A new report from Thales shows that almost half (44%) of organizations have suffered a cloud breach, with 14% reporting having experienced an incident in the last 12 months.
Cloud Breach: Causes
Human error and misconfigurations were the top causes of these breaches , accounting for 31% of incidents. However, there was progress compared to last year, when more than half (55%) of incidents were caused by human error.
Exploitation of known vulnerabilities was the next cause of cloud breaches, at 28%, representing a seven-point increase compared to Thales' 2023 report.
Exploitation of previously unknown vulnerabilities (zero days) was associated with 24% of breaches.
See also: The importance of encryption in cloud data
Finally, 17% of cloud breaches were due to the absence of to multi-factor authentication (MFA) protect accounts.
Violation targets
The biggest goals, cited by respondents, were SaaS applications (31%), cloud storage (30%), and cloud management infrastructure (26%).
Cloud Breach: Increased Attacks
The Thales report highlighted the increased attacks on the cloud, which are also related to the increased use of such applications and the storage of sensitive data. 66% of organizations use more than 25 SaaS applications. In addition, 47% of corporate data stored in the cloud is sensitive. However, less than 10% of enterprises have encrypted 80% or more of their data in the cloud.
See also: Abuse of cloud services in SMS phishing attacks
Nearly half of respondents said it is more difficult to manage compliance and privacy due to the complexity of the cloud. This complexity poses a challenge for organizations, who struggle with managing encrypted content in cloud environments.
The researchers said this level of complexity increases the risk of human error.
About two-thirds (65%) of respondents identified cloud security as a current concern
See also: Crypto miner arrested for cryptojacking via cloud servers
Avoiding a cloud breach
- Using strong and unique passwords is critical to preventing security breaches in the cloud. Passwords should include a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters and should be changed regularly.
- Multi -factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to verify their identity.
- Data encryption is essential for both data transfer and storage. By using strong encryption protocols, you ensure that your data remains protected even if it is stolen.
- Regular updates for all applications and systems used in the cloud are essential to prevent exploitation of known vulnerabilities.
- Monitoring and recording activities in the cloud can help detect suspicious actions and respond to potential threats in a timely manner.
- Educating users on security and identifying threats, such as phishing, can reduce the risk of human error that often leads to security breaches.
Source: www.infosecurity-magazine.com
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