According to a recent survey from cybersecurity company Proofpoint and IT security research group Ponemon Institute, compromised cloud(opens in new tab) accounts cost enterprises millions of dollars annually.
The fact that many people are unaware of who is in charge of protecting such data is a contributing factor to the issue. Criminals are becoming increasingly interested in the cloud as a source of sensitive data.
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According to the report, the average cost of cloud account compromises has increased to $6.2 million over the past 12 months. It also states that account takeover provides a “serious security risk” to the 600 IT and IT security professionals surveyed. Over the past year, both the frequency and seriousness of these incidents have increased.
Companies saw an average of 64 cloud account hacks over the past 12 months, with 30% exposing critical data. Criminals use a variety of phishing techniques to acquire the credentials for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace accounts, which are their main areas of interest.
Less than half of those surveyed have specified who is responsible for maintaining the security of sensitive data stored in the cloud(opens in new tab), and to make matters worse, only around a third “vigilantly” perform cloud app assessments before deploying anything.
According to the paper, safeguarding access to cloud resources should depend on robust authentication and flexible access rules. Many organisations today agree that adaptive access restrictions are necessary to safeguard people who are most at risk and enable numerous identity federation standards.
According to Tim Choi, VP Product Marketing at Proofpoint, “the shift to the cloud and increasing collaboration demand a people-centric security strategy supported by a cloud access security broker (CASB) solution that is integrated with a larger cloud, email, and endpoint security portfolio.”
“Such an approach efficiently tackles issues like cloud application governance, compromised cloud accounts, and illegal access to cloud data. Organizations want a CASB solution that can be operationalized in hours rather than weeks, as well as clearly defined roles and established accountability.
