RESEARCH by Mysterium VPN reveals that 19.6 billion files are publicly accessible due to misconfigured cloud storage buckets across major platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. This includes 685K credential files and almost 1M database dumps, presenting significant risks for data exposure. Many files contain sensitive information such as customer data and authentication tokens.
The study emphasizes that over two-thirds of these exposures are on AWS, primarily due to its popularity and the tendency for misconfiguration in cloud settings. Solutions include setting default privacy settings and not storing sensitive data in public buckets. Users are advised to utilize unique passwords and enable multi-factor authentication to protect their accounts.