44% of Security Threats Start in the Cloud

Cloud-enabled cyberattacks are ramping up, as indicated in a new Netskope study that found 44% of security threats use cloud services in various stages of the kill chain. Attackers are targeting popular cloud apps and services to exploit the growing trust in commonly used enterprise platforms.

Microsoft Office 365 for Business, Box, Google Drive, Microsoft Azure, and GitHub are the most-targeted cloud apps, researchers discovered in the February 2020 Netskope Cloud and Threat Report. Most (89%) enterprise users operate in the cloud, and 33% of them work remotely.

The average business uses 2,145 cloud services and apps, and the most popular app categories are cloud storage, collaboration, Web mail, consumer, and social media, according to the study. The most popular apps overall are Google Drive, YouTube, Microsoft Office 365 for Business, Facebook, Gmail, SharePoint, Outlook, Twitter, Amazon S3, and LinkedIn. Netskope researchers noted the migration of private apps and data to the cloud, more remote work, and increased use of public cloud apps.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a hot target for cloud storage apps, Imperva researchers found in their Cyber Threat Index, also released today. Web attacks originating from the public cloud saw a 16% spike from November to December 2019. AWS was a top source for these attacks, responsible for 94% of all Web attacks starting in the public cloud. "This suggests that public cloud companies should be auditing malicious behavior on their platforms," researchers said.

At least 20% of enterprise users move data laterally between cloud apps, Netskope found, and more than half of data privacy violations come from cloud storage, collaboration, and Web mail.

Data moves between cloud app suites, managed apps, unmanaged apps, app categories, and app risk levels. Nearly 40% of the data that moves between cloud apps is sensitive, and lateral movement spans 2,481 cloud services and apps. The most common movement is between cloud storage services, storage and collaboration tools, cloud storage and Web mail, and cloud storage and customer relationship management systems.

Read more of Imperva's data here and the full Netskope report here.

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