Cloud abuse is the misuse of cloud services, accounts, or built-in features to support intrusion, persistence, or data access. Instead of dropping obvious malware, attackers may operate through legitimate platforms such as email, file storage, identity systems, or collaboration tools. Because the activity uses normal cloud functionality, it can blend in with routine administration and be harder to spot.
This matters because cloud environments often hold the keys to both communications and data. If an attacker steals credentials, hijacks a session, creates an app registration, or grants excessive permissions, they can read mailboxes, move laterally, or maintain access without touching a traditional endpoint. Defenders look for unusual sign-ins, impossible travel, new OAuth grants, suspicious forwarding rules, and unexpected privilege changes. Good protection includes strong MFA, least-privilege access, conditional access, and monitoring of identity and cloud audit logs.