recovery For CISOs and CIOs A continuous security control that proves ransomware readinessIndependent validation that backups meet compliance, governance, and cyber insurance expectationsReduction in downtime by more than 90 percentRealizable 10 to 25 times ROI through faster, cleaner recovery This turns backup validation into a measurable resilience metric rather than a hope. Executive Summary Customer Pain: Security teams can detect threats, but they cannot tell if backups have already been corrupted. This forces IR teams and CISOs to guess about recovery integrity, slows down response, increases downtime, and creates compliance and audit gaps. Value Proposition:The GuardDuty and Elastio integration turns every detection event into automated recovery assurance. GuardDuty identifies suspicious behavior and Elastio validates the data integrity. Then, compromised data is quarantined, clean recovery points are verified, and detailed evidence is pushed to Security Hub and IR systems. IR teams gain clear, file-level intelligence and a confirmed clean restore point. CISOs receive continuous dashboards that prove recovery readiness, SLA compliance, and audit-ready documentation. Outcome: Customers move from “we detected something” to “we know exactly what is safe to recover and what to do.” This reduces downtime, eliminates recovery guesswork, strengthens compliance, and provides measurable resilience against ransomware.