Cloud adoption has transformed how Australian businesses operate, empowering teams with flexibility, scalability, and real-time data access. But with this comes increased complexity in how cyber risks surface and evolve. As threat actors become more sophisticated, the conversation has moved beyond infrastructure alone, and it’s now about how effectively organisations detect and respond to cybersecurity incidents.
The Australian Signals Directorate’s 2023–24 Annual Cyber Threat Report found that the average cost of cybercrime to small businesses rose by 8%, reaching $49,600 per report. These figures highlight why proactive cloud security measures – and strong detection and response capabilities within AWS – are essential for managing growing risk.
The average cost of cybercrime to small businesses rose by:
Source: Australian Signals Directorate
Understanding AWS Threat Detection and Security Risks
AWS threat detection minimises the impacts of threats in cloud environments by combining trusted experts and comprehensive security tools. Experienced analysts identify threats like privilege misuse, unauthorised access, misconfigurations, and compromised credentials – risks that can easily hide within vast volumes of cloud activity.
Tools such as GuardDuty, Security Hub, and CloudTrail offer essential visibility and automation, and human security experts then turn that data into action. Experts interpret signals, eliminate noise, and prioritise real threats, ensuring that detection efforts translate into responses.
3 Common AWS Security Threats
Cloud Misconfigurations
Cloud misconfigurations often result in critical security vulnerabilities, primarily by unintentionally exposing resources or data. Publicly accessible storage services or overly broad network rules can allow unauthorised users to access sensitive systems or information. These risks compound when access controls are too permissive, such as IAM roles granting excessive privileges, making it easier for attackers to escalate access or move laterally within the environment after an initial breach.
Unauthorised Access and Privilege Escalation
Unauthorised access in cloud environments can result in significant data breaches, particularly when attackers exploit weak identity and access management controls. Once inside, threat actors may escalate their privileges to gain administrative control, enabling them to modify or disable services, inject malicious code, or cause extensive operational disruptions. Sensitive information – such as personally identifiable data, financial records, and proprietary business content – may be extracted without detection.
Elevated access also allows attackers to move laterally across cloud systems, particularly in environments lacking strong segmentation or role-based access controls. This lateral movement enables them to target additional services or accounts, exploit further vulnerabilities, and establish persistent access. The broader the access gained, the more difficult it becomes to contain and remove the breach.
Cryptojacking Attacks
Cryptojacking exploits cloud computing resources to mine cryptocurrency without authorisation. This results in excessive compute resource consumption, which degrades the performance of legitimate workloads. Users may experience slower response times or disruption to critical services.
Because cloud infrastructure is billed on usage, cryptojacking can also cause substantial and unexpected cost increases. In many cases, attackers mimic normal workloads or use legitimate credentials, allowing them to evade detection for long periods. They may also operate in the dark corners of unexpected regions to persist their operations undetected.
How Security Experts Detect and Prevent Common Threats
Detecting Malicious Activity with Amazon GuardDuty
GuardDuty flags suspicious behaviour like unusual API calls or privilege escalation. It processes CloudTrail logs, VPC Flow Logs, and DNS data to highlight potential compromise. Yet without expert oversight, its alerts can be misread or ignored. It’s the security team that translates the patterns and anomalies highlighted with GuardDuty and uses these to prioritise effective action.
Using AWS Security Hub for Threat Aggregation
Security teams are responsible for making sense of a high volume of security data across cloud environments. Their ability to triage alerts, contextualise findings, and act decisively transforms threat detection into meaningful defence.
AWS Security Hub supports this process by aggregating findings from AWS services and third-party tools, offering a centralised view of threats and compliance posture. While the platform provides visibility, human analysis prioritises real risks and ensures incident response actions are aligned with business and compliance needs.
Monitoring API Activity with AWS CloudTrail
Monitoring API activity is another method for detecting and understanding suspicious behaviour in AWS environments. CloudTrail supports this by capturing all API interactions. Analysts then use automation and experience to interpret log data to uncover unauthorised access and trace attack paths before damage occurs.
Bridging the Gaps with Third-Party SIEM
When cloud environments span multiple services and platforms, experienced security professionals must combine the full picture. SIEM platforms enable this by consolidating vast quantities of AWS and third-party data, but valuable threat signals can be missed without expert configuration and interpretation.
Sumo Logic allows security experts to:
- Correlate AWS security alerts with other logs for deeper analysis.
- Identify attack patterns across cloud and on-premise environments.
- Automate response workflows to improve remediation time.
Consolidating alerts into SIEM enhances visibility across AWS and hybrid environments. Security professionals use these platforms to investigate anomalies with contextual understanding, adapt security rules based on emerging threats, and continuously improve security policies.
Conclusion
Security breaches in AWS environments can result in significant costs and disruption. However, strong AWS threat detection strategies, combining AWS and third-party advanced tools with strategic, real-time response, help organisations weather these challenges and maintain resilience in the face of growing cyber risks.
Why Choose RedBear as Your Threat Detection Partner?
RedBear is an AWS Advanced Partner with AWS Security Incident Response Specialisation. Our team is equipped to help your organisation prepare for, detect, and respond to cloud security incidents.
From proactive threat detection and strategic incident response planning to continuous compliance monitoring, RedBear provides a complete approach to securing AWS environments. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and strengthen your organisation’s AWS Security Incident Response.
