Cybersecurity

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.