Cloud Hosting Providers Must Defend Against Attacks (Video)

Cloud providers must address account fraud and prevent cybercriminals from using cloud infrastructure to conduct attacks, said John Rowell, a cloud computing expert with Dimension Data.

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Cloud providers must address threats against their own infrastructure and remain vigilant over cybercriminals who are fraudulently using their platform to conduct malicious activities, according to a cloud computing expert who is overseeing Dimension Data's global cloud operations.

Account fraud, account hijacking and configuration weaknesses combine to create myriad problems that cloud providers have to address, said John Rowell, formerly chief technology officer at cloud provider OpSource, who now leads global research and development, and service operations in Dimension Data's Cloud Solutions Business Unit. The threats pose a serious impact to the cloud provider and also contribute to attacks conducted globally, Rowell said.

In this video interview, Rowell explains that attackers use stolen credit cards to set up fraudulent accounts and launch attacks using the cloud infrastructure. Attackers can set up a command and control server to send orders to a botnet or use the cloud platform's computing power to conduct distributed Denial-of-Service attacks, he said. Cybercriminals also can leverage existing configuration weaknesses to steal data from legitimate users of the cloud platform.

PUBLISHED MAY 23, 2013