Netwrix Announces Release of Global 2021 Netwrix Cloud Data Security Report

The report reveals that over half (54%) of organizations that store customer data in the cloud had security incidents in 2020. As a result, as many as 62% of organizations plan to remove sensitive data from the cloud or have already done so to improve their data security.

The survey found that the most common types of cloud security incidents in 2020 were phishing (reported by 40% of organizations), ransomware or other malware (24%), and accidental data leakage (17%). Over half of respondents stated that these incidents required obtaining extra budget to address associated security gaps.

Data theft scenarios did considerable damage to businesses in other ways as well. Incidents involving insider data theft negatively impacted company valuation for 33% of organizations, while data theft by hackers led to customer churn and loss of competitive edge (35% each).

The top data security challenges named by respondents were lack of IT staff (52%), lack of budget (47%) and lack of cloud security expertise (44%). Interestingly, 48% of CISOs noted that the organization's desire for growth hinders efforts to ensure proper data security in the cloud

The most popular cloud security controls that organizations already have in their arsenal are encryption (62%), auditing of user activity (58%) and employee training (58%). Also, the majority of respondents either already classify sensitive data in the cloud (49%) or plan to implement this control in the future (31%).

"The top three challenges organizations face in securing data in the cloud are lack of staff, financial resources and expertise. These hardships force security teams to operate in the 'new day, new breach' reality," said Ilia Sotnikov, Vice President of Product Management at Netwrix. "To identify, detect and protect against threats in the cloud continuously, organizations should invest in solutions that help prioritize risks and automate security routines, such as tools that provide data discovery, activity auditing and alerting. That way, security teams can better manage risks, respond to the attacks promptly and minimize negative business outcomes."

About Netwrix:

Netwrix makes data security easy, thereby simplifying how professionals can control sensitive, regulated and business-critical data, regardless of where it resides. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide rely on Netwrix solutions to secure sensitive data, realize the full business value of enterprise content, pass compliance audits with less effort and expense, and increase the productivity of IT teams and knowledge workers.