Netskope, a cloud security product company, has released the September 2016 Netskope Cloud Report on enterprise cloud app usage and trends. In response to the growing threat of ransomware across enterprises, the report took a closer look at the prevalence of ransomware and how it spreads through cloud apps within an organisation. According to the report, 43.7 per cent of malware found in enterprises cloud apps have delivered ransomware, and 55.9 per cent of malware-infected files found in cloud apps are shared publicly. The report also found that enterprises, on average, have 824 cloud apps in use, up from 777 last quarter.
For the third quarter running, Netskope Threat Research Labs examined the presence of malware in enterprises, finding that there are on average 26 pieces of malware found in cloud apps across a given organisation. 56 per cent of malware-infected files in cloud apps are shared with internal or external users, or shared publicly. Of the malware types detected, 43.7 per cent are common ransomware delivery vehicles, including Javascript exploits and droppers, Microsoft Office macros and PDF exploits. These ransomware attacks are often initially delivered through phishing and email attacks, but within cloud environments, infected and encrypted files can quickly spread to other users through cloud app sync.
Cloud storage apps dominate cloud DLP violations accounting for 76.5 per cent of all violations, followed by webmail at 18.6 per cent. Within cloud storage apps, manufacturing-focussed enterprises had the largest percentage of DLP violating files, at 24 per cent of all files scanned, followed by Technology and IT Services at 15 per cent and Healthcare and Life Sciences at 11 per cent.
Sanjay Beri, founder and CEO, Netskope, said: “Our priority has always been giving IT teams the tools they need to not only have visibility into employee app usage and activity, but also understand and take action against the ways sensitive information can be shared or make its way into the wrong hands. With the rise of ransomware, the cloud threat landscape is now increasingly complicated; IT teams need deeper intelligence, protection, and remediation that can help them stop malware and ransomware in their tracks and prevent them from spreading.”
