40% of organizations suffered a cloud-based data breach in the past 12 months

Despite increasing cyberattacks targeting data in the cloud, 83% of businesses are still failing to encrypt half of the sensitive data they store in the cloud, raising even greater concerns as to the impact cyber criminals can have. 40% of organizations have experienced a cloud-based data breach in the past 12 months, according to a study conducted by 451 Research.

Pandemic has accelerated cloud transformation

Cloud adoption is on the rise and businesses are continuing to diversify the way they use cloud solutions. Globally, 57% of respondents reported they make use of two or more cloud infrastructure providers, whilst 24% of organizations flagged that the majority of their workloads and data now reside in the cloud.

In fact, according to a recent study by McKinsey & Company, companies globally have accelerated their cloud adoption by three years compared to pre-pandemic adoption rates.

This marks a significant shift in the use of cloud-based solutions, from being purely data storage solutions, to environments in which data is used transactionally and supports day-to-day business operations.

Security in the cloud is mixed

According to the study, 21% of businesses host the majority of their sensitive data in the cloud, while 40% reported a breach in the last year. There are some common trends as to where companies turn when considering how to secure their cloud infrastructure, with 33% reporting multi-factor authentication (MFA) as being a central part of their cybersecurity strategy. However, only 17% of those surveyed have encrypted more than half of the data they store in the cloud. This figure drops to 15% where organizations have adopted a multicloud approach.

Even where businesses protect their data with encryption, 34% of organizations leave the control of keys to service providers rather than retaining control themselves. Where large numbers of organizations fail to protect their data sufficiently with encryption, limiting potential access points becomes even more critical. However, 48% of business leaders globally admitted their organization does not have a zero trust strategy, and 25% aren’t even considering one.

Complexity as a concern

Businesses share common concerns about the increasing complexity of cloud services. 46% of global respondents claimed managing privacy and data protection in the cloud is more complex than on-premises solutions.

Hybrid models are common with many organizations not moving entirely to the cloud. 55% of businesses have indicated a preference for a ‘lift & shift’ approach to cloud adoption over re-architecting, as cloud becomes a more integrated part of the business infrastructure.

Sebastien Cano, SVP for Cloud Protection and Licensing activities at Thales comments: “Organizations across the world are struggling to navigate the increased complexity that comes with greater adoption of cloud-based solutions. A robust security strategy is essential to ensuring data and business operations remain secure. With nearly every business reliant on the cloud to some extent, it is vital that security teams have the ability to discover, protect, and maintain control of their data.”

Fernando Montenegro Principal Research Analyst, Information Security at 451 Research, added from the 2021 Thales Global Cloud Security Study: “Protecting customer data is always the priority, and organizations should strongly consider reviewing their strategies and approaches to proactively protect data in cloud. This includes understanding the role of specific technologies including encryption and key management, as well as the shared responsibilities between providers and their customers.

“As data privacy and sovereignty regulations grow, it will be paramount that organizations have a clear understanding of how they remain responsible for data security and make clear decisions about who is in control and who can access their sensitive data.”

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