Almost half of the cloud-based malware delivers risky ransomware

Uncertainties over the ransomware have grown considerably this year, and for great reason. A latest research finds that almost half of entire cloud-based malware delivers risky ransomware applications now.

That is the conclusion of the September Netskope Cloud Report, which looks at the prevalence of ransomware and how it prevails through cloud applications within an agency. The study discovered that 43.7% of malware discovered in enterprises cloud apps have delivered ransomware, and that 55.9% of malware-infected files discovered in cloud applications are shared publically.

To put the risk in perspective, the report claims that the typical agency has 26 pieces of malware discovered in cloud apps. Of the 43.7% that cloud-based malware deliver risky ransomware, those typically include common ransomware delivery vehicles, involving Javascript exploits and droppers, Microsoft Office macros and PDF exploits.

 “These ransomware attacks are mostly delivered through phishing and email attacks, but within cloud atmospheres, infected and encrypted files can rapidly spread to other users through cloud app sync and share functionality in what is known as the fan-out effect,” the report cautions.

The susceptibility to cloud-based malware delivers risky ransomware will merely get worse, the report warns, as agency invest more in cloud-based apps. The study discovered that on average, a typical huge agency now has 977 cloud-based applications in use, up from 935 last quarters.

Moreover, 94.7% of those applications aren’t considered “enterprise-ready” in accordance to the Netskope Cloud Confidence Index scoring system. This means “they lack primary functionalities like security, audit and certification, legal, privacy, financial viability, service-level agreement, and vulnerability remediation,” the firm pointed out.