As cloud usage becomes vital for organizations, it has also become a target for cyberattacks. A recent report by Thales highlights that 47% of corporate data stored in the cloud is sensitive, making cloud security a top priority. SaaS applications, cloud storage, and cloud management infrastructure are the leading attack categories. Despite the high sensitivity of cloud data, less than 10% of enterprises encrypt 80% or more of their sensitive data. Human error, misconfiguration, and exploiting known vulnerabilities are the top causes of cloud data breaches, which 44% of organizations have experienced, with 14% occurring in the last year.
The expanding cloud attack surface is driven by the widespread use of SaaS applications, with 66% of organizations utilizing more than 25 such applications. There’s uncertainty about the most effective controls for protecting cloud data, as traditional security measures like workforce IAM and endpoint security are often favored over cloud-specific security controls.