By Heather Thibodeaux, Marketing & Sales Development Manager at Diverse CTI
Every October, we tell ghost stories. But in IT, the scariest stories don’t come from haunted houses, they come from hidden risks most businesses aren’t even aware of.
We hear it all the time:
“Don’t worry, our data is safe. It’s in the cloud.”
As much as we’d love that to be true, cloud safety isn’t automatic. In fact, that sentence is one of the most common rejections our sales team hears when reaching out to Oklahoma businesses.
So, this October, instead of just telling ghost stories, we’re doing a deep dive into the rejections we hear most often, from “the cloud is safe”, “we’re too small to be a target” to “no one wants my data – or its public record”. We’ll share what we’ve seen in the industry, how it’s affected real customers, and the lessons every business can take away to avoid becoming the next horror story.
👻 Real Cloud Horror Stories
Cloud breaches make headlines because they expose enormous volumes of sensitive information with a single misstep. Take the airport data leak: a misconfigured Amazon S3 bucket exposed 3 terabytes of security data, including employee ID photos and national ID cards, all because authentication was left off cloud storage. Or the recruitment résumé spill, where misconfigured Azure Blob containers left millions of résumés publicly accessible, complete with names, emails, phone numbers, work history, and home addresses, (Hey it’s public record right??) giving attackers everything needed for identity theft and phishing campaigns.
(Sources: DarkReading, CyberNews, Daily Security Review)
Cloud Risk Is Already in Your Backyard
It’s not just airports and recruiting firms. Right here in Oklahoma, cloud-related breaches have already impacted schools, universities, and hospitals. In 2024, Mustang Public Schools saw a third-party PowerSchool portal compromised, exposing student and staff records going back 15 years. At the University of Oklahoma, hackers used stolen VPN credentials to infiltrate systems and exfiltrate employee and financial data. And at Great Plains Regional Medical Center, a ransomware attack compromised 133,000 patients’ records — including Social Security numbers, diagnoses, and insurance details. Each case underscores a different risk: SaaS vendor weaknesses, credential theft, and ransomware data exfiltration.
(Sources: NewsOn6, The Record, SecurityWeek)
When people think of cloud breaches, they usually imagine a misconfigured storage bucket, but that’s only one way the ghosts slip in. The scary thing is attackers exploit a variety of weaknesses within a Cloud Enviroment:
- Misconfigured storage: The airport data leak and résumé spills happened because cloud buckets and blobs were left public, exposing terabytes of sensitive data.
- Stolen credentials: The University of Oklahoma breach stemmed from compromised VPN credentials, while Mustang Public Schools saw a third-party portal accessed with stolen logins.
- Vendor vulnerabilities: SaaS platforms like PowerSchool show how even trusted providers can become weak links in your security chain.
- Ransomware & exfiltration: Great Plains Regional Medical Center was hit not just with ransomware but with data theft — proving that backups alone aren’t enough if attackers can pull your files out of the cloud.
Each of these is a different vector of attack — the path or entry point a hacker uses to break into a system (Cloudflare). What they all have in common is this: businesses assumed the cloud (or their vendor) had covered it, and attackers proved otherwise.
⚖️ Regulatory Risk Is Growing
Oklahoma’s new Senate Bill 626 expands breach notification requirements starting Jan 1st 2026. That means:
- Broader definitions of “personal information” (biometrics, unique IDs).
- Mandatory Attorney General notifications within 60 days.
- Stronger penalties for delayed or incomplete reporting.
Complacency will cost more than downtime, it could mean legal fallout.
(Source: McDonald Hopkins)
The next time someone says, “Don’t worry, our data is safe. It’s in the cloud,” remember:
- Airports leaked IDs.
- Résumés spilled online.
- Oklahoma schools, universities, and hospitals have already been hit.
The cloud isn’t automatically safe! It’s only as secure as the defenses you put in place.
This October, we’re not just sharing ghost stories. We’re unpacking the real rejections we hear every day and showing Oklahoma businesses how to turn blind spots into stronger defenses.
Cloud Security Q&A
Q: Is data in the cloud automatically secure?
A: No. Providers secure infrastructure, but you are responsible for access controls, configurations, and vendor oversight.
Q: What’s the #1 cause of cloud breaches?
A: Misconfiguration — such as leaving a storage bucket public or failing to secure credentials.
Q: What can Oklahoma organizations do to protect themselves?
A: Enforce MFA across all accounts, encrypt sensitive data, audit vendors, and monitor cloud setups continuously. Partner with a trusted IT provider who can protect you!
Q: How can I keep my cloud from becoming a haunted house?
A: Think of security in layers, not luck. Here’s how:
- Audit permissions regularly — only give users the access they truly need.
- Lock down storage buckets and blobs — default to private unless there’s a business reason.
- Rotate and revoke credentials and tokens — stale access keys are hacker candy.
- Require MFA for admin & remote access accounts — stolen credentials are worthless with MFA.
- Monitor for anomalies — set alerts for unusual logins, sudden permission changes, or mass data downloads.
