Responding to Cloud Incidents: A step-by-Step Guide Informed by the 2025 Unit 42 Global Incident Response Report
The increasing adoption of cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) environments is accompanied by a rising tide of cloud-native attacks. Effectively responding to these incidents requires a shift in conventional incident response (IR) methodologies. this guide, informed by findings from the 2025 Unit 42 Global Incident Response Report, outlines key steps for organizations to prepare for and manage cloud security breaches.
The Evolving Threat Landscape
The report highlights a meaningful trend: cloud and SaaS environments are increasingly targeted. In 2024, 29% of incident investigations handled by Unit 42 involved cloud environments, demonstrating a clear need to adapt security strategies. This shift necessitates a focus on areas distinct from traditional on-premise investigations, specifically identities, misconfigurations, and the interactions between cloud services.
Step 1: Proactive Readiness – Building a Foundation for response
Before an incident occurs, establishing a robust foundation is critical. This includes:
* Defining Cloud IR Playbooks: develop specific playbooks tailored to common cloud attack scenarios. These should outline roles, responsibilities, and procedures for containment, eradication, and recovery.
* Preparing Cloud sandboxes for Forensics: Create isolated cloud environments (sandboxes) pre-configured with necessary tools for forensic analysis. This allows for safe examination of perhaps compromised resources without impacting production systems.
* Establishing Thorough Logging: Enable and centralize logging across all cloud services. Logs are the primary source of evidence in cloud investigations.
* Data Retention policies: Implement data retention policies that ensure logs are retained for a minimum of 90 days. log gaps due to misconfigurations or insufficient retention periods can severely hamper investigations.
* Image and Log Gathering Tools: Ensure tools for capturing images and logs are integrated into the cloud surroundings before an incident. This ensures evidence is readily available when needed.
Step 2: Incident Response – Containment, Eradication, and Recovery
When an incident is detected, a structured approach is essential:
- Understand Roles and Identities: Identify the users, services, and accounts involved in the incident. Compromised identities are frequently the entry point for attackers.
- Identify attacker Persistence: Look for indicators of attacker persistence, such as modified configurations, scheduled tasks, or newly created accounts.
- Contain the Intrusion: Isolate affected resources to prevent further spread of the attack. This may involve disabling compromised accounts, blocking network traffic, or shutting down instances.
- Eradicate the threat: Remove malicious code, configurations, or accounts used by the attacker.
- analyze the Attack Vector: Thoroughly analyze collected data (logs, images, etc.) to determine the initial point of entry and the attackerS methods. This is crucial for closing the vulnerability that allowed the attack to occur.
Step 3: learning and Advancement – Institutionalizing Lessons Learned
the incident response process doesn’t end with eradication.
* Analyze Data & Close Vulnerabilities: Security experts should analyze the incident data to pinpoint the attack vector and implement measures to prevent similar attacks in the future.
* Institutionalize Lessons Learned: Document the incident, the response actions taken, and the lessons learned. Share this facts across the organization to improve security posture.
* Proactive Security Measures: Consider adopting proactive security measures such as:
* Zero Trust Architecture: Implementing incremental steps towards a zero trust model considerably reduces the attack surface by eliminating implicit trust.
* Visibility Assessment: Utilize tools like the Unit 42 Cloud Security Assessment to gain a comprehensive understanding of the organization’s cloud security posture and identify potential vulnerabilities.
* elite Backup Support: Leverage expert support, such as a Unit 42 Retainer, to have incident response specialists available on demand.
Key Findings from the 2025 Unit 42 Global Incident Response Report:
* Identity Compromise is Prevalent: The majority of cloud breaches originate with compromised identities. Attackers frequently leverage legitimate credentials.
* “Living-off-the-Land” and “Modify-the-Land” Techniques: Attackers commonly employ these techniques, utilizing existing cloud tools and services to move laterally and establish persistence.
* Behavioral Analysis is Critical: Detecting these advanced attacks requires behavioral baselining and anomaly detection to identify deviations from normal activity.
Organizations can strengthen their cloud defenses by proactively preparing for incidents, responding effectively when they occur, and continuously learning from past experiences. The 2025 Global Incident Response Report from Unit 42 provides valuable insights to navigate the evolving cloud threat landscape and build a more resilient security posture.
