Cloud Infrastructure Security for Financial Institutions

Misconfigured IAM Roles

Poorly configured Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles can allow attackers to exploit overly broad permissions or unintended trust relationships. 

For example, if a user or service role has the ability to modify policies or attach roles to itself, an attacker can escalate privileges—gaining administrative control over systems they were never meant to access.

Hardcoded Credentials

Storing usernames, passwords, API keys, or tokens directly in code or configuration files—especially inside container images or serverless deployments—exposes sensitive access credentials.

 If attackers discover these hardcoded secrets (via public repositories, image scanning, or reverse-engineering), they can authenticate against services like databases, cloud accounts, or third-party APIs, bypassing traditional perimeter defenses.

Exposed Management Interfaces

Systems that expose administrative dashboards, internal REST APIs, or other management functions to the internet without proper authentication or IP restrictions are low-hanging fruit for attackers. 

These interfaces are often intended only for internal use, but when improperly exposed, they can be exploited to reconfigure systems, exfiltrate data, or gain a foothold in the network.

Unencrypted Data Stores

Data stores—like database snapshots, cloud storage buckets, or backup volumes—that lack encryption at rest or in transit are vulnerable to data theft. 

If unauthorized users gain access to these locations, and the data is stored in plaintext, sensitive information such as financial transactions, PII, or IP can be easily exfiltrated or sold.

Insecure CI/CD Pipelines

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) systems that lack proper isolation, authentication, or validation checks can be hijacked by attackers. 

Exploiting these flaws can allow adversaries to inject malicious code into builds, tamper with release artifacts, or compromise dependencies—resulting in widespread supply chain attacks and potential downstream infections for customers.