Security Falls Short in Rapid COVID Cloud Migration

Business leaned hard into the cloud during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic after widepread work-from-home support became critical. But organizations struggled to migrate to the cloud and properly secure their employees working remotely, according to research released today by Unit 42.

The biannual "Unit 42 Cloud Threat Report" looks at data from hundreds of cloud accounts around the world between October 2019 and February 2021. It finds that 30% of organizations host sensitive data in the cloud without proper security controls.

"Due in most cases to a simple lack of effective access-control restrictions, these businesses place personally identifiable information and other critical assets at risk," Unit 42 researchers say in a highlight summary of the findings. 

The industries with the highest increases in security incidents were retail, manufacturing, and government, which saw incidents rise 402%, 230%, and 205%, respectively.

The same industries faced the greatest pressures to adapt and scale in the face of the pandemic — retailers for basic necessities, and manufacturing and government for COVID-19 supplies and aid — researchers note.

The full report can be read here.