Picture this: It's 2 AM, you're finally ready to deploy your MVP after months of grinding, and then you get that email. Your AWS bill is $50,000. For the month.
Yeah, that actually happened to a founder I know. Turns out, someone found their misconfigured S3 bucket and used it to mine cryptocurrency. Ouch.
Look, I get it. When you're in startup mode, security feels like something you'll "figure out later." You're moving fast, breaking things, and honestly? The cloud makes everything feel so easy that it's tempting to think it's handling the security stuff for you too.
Spoiler alert 🚨: It's not.
But before you panic, here's the thing – most cloud security disasters aren't caused by some hoodie-wearing hacker with a Matrix-style setup. They're usually just... mistakes. Really preventable mistakes that happen when smart people are moving too fast.
So let's talk about the ones I see over and over again, and how to fix them without slowing down your momentum.
"We'll Just Make Everything Public for Now"
I can't tell you how many times I've heard this. Someone creates an S3 bucket, makes it public so the whole team can access it quickly, and then... forgets about it. Forever.
Here's what actually happens: Your bucket becomes Google-able. Yes, people literally search for exposed buckets. It's like leaving your front door open with a sign that says "free stuff inside."
What you should do instead:
Default to private. Always. No exceptions.
Create proper IAM users for your team (I know, it takes 5 extra minutes, but trust me)
Use AWS's "Block Public Access" feature – it's literally a checkbox that prevents these disasters
Set calendar reminders to audit permissions quarterly
Real talk: I once helped a company that had accidentally exposed their entire customer database this way. The founder told me he aged 10 years in 10 minutes when he realized what happened.
The "We All Share the God Account" Problem
This one makes me want to pull my hair out. Using the root account (or one shared admin account) because "it's just easier right now" is like giving everyone in your office a master key to the building, your house, and your car.
When (not if) someone leaves your company, do you really want to change every single password and regenerate every API key?
Here's the grown-up approach:
Create individual accounts for everyone. Yes, even your co-founder who's sitting right next to you.
Use the principle of least privilege – if someone only needs to read logs, don't give them permission to spin up new servers
Turn on MFA everywhere. Everywhere. Your future self will thank you.
Pro tip from someone who learned the hard way: When you inevitably forget to revoke access for that intern who left six months ago, you'll be really glad they didn't have admin privileges.
Secrets in Your Code (AKA "Please Hack Me")
I've seen API keys in GitHub repos more times than I can count. Sometimes in the commit message. Sometimes in a file literally called passwords.txt. I wish I was making this up.
If your repo ever becomes public, or if someone gets access to it, you've basically handed them the keys to your entire infrastructure.
Do this instead:
Use a proper secrets manager. AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, whatever – just not your source code.
Create a .env.example file with dummy values so your team knows what variables they need
Set up pre-commit hooks that scan for accidentally committed secrets
Rotate your keys regularly (and yes, that includes the ones you think nobody knows about)
The $50,000 Surprise (Monitoring Your Wallet)
Remember that founder I mentioned earlier? His story isn't unique. Attackers love finding misconfigured cloud resources because they can use them for free crypto mining, sending spam, or worse.
But here's what really gets me: this is totally preventable.
Set up alerts for everything:
Spending alerts (seriously, set these up before you deploy anything)
Usage spikes that don't match your actual traffic
New resources being created outside business hours
Failed login attempts
Personal anecdote: I once got a text at 3 AM because someone was trying to brute-force one of our servers. It was annoying at the time, but that alert probably saved us thousands in compute costs and a potential data breach.
"We'll Add Logging Later" (Famous Last Words)
You know what's worse than having a security incident? Having a security incident and having no idea what happened, when it happened, or how bad it is.
I get it – logging feels like overhead when you're trying to ship features. But it's like having security cameras in your store. You hope you'll never need them, but when something goes wrong, you'll be desperate for that footage.
Start simple:
Turn on CloudTrail, Azure Activity Logs, or GCP Audit Logs (it's literally a toggle switch)
Forward everything to a central place where you can actually search it
Set up alerts for the obvious bad stuff: failed logins, resources being created outside business hours, API calls from weird locations
Compliance Isn't Just for "Big Companies"
I used to think compliance was something you dealt with after you had "real customers." Then I watched a promising startup spend six months retrofitting their entire infrastructure because they needed SOC 2 to close a big deal.
Here's the reality check: If you're collecting any user data (and you probably are), you're going to need to think about compliance eventually. Starting early is way easier than trying to bolt it on later.
Baby steps that make a big difference:
Know what type of data you're storing (personal info, payment data, health records)
Encrypt everything (in transit and at rest)
Document your security practices as you go
Consider compliance requirements for your target market
Backups Are Like Insurance (You Need Them Before You Need Them)
"We'll set up backups next sprint" is probably the most expensive technical debt you can accumulate. I've seen too many companies learn this lesson the hard way.
Make it automatic:
Set up automated daily backups
Store them in a different region (or better yet, a different account)
Actually test your recovery process – don't just assume it works
Have a plan for different scenarios (accidental deletion vs. ransomware vs. natural disaster)
The Real Talk Section
Look, security isn't sexy. It doesn't directly add features your users will notice. It's easy to deprioritize when you're trying to find product-market fit or close your next funding round.
But here's what I've learned after years in this space: the companies that treat security as a feature of their product – not an afterthought – are the ones that scale successfully. They're the ones that don't have to pause everything to deal with a breach. They're the ones that can confidently tell enterprise customers "yes, we take security seriously."
Your Startup Security Checklist
Here's what you can knock out this week (seriously, most of this takes less than a day):
Week 1 priorities:
✅ Lock down all storage buckets (default to private)
✅ Create individual IAM accounts for everyone
✅ Enable MFA everywhere
✅ Set up basic spending alerts
Month 1 priorities:
✅ Move all secrets to a proper secrets manager
✅ Enable basic logging and monitoring
✅ Set up automated backups
✅ Document your current security practices
Quarter 1 priorities:
✅ Regular access audits
✅ Test your backup recovery
✅ Evaluate compliance requirements
✅ Security training for the team
Bottom Line
Every successful startup I know has had at least one "oh shit" moment with security. The difference between the ones that survive and thrive versus the ones that don't is usually just timing – did they get serious about security before or after something went wrong?
The cloud gives you superpowers, but like any superpower, it comes with responsibility. The good news? Most of this stuff is way easier to implement than you think, and future you will be incredibly grateful that present you took the time to do it right.
Your users are trusting you with their data. Your investors are trusting you with their money. And honestly, you're probably trusting your entire company's future to your cloud infrastructure.
That trust is worth protecting.
What's your startup's biggest cloud security concern? Drop me a line – I love helping founders navigate this stuff, and I promise not to judge you for any shortcuts you might have taken. We've all been there.
