Microsoft warns thousands of cloud customers that a now-fixed Azure Cosmos vulnerability might have exposed databases, but it saw no evidence it was exploited
Microsoft (MSFT.O) on Thursday warned thousands of its cloud computing customers, including some of the world's largest companies …
ReutersJoseph Menn
Context & Ripple Effects
The immediately preceding coverage records the same customer warning over the fixed Cosmos issue, with Microsoft emphasizing that it had found no evidence of exploitation. The significance is therefore the scope of notification and the potential sensitivity of the affected databases, rather than a confirmed intrusion.
Thousands of Azure Cosmos customers must assess whether databases were exposed before Microsoft’s fix, despite the company reporting no evidence of use by attackers.
Microsoft faces immediate scrutiny of its remediation and customer-notification process for a vulnerability affecting a core cloud data service.
Second-order effects
Enterprise security teams gain another reason to require clearer evidence of exposure, remediation and monitoring from Microsoft when managed-cloud flaws are disclosed.
Security researchers’ role in surfacing Azure weaknesses becomes more consequential as later coverage ties another data-access flaw to reporting by Palo Alto Networks.
Third-order effects
Repeated disclosures involving potential Azure data access point toward cloud security being judged not only by fixes, but by the auditability of providers’ detection, disclosure and customer-impact assessments.
If this pattern persists, large cloud buyers are likely to treat demonstrable incident reporting and remediation controls as a more central part of provider evaluation.
The trend: Managed-cloud security is shifting toward greater demand for auditable proof of provider remediation and customer impact after vulnerability disclosures.
“The disclosure comes after months of bad security news for Microsoft. The company was breached by the same suspected Russian government hackers that infiltrated SolarWinds, who stole @Microsoft source code here.” https://www.reuters.com/...
Microsoft warned clients that intruders could have the ability to read, change or even delete their main databases, according to a copy of the email and a cyber security researcher. The vulnerability is in Microsoft Azure's flagship Cosmos database. https://www.reuters.com/...
Cloud security is an illusion. Transferring the risks doesn't make them disappear. At best you'll lose visibility and sleep better (but really, you shouldn't). https://twitter.com/...
“This is the worst cloud vulnerability you can imagine. It is a long-lasting secret,” Luttwak told Reuters. “This is the central database of Azure, and we were able to get access to any customer database that we wanted.” https://twitter.com/...
“The vulnerability is in Microsoft Azure's flagship Cosmos DB database. A research team at security company Wiz discovered it was able to access keys that control access to databases held by thousands of companies. Oh my. 😬 https://twitter.com/...
Man. With everything going on lately it's almost like Microsoft could use some sort of security initiative for Azure. Like, something trustworthy. In unrelated news, former employees disclosing vulns in their area of expertise probably have good lawyers? https://www.reuters.com/.…
#BREAKING. Exclusive: Microsoft warns thousands of its cloud computing customers, including some of the world's largest companies, of exposed databases https://www.reuters.com/...
Problems with Azure are especially troubling, because Microsoft and outside security experts have been pushing companies to abandon most of their own infrastructure and rely on the cloud for more security https://www.livemint.com/...
🔥🔥 Crazy exploit on Azure Cosmos DB. “In short, the [Jupyter] notebook container allowed for a privilege escalation into other customer notebooks... As a result, an attacker could gain access to customers' Cosmos DB primary keys... and the notebook storage access token.” https://…
If your business uses Cosmos DB, then you should read this article. | Microsoft Azure cloud vulnerability is the ‘worst you can imagine’ | https://www.theverge.com/... | @TheVerge
Microsoft isn't having a great summer of security. A flaw in Microsoft's Azure Cosmos DB database product left more than 3,300 Azure customers open to complete unrestricted access by attackers 😬 https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...