Cloud security threats are changing quickly, but the available reports do not establish one universal rate at which attacks are increasing. The more useful warning is that attackers are shifting methods: identity abuse remains a major route in, while exploitation of vulnerable third-party software surged in Google Cloud’s observed incidents. Businesses should treat identity, patching, configuration, logs and recoverable backups as connected parts of cloud defense.
What are the biggest cloud security threats?
Current reports point to a cluster of risks rather than one dominant weakness: compromised identities, vulnerable software, excessive permissions, exposed services, and attacks that impair recovery or investigation. The cloud perimeter includes more than a provider’s infrastructure. It also includes SaaS accounts, federated access, workloads, administrative interfaces, tokens, endpoints and the third-party software connected to them.
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Google Cloud’s Office of the CISO, in its Cloud Threat Horizons Report H1 2026, describes incidents observed in the second half of 2025. It says the window between vulnerability disclosure and mass exploitation “collapsed by an order of magnitude, from weeks to days.” That is the report’s characterization of the activity it observed, not a guarantee that every newly disclosed flaw will be exploited on that schedule.
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Identity and access abuse
In Google Cloud’s observed cloud and SaaS compromises from H2 2025, 83% had identity issues as an initial-access factor. This is a finding about that report’s observed incidents, not the probability that any cloud account will be compromised. Identity problems can include weak or stolen credentials, token theft, excessive permissions, poorly managed non-human identities, and unsafe federated trust.
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The Cloud Security Alliance’s 2026 survey-based report ranked inadequate identity and access management as the leading cloud-security threat assessed. That reflects professionals’ prioritization of issues such as excessive privileges and poorly managed credentials; it is not a count of attacks.
Third-party software and unpatched vulnerabilities
Google Cloud recorded a sharp change in its observed initial-access mix. Third-party software exploitation made up 44.5% of observed vectors in H2 2025, compared with 2.9% in H1 2025. These shares describe Google Cloud’s dataset and should not be read as industry-wide rates.
Misconfiguration and exposed interfaces
Misconfiguration remained a route into environments even though its share of Google Cloud’s observed initial-access vectors declined from 29.4% in H1 2025 to 21% in H2. Initial access through exposed sensitive user interfaces or APIs fell from 11.8% to 4.9% over the same periods. A lower share does not mean the underlying risk has disappeared.
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Google Cloud suggests that secure-by-default strategies and guardrails may help explain declines in configuration and identity errors. That is the provider’s interpretation, not independently established causation.
AI-related threats
AI-enhanced attacks and compromise of AI systems appeared in the Cloud Security Alliance’s 2026 cloud-threat rankings for the first time. The survey establishes that professionals consider these issues significant; it does not quantify how often AI is used in attacks or how many cloud incidents involve AI systems.
How do attackers get into cloud environments?
Attackers may use stolen or weak credentials, exploit vulnerable software, take advantage of exposed or misconfigured interfaces, or abuse trusted access. After gaining an initial foothold, they may use permissions and trust relationships to move between cloud services and SaaS applications, steal data, or interfere with recovery and investigation. The reports describe these patterns, but do not establish one sequence that applies to every incident.
| Observed initial-access category | H1 2025 | H2 2025 | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Third-party software exploitation | 2.9% | 44.5% | Share of Google Cloud’s observed initial-access vectors; not a cloud-wide prevalence rate. |
| Weak or absent credentials | 47.1% | 27.2% | Share of Google Cloud’s observed initial-access vectors; the decline does not make credential controls optional. |
| Misconfiguration | 29.4% | 21% | Share of Google Cloud’s observed initial-access vectors. |
| Exposed sensitive UI or API | 11.8% | 4.9% | Share of Google Cloud’s observed initial-access vectors. |
Google Cloud says the initial-access figures represent a subset of observed activity and may not represent all customers. They are useful for understanding a change in that dataset, not for comparing the absolute security of cloud providers or estimating a business’s individual risk.
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Cloud identity includes human users, service accounts and other non-human identities, as well as federation between systems. A compromised endpoint or stolen token can therefore put trusted access at risk even when an organization has deployed multiple cloud services. CISA’s July 2025 cloud-identity publication highlights secrets management, token protection, encryption, access control and enhanced logging as areas requiring attention; implementation depends on the provider and architecture.
Why are cloud accounts targeted?
Cloud accounts can provide access to data, workloads and administrative controls through a single identity or trust relationship. If an account has more permissions than its work requires, a compromise can expose more resources or allow high-impact changes. Non-human identities and long-lived secrets can also be overlooked during access reviews.
Microsoft’s 2026 Digital Defense Report page says 78% of observed attack techniques against critical infrastructure used cloud identity abuse. That figure applies to Microsoft’s critical-infrastructure observation set, not to cloud attacks generally. The same page reports an average of 5.3 hours before exposed cloud workloads were attacked. Because the page’s summary does not establish the full measure’s definition here, treat it as a warning about exposure speed—not a universal response-time benchmark.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How can businesses secure cloud data?
Prioritize controls that reduce the chance of unauthorized access and limit what an intruder can do. Then make sure the organization can detect suspicious activity and recover without relying on credentials an attacker may have compromised.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems1. Reduce standing access and protect authentication
- Review human and non-human identities, permissions, credentials and federated trust relationships regularly. Remove access that is no longer needed and reduce standing privileges.
- Use phishing-resistant authentication for sensitive access where the provider and account policy support it. A FIDO2 security key is one possible implementation; confirm compatibility for each account and service.
- Protect secrets and tokens, and monitor for unusual administrative actions or data movement. CISA’s July 2025 guidance discusses identity infrastructure, secrets management, token protection, encryption, access control and logging.
2. Patch internet-facing software quickly
Maintain an inventory of internet-facing software and a workflow to assess and remediate vulnerabilities. Google Cloud recommends targets of under 24 hours for virtual mitigation, such as a web application firewall rule, and under 72 hours for full patching. These are the report’s recommended targets, not universal regulatory deadlines. Virtual mitigation can reduce exposure while remediation is underway, but it is not a replacement for applying the full fix.
3. Limit exposure and enforce configuration guardrails
- Restrict administrative interfaces and APIs to the users and network paths that need them; avoid permissive firewall exposure.
- Use automated policy guardrails where they fit the environment, and review exceptions so they do not become permanent openings.
- Check configurations across cloud services and SaaS, not only the primary workload environment.
4. Preserve logs and investigate unusual activity
Centralize useful activity logs and restrict who can alter or delete them. Monitor for unusual data movement and administrative actions, and retain evidence in a way that an attacker with ordinary compromised credentials cannot casually erase. Logging supports both detection and post-incident investigation.
5. Protect backups and test recovery
Ransomware and other intrusions can target backups, snapshots and logs, so storing a copy is not enough if the same compromised credentials can destroy it. Restrict destructive actions, require additional authorization for high-impact changes, and test recovery so the organization knows whether its protected copies can restore critical data and services.
Are the reported threat figures directly comparable?
No. Google Cloud’s figures come from provider incident observations, the Cloud Security Alliance’s rankings come from a global professional survey, and Microsoft’s measures come from its own telemetry and observation periods. Those methods answer different questions. The percentages should not be combined into a single cloud-risk score, treated as market-wide rates, or used to declare one provider universally safer than another.
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