Netskope, a computer security solutions company, recently released its report Netskope Cloud and Threat Spotlight: January 2022, which brings new research highlighting the continued growth of malware and other malicious payloads delivered by cloud applications.
Based on anonymous data collected by the Netskope Security Cloud platform from millions of users around the world, in the period between January 1, 2020 and November 30, 2021, the company was able to detail the current threat landscape for the majority of users. , especially those that use cloud applications.
“The report serves as a reminder that the same applications that are used for legal purposes can be attacked and breached. Blocking can help prevent intruders from infiltrating, while scanning to identify incoming threats and outgoing data can help stop malware downloads and data exfiltration,” explains Ray Canzanese, Director of Threat Research at Netskope Threat Labs. .
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According to the survey, more than two-thirds of malware downloads came from the cloud in 2021 and identified Google Drive as the application that most accumulates this problem, taking the leading position that was previously Microsoft OneDrive.
The survey also identifies a 19% to 37% increase in malicious Office documents out of all malware downloads, pointing to increasing security risks. The report further shows that more than half of all cloud-managed application instances are targeted by credential-stealing attacks.
Cloud-delivered malware is now more prevalent than web-delivered malware. In 2021, downloads originating from cloud applications increased to 66% compared to traditional websites, up from 46% in early 2020. Google Drive emerges as the top application for most malware downloads. The survey reveals that Google Drive accounted for the majority in 2021, taking the top spot that was previously held by Microsoft OneDrive.
More than half of cloud-managed application instances are targeted by credential theft attacks. Cybercriminals constantly try common passwords and leaked credentials from other services to gain access to sensitive information stored in the cloud. While the overall level of attacks remains consistent, the sources have changed significantly, with 98% of problems coming from new IP addresses.
Malware in Microsoft Office Documents
The survey also shows that occurrences of threats distributed through Microsoft Office almost doubled from 2020 to 2021, reaching 37% at the end of last year against 19% at the beginning of the previous year, showing a greater popularization of the use of malicious documents as an infection vector. and cyber attacks.
This increase in cases was mainly caused by the malicious Emotet spam campaign, which distributes its malicious agents through Office documents attached to emails. It was first detected in the second quarter of 2020, and has only grown since then, with no sign of slowing down during the entirety of 2021.
For more information, check out the full report on the Netskope website.
