According to ESET cyber security analysts, companies around the world are in a permanent search for solutions that allow them to carry out their activities efficiently and independently of location.
This trend has led to a significant increase in the market for public services and solutions, whose revenues doubled between 2019–2023 and are forecast to exceed $ 690 billion by the end of 2024.
The IT infrastructures of the companies can be among the 3 billion users of Google Workpace and the 320 million users of Microsoft Teams, two of the most popular cloud -based collaboration platforms. These tools are essential for remote and hybrid work, providing flexibility and efficiency. After implementing and configuring the essential security rules, in an ideal scenario, security administrators could focus on other critical tasks, and teams to work safely in these cloud environments.
Unfortunately reality is far from being ideal. Cyber criminals frequently exploit legitimate cloud applications for malicious purposes. Concrete examples show that these platforms can be used abusively in several ways:
– Malware distribution: Cloud applications are diverted to deliver malicious software to users.
– Masking the malicious activities: suspicious processes are hidden in the legitimate traffic of cloud services, which makes detection more difficult.
– Unauthorized access: attackers obtain remote access to devices in business infrastructures, compromising the security of organizations.
– This is why ESET Security specialists have prepared a free guide of tips and recommendations to secure these popular cloud platforms, a guide that can be Downloaded free from here.
Although technological giants offering cloud platforms have integrated, theoretically, essential security measures directly into their applications, the idea that users should not have concern is not fully supported. Reality shows that, despite the protection and regular updates, these wide -used cloud applications are not completely immune to cyber threats. As the number of users of these platforms increases, increases the interest of malicious actors to identify and exploit the existing vulnerabilities.
Why is the basic security not sufficient?
- Theory vs. Reality: The security integrated by the technological giants is a starting point, but does not guarantee total protection against sophisticated attacks.
- Increased adoption: A larger market for users attracts several cyber criminals, who are motivated to find breaches in the system.
- Inevitable vulnerabilities: no system is perfect; Updates can solve known problems, but new threats arise constantly.
Between June 2021 and July 2023, the security solutions and ESET analysts detected and blocked millions of specific threats that, undisturbed by additional tools, would have bypassed the native protection of Office Microsoft 365 and Google Workpace. Most of these blocked threats were phishing and spam messages, and the latest data show that there are no signals to reduce this trend.
In the current context, the native security offered by Cloud applications is not sufficient to cope with increasingly complex cyber challenges. As companies adopt several cloud solutions, the attack surface increases, which requires additional protective measures.
To improve the security of Microsoft or Google environments, organizations can implement additional security layers, and by using the right solutions, the complexity of the implementation can be significantly reduced due to the automation of certain processes.
From the position of global leader in digital security over 30 years, ESET recognizes the needs of IT administrators and managers using cloud services, offering advanced protection for Microsoft 365 applications and Google Workpace. The business safety solution, at the endpoint level, which also covers the cloud applications (Google or Microsoft) can be found in the ESET protective security package, which can be discharged and tested for free, without any obligation, in the business environments in which you activate.
Learn more about the security of cloud applications by downloading free Guide made by ESET specialists.
By integrating human expertise with the power of artificial intelligence, ESET remains in the forefront of protection against emerging and already known cyber threats, ensuring the security of companies, critical infrastructures and individual users. Regardless of the type of protection required-endpoint, cloud or mobile-cloud-fired solutions, based on AI are both effective and easy to use. In completing real-time defense, 24/7, ESET also offers efficient localized support (including in Romania), actively engaging in researching the latest threats through its own R&D centers, including the one in Iași, and through an extended global network.
