Netskope: As Use of Cloud Services Grow, So Do Data Breach Probabilities
A new study from Netskope and Ponemon Institute has revealed that IT and security professionals are expecting cloud services to increase the likelihood and economic impact of data breaches.
The study, “Data Breach: The Cloud Multiplier Effect,” provides details about the cost of a data breach and shows that the scope of usage and responsibility for securing cloud services remains largely unknown among IT professionals.
Researchers noted that the probability of data breaches appears to be increasing in today’s IT environment.
Many study respondents believed their high-value IP and customer data became less less secure as cloud service usage increased, Netskope said.
Other study findings included the following:
- Respondents estimated every 1 percent increase in the use of cloud services will result in a 3 percent higher probability of a data breach.
- 69 percent of respondents said they believed that their organization is not proactive in assessing information that is too sensitive to be stored in the cloud.
- 62 percent of respondents said they believed the cloud services in use by their organizations are not thoroughly vetted for security before deployment.
- 72 percent of respondents said they believed their cloud services provider (CSP) would not notify them immediately if they had a data breach involving the loss or theft of their intellectual property or business confidential information, and 71 percent said they believed they would not receive immediate notification following a breach involving the loss or theft of customer data.
- Respondents said they believed 45 percent of all software applications used by organizations are in the cloud, but exactly half (22.5 percent) of these applications are not visible to IT.
- Respondents estimated 36 percent of business critical applications are based in the cloud, yet IT lacks visibility into nearly half of those.
“With a $201 price tag for every record lost, the cost of a data breach of just 100,000 records is $20 million. Imagine then if the probability of that data breach were to triple simply because you increased your use of the cloud. That’s what enterprise IT folks are coming to grips with and they’ve started to recognize the need to align their security programs to account for it,” Sanjay Beri, Netskope’s CEO and founder, said in a prepared statement.
“The report shows that while there are many enterprise-ready apps available today, the uncertainty from risky apps is stealing the show for IT and security professionals. Rewriting this story requires contextual knowledge about how these apps are being used and an effective way of mitigating risk.”
Ponemon Institute founder Larry Ponemon also commented on the study:
“We’ve been tracking the cost of a data breach for years but have never had the opportunity to look at the potential risks and economic impact that might come from cloud in particular. It’s fascinating that the perceived risk and economic impact is so high when it comes to cloud app usage. We’ll be interested to see how these perceptions change over time as the challenge becomes more openly discussed and cloud access and security broker solutions like Netskope become more known to enterprises.”
Netskope and Ponemon Institute surveyed 613 IT and security professionals for the study, and it is available for download here.
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