A new study by a multinational firm reveals a worrying trend for Indian businesses. Cloud resources are emerging as the primary targets for cyberattacks in the country. This information comes from the 2024 Thales Cloud Security Study, a report released by Thales. The study surveyed nearly 3,000 IT and security professionals across 18 countries and 37 industries, providing a broad assessment of current cloud security threats.
“The study was based on a global survey of 2,961 respondents, aimed at professionals in security and IT management,” it said.
The study “identifies cloud resources as the biggest targets for cyberattacks in India.”
Cloud security spending now “tops all other security spending categories,” it added.
The study also delves into the specific situation in India. A concerning statistic is that nearly half (46%) of Indian respondents believe all their cloud-stored data is sensitive. This highlights the high stakes for businesses in protecting their cloud resources. Furthermore, 37% of Indian organizations surveyed admitted to experiencing a cloud data breach, with 14% facing one within the last year. These numbers paint a clear picture of the growing threat landscape for cyberattacks in Indian businesses using cloud technologies.
The study explores additional trends specific to India. Interestingly, 35% of Indian organizations recognize the importance of “digital sovereignty initiatives” for protecting their cloud data in the long term. This concept refers to a country’s ability to control its data and limit reliance on foreign cloud providers.
However, the report also highlights a global challenge: managing compliance and privacy regulations in the cloud. Nearly half of all organizations surveyed worldwide found this to be more difficult compared to traditional on-premises data storage.
Finally, the study identifies the most common causes of cloud data breaches. Human error and misconfiguration were the biggest culprits, accounting for 34% of breaches. This emphasizes the importance of proper training and security protocols for cloud users.
Exploiting previously unknown vulnerabilities (32%) and known vulnerabilities (21%) also pose significant threats. Additionally, failing to use multi-factor authentication, a security measure requiring two or more verification steps, contributed to 11% of breaches. These findings highlight the need for a multi-layered approach to cloud security.
“As the use of the cloud continues to be strategically vital to many organizations, cloud resources have become the biggest targets for cyber attacks, with cloud storage (30 percent), SaaS applications (30 percent), and Cloud Management Infrastructure (28 percent) cited as the leading categories of attack in India.
“As a result, protecting cloud environments has risen as the top security priority ahead of all other security disciplines,” the statement said.
