New research from Atlas VPN has warned that 86% of hacks against Google Cloud accounts were used to mine cryptocurrencies illegally.

According to the VPN company, many successful attacks on cloud infrastructure are due to poor cybersecurity measures and a lack of control implementations.

The company added that most instances of compromise in Google Cloud are due to weak – or in some cases, lack of – passwords for the user account.

In addition, cybercriminals use their victims’ computing resources to perform port scanning of other targets on the internet in 10% of the cases where a Google Cloud was compromised. Port scanning enables cybercriminals to identify weak spots in the network and exploit found vulnerabilities.

Hackers launched attacks against other targets on the internet 8% of the time following a Google Cloud account hack. Hosting malware on the cloud was the goal of 6% of cybercriminals.

Rounding off the list of criminal uses for compromised cloud accounts are launching DDoS bots and sending spam, both occurring in 2% of cases.

Cybersecurity writer at Atlas VPN Vilius Kardelis said: “The advantages of cloud-hosted resources include high availability and access at any time.

“While this simplifies workforce operations, hackers may exploit the cloud’s pervasive nature for their benefit. Despite the increased interest in cybersecurity, spear-phishing and social engineering attacks are still very effective.”

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Atlas VPN warned that cybercriminals always search for the simplest way to compromise their target while trying to deliver a cyberattack.

Accounts with weak or no password protection, or that lack authentication for APIs, caused 48% of the Google Cloud hacks. It indicates that users could have avoided compromising their accounts if they had set up a stronger password.

Hackers exploited a vulnerability in third-party software in the Cloud instance in 26% of cases. If the hacks exploited a zero-day vulnerability, the fault could be attributed to the software developers not releasing an update. However, if a patch were released, responsibility for the compromise falls to the user not updating the software in time.

Misconfiguration of Cloud instance or in third-party software allowed 12% of hacks in Google Cloud. Any mistakes, malfunctions, or gaps in your infrastructure that put you at risk are known as misconfiguration.

Other issues caused 12% of compromises in the Google Cloud. While leaked credentials, such as keys published in GitHub projects, were exploited in 4% of attacks.

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