Cloud account abuse is the unauthorized use of cloud identities, API tokens, service accounts, or delegated permissions to access data and systems. Instead of breaking into a server directly, an attacker logs in as a legitimate cloud user or workload and moves through SaaS apps, storage, email, or admin consoles with valid credentials.
This matters because cloud platforms trust authenticated identities by default. If an attacker steals a password, session token, OAuth grant, or stale API key, they may read mail, copy files, create new access paths, or change security settings without triggering obvious malware alerts. Defenders reduce this risk with multi-factor authentication, least privilege, token rotation, secret inventory, conditional access, and logging for unusual sign-ins, privilege changes, and data export activity. In real intrusions, cloud account abuse is often the bridge between initial compromise and data theft.