66% of organizations store 21%-60% of their sensitive data in the cloud

A Thales report, conducted by 451 Research, reveals that 45% of businesses have experienced a cloud-based data breach or failed audit in the past 12 months, up 5% from the previous year, raising even greater concerns regarding to protecting sensitive data from cybercriminals.

Globally, cloud adoption and notably multicloud adoption, remains on the rise. In 2021, organizations worldwide were using an average amount of 110 software as a service (SaaS) applications, compared with just eight in 2015, showcasing a startlingly rapid increase.

With increasing complexity of multicloud environments comes an even greater need for robust cybersecurity. When asked what percentage of their sensitive data is stored in the cloud, 66% said between 21-60%. However, only 25% said they could fully classify all data.

Additionally, 32% of respondents admitted to having to issue a breach notification to a government agency, customer, partner or employees. This should be a cause for concern among enterprises with sensitive data, particularly in highly regulated industries.

Cyber-attacks also present an ongoing risk to cloud applications and data. Respondents reported an increasing prevalence of attacks, with 26% citing an increase in malware, 25% in ransomware and 19% reporting seeing an increase in phishing/ whaling.