Cybersecurity Threats in Cloud Computing Environments: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Cloud computing has transformed organizational IT infrastructure with scalable on-demand computing resources. However, with this paradigm shift come severe cybersecurity issues that risk data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This systematic literature review, conducted according to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, focuses on cybersecurity threats in cloud computing environments and their mitigation strategies. Method: A systematic search was performed on 3 databases, leading to an initial 578 records that underwent screening, revealing including studies from Q1–Q4 journals published between the years of interest (2020–2026). The review classifies the following seven key threat categories: data breach, distributed denial of service attack (DDoS), insider threats, misconfigurations, identity and access management (IAM) vulnerabilities, multi-tenancy risks, and unauthorized access. Legacy mitigation approaches fall short, but advanced solutions include zero-trust architectures as well as more sophisticated and sustainable encryption techniques such as quantum-resistant, attribute-based, and homomorphic encryption 95%, AI-driven threat detection systems with <99% false positive rate adversarial machine learning (robustness) methods for the future3 second generation deep fakes4 skilled or modifiable leaky pipe of highly susceptible parts stretches IAM in multiple dimensions5; multi-layered security becomes cooler than ever! This alone proves that effective cloud security is an integrated solution with encryption, continuous monitoring, and zero-trust and compliance automation working together. Future research efforts should: 1) anticipate future threats, particularly from quantum computing;2) develop cross-cloud security standardization frameworks; and3) create automated compliance mechanisms for increasingly dynamic regulatory regimes. The inherent features of cloud computing environments complicate their security measures. This review offers practitioners and researchers evidence-based information for the secure deployment of cloud computing systems in private, public, hybrid, or multi-cloud architectures.