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IaaS Security: Prevent Major Risks with 7 Best Practices

Many organisations are moving to the public cloud, removing on-premise servers and data centres for IaaS – Infrastructure-as-a-service. It has seen significant growth in recent years, and the IaaS market size is expected to reach $892 billion by 2034.

As IaaS becomes more entrenched, securing these environments must scale to match their widespread deployment. That’s where IaaS security comes in.

In this article, we'll cover all you should know about IaaS security, including the biggest risks, benefits and best practices before you migrate your infrastructure to the cloud. Let's get in!

Author

Niels Kroeze IT Business Copywriter

Reading time 13 minutes Published: 06 February 2025

What is IaaS security?

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) security refers to the protective measures, protocols and technologies to protect the cloud infrastructure. IaaS is a cloud computing service where cloud providers offers key computation, storage, and networking resources on demand, yet in a virtual environment. There are many Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers, such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, etc.

With IaaS, organisations “rent” infrastructure components, such as Virtual Machines (VMs), storage and networking from IaaS providers. Thus, you no longer have to purchase, own and manage physical servers and data centres. This makes it a much more flexible and scalable option for organisations.

IaaS: shared responsibility model

A common misperception of companies is thinking that adopting IaaS, such as in a “lift and shift”, frees you from all security responsibilities. Instead, the opposite is true. Even though you become cloud-based, you are still responsible for cloud security. Regardless of which cloud computing model you choose, there is always a shared responsibility in the cloud – between the user and the cloud service provider.

Shared Responsibility Model

The IaaS model includes the maximum level of responsibility for the user. In an IaaS model, the cloud provider is responsible for managing the infrastructure. Think about maintaining the hardware, network connectivity (to the internet), and physical security. In addition, the IaaS provider is also responsible for security on the hypervisor layer.

On the other hand, as a user (system administrator), you’re responsible for all that’s left:

Managing and installing the operating system (OS)
(Network) configuration
Middleware
Runtime (OS’s libraries and additional tools required for the program to function)
Database and storage configuration

As an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) user, you install your chosen operating system and any necessary software on your rented virtual server. This creates the runtime environment where your applications can run, so you are responsible for managing this.

As opposed to the other models, such as PaaS or SaaS, IaaS gives you the maximum control over your cloud resources. Thus, many often argue it’s the most flexible category of cloud services. But it also means you have the highest level of responsibility, which includes securing your cloud infrastructure as well.

What are the benefits of IaaS Security?

IaaS environments are more scalable than maintaining on-premise data centres. You can spin up or down based on demand without the hassle of having to purchase or maintain hardware. Besides, there are fewer capital expenses with IaaS as an organisation does not need to purchase or maintain hardware. This frees budget, to be allocated to business goals.

10 IaaS Security Risks and Vulnerabilities

While it gives much more flexibility, scalability and convenience than managing your own data centres, IaaS also introduces a range of risks and vulnerabilities since you must trust your data, compute resources, and networking to an external service provider.

Virtualised computing resources, which are a core offering of IaaS, are particularly susceptible to security threats, making it crucial to implement effective management and security measures to protect them.

The risks involved with IaaS include:

1. Misconfigurations

Misconfigurations are the number one cause of vulnerabilities in IaaS. One wrong setting can cause big problems. These happen when resources like firewalls, access controls or storage buckets are not set up correctly and your infrastructure is exposed. For example, a misconfigured VM with open ports or weak credentials can be an easy target for attackers. Regular configuration checks and audits help mitigate these risks. Misconfigurations can be particularly challenging in multi cloud environments. This is why effective cloud orchestration is crucial for automating the management and coordination of resources across various cloud services.

2. Unauthorised access

In the cloud, authorised users can access resources from any device connected to the internet in a few clicks. Weak authentication, misconfigured access controls or stolen credentials can let unauthorised users get to your resources. Attackers can exploit identity management vulnerabilities such as brute force or phishing to compromise user accounts. Unauthorised access can lead to data breaches, intellectual property theft or disruption of critical operations.

3. Data leaks

Within IaaS, your data storage is internet-connected with cloud resources only a click away for users. This makes it a target for hackers looking to steal information. Moreover, the vast amount of data hosted by cloud providers is often a big temptation for malicious attackers. Data leaks happen when sensitive information is exposed to unauthorised individuals or systems. In IaaS setups, this can happen through misconfigured storage accounts, unsecured APIs or excessive permissions.

4. Permanent data loss

Data loss in IaaS can occur due to accidental deletions, ransomware attacks, hardware failures, or natural disasters. For example, attackers might penetrate your system and delete critical data. This can be either as part of a ransomware attack or to cause operational disruptions.

5. External threats

Malware: Threat actors might deploy malicious software onto the cloud-based systems.
Denial of Service (DoS) or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS): An attack on availability where threat actors use an individual endpoint or many different machines to overwhelm the capacities of a cloud-based system.
Man in the Middle Attacks: These occur when a threat actor tries to intercept information when it's being transmitted.

6. Insider threats

Insider attacks can happen when an ex-employee looks for revenge and still has access to resources, causing trouble.

7. Shadow services

Shadow services are cloud instances deployed by users without the IT department’s awareness or approval. Consequently, they might not have adequate security measures, which can cause more vulnerabilities and increase the risk of data loss or disclosure.

8. Compliance

Compliance falls under the responsibility of both the user and the cloud service provider. Failing to meet industry regulations can result in fines and damage to reputation.

9. Limited control and visibility

The IaaS model means cloud providers take care of the infrastructure. Thus, users are left with less control than being on-prem. Components such as networking equipment and storage devices are out of hand reach, which can cause concerns about the implementation of security measures.

10. Compromised Identities

Compromised identities and authentication pose significant security risks in IaaS environments. Threat actors can obtain credentials to cloud accounts through various means, such as installing keyloggers on admin computers or conducting phishing attacks. Once they gain unauthorised access, they can exploit the cloud provider’s API or user interface to manipulate services and grant themselves further access.

IaaS Security 7 Best Practices

IaaS platforms such as Microsoft Azure offer enterprises scalability and efficiency. However, you must ensure you do what’s needed to secure them. Consider these practices when you’re using an IaaS platform:

1. Set up strong authentication and access control

You need strict access controls to reduce the attack surface and prevent breaches. Use Role-based access controls (RBAC), so only those who need access can get in. Implement multifactor authentication (MFA) for all user accounts and use strong and unique passwords for administrators.

Embrace the Zero trust principle, where you enforce the least privilege principle to grant only the bare permissions. This way, you protect your Virtual Machines (VMs) and entire tenant, as only authorised users can set up and access them. PaaS and SaaS also use this as best practice.

TIP

In Microsoft Azure’s cloud computing platform, you can set up (customised) policies and apply these to resources (such as resource groups). The VMs that belong to a resource group then inherit these policies. In fact, you can apply policies to Management Groups, Subscriptions, Resource Groups and Resources.

2. Anti-malware

Anti-malware helps to identify and remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. In Microsoft, the Defender for Cloud detects malware and prevents hijacking files like ransomware.

3. Encrypt data at rest

You must ensure you can detect sensitive data patterns at rest and then put controls around that data. Fortunately, all major cloud providers offer you the option to encrypt VMs with encryption tools, which are mostly affordable (sometimes even free). As a user, you can either manage their keys or let the provider handle them. However, always consider how it can affect other services before encrypting.

4. Know the provider’s security model

Know the security model of the IaaS provider, including the shared responsibility model. Check the provider’s website for documentation to learn more about their security. While many cloud providers have great security, they have different security features and capabilities.

Read also about Azure Security vs AWS Security to see how these major cloud providers excel in security in their unique way.

It’s important to have a clear view of each provider’s security options and what’s missing. Maybe you need a tool not available in the provider’s offering, and you can get it through the marketplace from a 3rd party tool provider. Also, you should know how to secure your workloads in the cloud.

5. Upgrade and patch your systems

Prevent misconfigurations by regularly scanning and updating systems (operating system and other software components). In the public cloud, users (admins in IaaS) are responsible for keeping workloads up to date. Remember, even though workloads are in the cloud, they still need the same attention when it comes to patching and updating as on-prem servers.

For example, in Azure, VMs are user-managed, meaning you need to manage (update and patch) them yourself. Azure doesn’t push Windows updates. You can use Microsoft Defender for Cloud for VM patch management in Microsoft Azure. However, this is for Servers Plan 2. Alternatively, Azure Update Manager is a cheaper option. You can also install a third-party patching tool, or maybe you have your own. We often see this when organisations extend or migrate existing infrastructure to Azure.

Consistent patching decreases the attack surfaces and prevents you from vulnerabilities. Automated tools and processes should also be used when possible.

6. Monitor and inventory

You must keep an eye on all your cloud assets. Monitoring helps you catch problems early before they impact your systems or data. Use native tools from cloud providers to track metrics, detect anomalies, and respond to threats in real-time.

Example: Say you notice a rare spike in CPU and network traffic on one of your VMs at midnight while your business operates around office working hours (9-17). High CPU or memory usage might indicate a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. But monitoring tools flag these anomalies in time, so you can quickly act upon this and end it before damage occurs.

Are you in Azure?

Then, we advise you to use Azure Monitor to gain an overview of your system’s health.

Inventory refers to VMs and the workloads they handle. Maintaining an inventory of compute instance images is essential. While the IaaS console shows available instances, it often lacks details about who is using the VMs and for what purpose.

By tracking your IaaS inventory, you can understand how demanding your cloud resources manage workloads. Then again, you can make adjustments if needed and avoid overloading network assets (which can cause vulnerabilities). You don’t want VMs to consume more resources than they should.

7. Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

CSPM entails scanning IaaS instances for misconfigurations that are associated with established benchmarks. The good news is Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) provide everything you need to secure IaaS.

Closing thoughts

IaaS has changed how organisations manage their infrastructure. It offers flexibility and scalability that on-premise can’t match. But with more control comes more responsibility.

Securing your IaaS environment means understanding the shared responsibility model, dealing with risks like unauthorised access and data breaches, and following best practices like strong access controls, encryption and monitoring.

With IaaS, you’re still stuck with complicated software stacks, infrastructure, regular updates, and other tasks you'd rather not spend time on.

The good news is that more cloud computing models exist, such as PaaS and SaaS. These allow you to produce apps quicker. But there are many more reasons to opt for PaaS instead. Learn why many software organisations switch from an IaaS to a Platform as a Service (PaaS) environment.