Key Takeaways from X-Force Cloud Threat Report
Key Points
- The cloud market is projected to reach about $600 billion in 2024, accelerating the migration of critical data to cloud services and heightening the need for robust security measures.
- Phishing accounts for roughly 33% of cloud‑related incidents, making it the leading initial‑access vector observed by X‑Force over the past two years.
- Cross‑site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities comprise 27% of newly discovered CVEs and are the most impactful common‑vulnerability exposure, enabling attackers to steal tokens or redirect users to malicious sites.
- Compromised or over‑privileged cloud credentials remain a major risk, with 28% of incidents involving legitimate credentials and continued demand for cloud credentials on dark‑web marketplaces despite overall market saturation.
- Threat actors increasingly leverage trusted cloud file‑hosting services for command‑and‑control and malware distribution, and business‑email‑compromise attacks (39% of incidents) combined with misconfigurations—especially in Linux authentication settings—represent the top compliance failures in cloud environments.
Full Transcript
# Key Takeaways from X-Force Cloud Threat Report **Source:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAoqX0iyE6Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAoqX0iyE6Q) **Duration:** 00:03:34 ## Summary - The cloud market is projected to reach about $600 billion in 2024, accelerating the migration of critical data to cloud services and heightening the need for robust security measures. - Phishing accounts for roughly 33% of cloud‑related incidents, making it the leading initial‑access vector observed by X‑Force over the past two years. - Cross‑site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities comprise 27% of newly discovered CVEs and are the most impactful common‑vulnerability exposure, enabling attackers to steal tokens or redirect users to malicious sites. - Compromised or over‑privileged cloud credentials remain a major risk, with 28% of incidents involving legitimate credentials and continued demand for cloud credentials on dark‑web marketplaces despite overall market saturation. - Threat actors increasingly leverage trusted cloud file‑hosting services for command‑and‑control and malware distribution, and business‑email‑compromise attacks (39% of incidents) combined with misconfigurations—especially in Linux authentication settings—represent the top compliance failures in cloud environments. ## Sections - [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAoqX0iyE6Q&t=0s) **Key Findings from IBM X‑Force Cloud Report** - The episode outlines the booming 2024 cloud market and summarizes the report’s seven takeaways, highlighting phishing as the leading access vector and cross‑site scripting as the most impactful vulnerability. ## Full Transcript
a look at the xforce cloud thread
landscape report and its seven key
takeaways all on this episode of IBM
Tech
now with the cloud computing Market
expected to reach approximately 600
billion US in 2024 the adoption of cloud
infrastructure continues to rise
organizations are increasingly moving
business critical data from on premises
to Cloud infrastructure and services
driving the need for proper defensive
measure measures and securing data in
the cloud understanding the cloud threat
landscape and its potential impacts on
the business is essential for both it
and the Sea Suite that's why the IBM
xforce team gathers and analyzes data to
produce the xforce cloud threat
landscape report now in its fifth year
the cloud threat landscape report
provides a global cross-industry
perspective on how threat actors are
compromising Cloud environments the
malicious activities they're conducting
once inside compromise networks and the
Imp act it's having on organizations in
their data Gathering and Analysis xforce
uncovered the most prevalent security
risks organizations could encounter from
thread actors in their Cloud Journey
here are the top seven takeaways first
fishing is the leading initial access
Vector accounting for 33% of all Cloud
related incidents xforce responded to
over the past 2 years second cross-site
scripting leads as the most impactful
common vulnerability and exposure xss
vulnerabilities composed 27% of newly
discovered cve during the reporting
period which could allow threat actors
to steal session tokens or redirect
users to malicious web pages third there
is a continued demand for cloud
credentials on the dark web despite
Market saturation while the overall
mention of SAS platforms on the dark web
marketplaces decreased by approximately
20% gaining access using compromised
Cloud credentials is the second most
common initial attack vector
fourth there's an increased use of
trusted cloud-based file hosting
services for malicious activities more
and more frequently threat actors are
leveraging trusted cloud-based services
like Dropbox one drive and Google Drive
for command and control Communications
and malware
distribution fifth 28% of cloud related
incidents involve the use of legitimate
credentials to get into victim
environments often these accounts are
overprivileged posing a significant
security challenge for organiz ations
six business email compromise attacks
where attacker spoof email accounts
posing as someone within the victim
organization or another trusted
organization accounted for 39% of
incidents over the past 2 years and
seventh compliance failures harm the
security of client Cloud environments
the number one failed security rule in
100% cloudon environments involved
improper configuration of essential
security and management settings in
Linux systems the the number one fail
security rule environments where 50% or
more of the systems are in the cloud
involv the failure to ensure consistent
and secure authentication and
cryptography practices to download the
full report and learn more click the
link in the description of this video
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