A cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attack forces a client that a user has used to authenticate to an application to send forged requests under the user's own credentials to execute commands and requests that the application thinks are coming from a trusted client and user. Although this type of attack cannot be used to steal data directly because the attacker has no way to see the results of the commands, it does open other ways to compromise an application. Missing function-level access control exists where an application only checks for authorization during the initial login process and does not further validate with each function call. An injection attack is where a malicious actor sends commands or other arbitrary data through input and data fields with the intent of having the application or system execute the code as part of its normal processing and queries. Cross-site scripting occurs when an attacker is able to send untrusted data to a user's browser without going through validation processes.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) regulates the financial and accounting practices used by organizations in order to protect shareholders from improper practices and accounting errors.The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) pertains to the protection of patient medical records and privacy. The Gramm- Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) focuses on the use of PII within financial institutions. The Safe Harbor program was designed by the US government as a way for American companies to comply with European Union privacy laws.

The best practice is to totally remove any unneeded services and utilities on a system to prevent any chance of compromise or use. If they are just disabled, it is possible for them to be inadvertently started again at any point, or another exploit could be used to start them again.
Removing also negates the need to patch and maintain them going forward.

Explanation
The following groups form the key roles and functions associated with cloud computing. They do not constitute an exhaustive list but highlight the main roles and functions within cloud computing:
- Cloud customer: An individual or entity that utilizes or subscribes to cloud based services or resources.
- CSP: A company that provides cloud-based platform, infrastructure, application, or storage services to other organizations or individuals, usually for a fee; otherwise known to clients "as a service.
- Cloud backup service provider: A third-party entity that manages and holds operational responsibilities for cloud-based data backup services and solutions to customers from a central data center.
- CSB: Typically a third-party entity or company that looks to extend or enhance value to multiple customers of cloud-based services through relationships with multiple CSPs. It acts as a liaison between cloud services customers and CSPs, selecting the best provider for each customer and monitoring the services. The CSB can be utilized as a "middleman" to broker the best deal and customize services to the customer's requirements.
May also resell cloud services.
- Cloud service auditor: Third-party organization that verifies attainment of SLAs.

Adopted in 1995, Directive 95/46 EC establishes strong data protection and policy requirements, including the declaring of data privacy to be a human right. It establishes that an individual has the right to be notified when their personal data is being access or processed, that it only will ever be accessed for legitimate purposes, and that data will only be accessed to the exact extent it needs to be for the particular process or request.