Businesses today can rent cloud servers. But to keep the information there securely, you need to be able to manage it. What will happen if you do not pay enough attention to this, and whether in this case hackers can get all the data – this is the article.

A study by Eric Polly, a graduate student in computer science and engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) and other scientists, showed that if cloud servers are not secure enough, attackers can easily obtain personal data.

In general, mobile apps, sites are easier to build and maintain when different companies don’t have to think about and manage servers. However, in this case, the security of the data stored there is at risk.

Each cloud server has its own IP address. It allows the user to connect to this service and send data. When an organization does not need this address, it is forwarded to another customer. At the same time, addresses change every half hour as companies change their services.

What is the danger? The fact is that if the organization stops using the cloud server but does not delete the link to the old IP address, other users may continue to send their data to that address. In this case, the devices from which people will access the server will send there information about their location, browsing history, financial data.

The attacker can take advantage of all this if he gets into the “cloud”. It can get IP addresses and see the company’s internet traffic. And the hacker will be aware of all the data until the organization notices the problem.

During the study, Eric Polly and other experts identified thousands of companies that could allow these users to infiltrate. These included data from mobile apps and ad trackers. That is, mobile apps were supposed to send the person’s information to other companies and advertisers, but instead all the data went to the person controlling the IP address. Also, anyone with a cloud account can collect information from companies that care little about security.