Netskope has released the January 2015 Netskope Cloud Report™ that monitors enterprise cloud app usage and trends. The report shows a continued increase in cloud app usage across enterprises, as well as the high volume at which files are being shared outside of a given organization. Most notably, the report finds that as many as 15 percent of business users have had their credentials compromised. Since up to half of users re-use passwords for multiple accounts, the likelihood of users logging into business-critical apps with these credentials is high, putting business-sensitive data at risk.
Enterprises are continuing to adopt cloud apps at a fast pace, with an average of 613 cloud apps per organization in Q4, up from 579 the previous quarter and 88 percent of apps in use are not enterprise ready. Based on aggregated, anonymized data from the Netskope Active Platform, which provides discovery, deep visibility, and granular control over any cloud app, the report’s findings are based on tens of billions of cloud app events seen across millions of users between October and December 2014. The report found more than 20 percent of organizations in the Netskope cloud actively use more than 1,000 cloud apps, and eight percent of files in corporate-sanctioned cloud storage apps are in violation of data leak prevention policies, including PHI, PCI, PII, source code, and other policies covering confidential or sensitive data.
The highlights of the report are presented in the infographic below.
“2014 left an indelible mark on security – between ongoing high-profile breaches and the onslaught of vulnerabilities like Shellshock and Heartbleed, CSOs and CISOs had more on their plate than ever,” said Sanjay Beri, CEO and founder, Netskope. “These events underscore the sobering reality that many in the workforce have been impacted by data breaches and will subsequently use compromised accounts in their work lives, putting sensitive information at risk. Employees today have shifted from thinking of apps as a nice-to-have to a must-have, and CISOs must continue to adapt to that trend to secure their sensitive corporate and customer data across all cloud apps, including those unsanctioned by IT.”