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Where Is The Biggest Risk In Cloud Security?

9/13/2015

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A recent report from CloudLock, a major cloud security company, says that we need to focus on user behavior as the biggest risk. Based on analysis across 10 million users, 1 billion files, and over 91,000 applications, CloudLock concluded that 1% of users represent 75% of the risk.

Understanding the composition of this 1% of users is crucial for security teams: often times, this subset of users includes super-privileged users, software architects, as well as machine-based identities (i.e., applications with programmatic access) that grant access privileges and archive data.

The disproportionate nature of cybersecurity risk extends to cloud-based collaboration. While organizations on average collaborate with 865 external parties, just 25 of these account for 75% of cloud-based sharing per organization. Unexpectedly, 70% of external file sharing occurs with non-corporate email addresses over which security teams have little control.

Many cloud applications support integration with third-party applications, outside the network and undetectable via traditional security tools, such as proxy- or gateway-based solutions. These apps are frequently targeted by cybercriminals as entry points to organizations. CloudLock’s research revealed that 52,000 instances of applications were installed by highly privileged users - a number that should be zero given privileged accounts are highly coveted by malicious cybercriminals.

By involving the most active users in the security process, organizations can rapidly mitigate the majority of cybersecurity risk. One CloudLock client decreased public exposures by 62% in just one day by doing so.

“Cyber attacks today target your users - not your infrastructure. As technology leaders wake up to this new reality, security programs are being reengineered to focus where true risk lies: with the user,” says CloudLock CEO and co-founder Gil Zimmermann. “The best defense is to know what typical user behavior looks like - and, more importantly, what it doesn’t.”


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    Author

    Rick Richardson, CPA, CITP, CGMA

    Rick is the editor of the weekly newsletter, Technology This Week. You can subscribe to it by visiting the website.

    Rick is also the Managing Partner of Richardson Media & Technologies, LLC. Prior to forming his current company, he had a 28-year career in technology with Ernst & Young, the last twelve years of which he served as National Director of Technology.

    Mr. Richardson has been named to the "Technology 100"- the annual honors list of the 100 key achievers in technology in America. He has also been honored by the American Institute of CPAs with two Lifetime Achievement awards and a Special Career Recognition Award for his contributions to the profession in the field of technology.

    In 2012, Rick was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame by CPA Practice Advisor Magazine. He has also been named to the 100 most influential individuals in the accounting profession in America by Accounting Today magazine.

    In 2017, Rick was inducted as a Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achiever, a registry of professionals who have excelled in their fields for many years and achieved greatness in their industry.

    He is a sought after speaker around the world, providing his annual forecast of future technology trends to thousands of business executives, professionals, community leaders, educators and students.

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