61% of Malware Delivered via Cloud Apps: Report

Researchers report the majority of malware is now delivered via cloud applications – a jump from 48% last year.

Most (61%) malware is now delivered via cloud applications, researchers report in a new study that accentuates a growing pattern of attackers abusing cloud services to bypass security tools. Leading applications include Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon S3, and SharePoint.

The number of cloud apps in use per organization increased 20% last year, the 2020 Netskope Cloud and Threat Report states. Businesses with 500 to 2,000 employees use an average of 664 distinct cloud applications per month, and their growing dependence on cloud apps makes them a hot target for cybercrime: 36% of phishing campaigns target cloud app credentials, up from 33.5%.

While most phishing lures are still hosted on traditional websites, attackers are adopting cloud apps as well: 13% of phishing pages in 2020 were hosted using cloud services.

Attackers’ use of malicious Office documents has also grown by 58% as more of them employ these files as Trojans to deliver next-stage payloads such as ransomware and backdoors. Now, malicious Office documents make up 27% of all malware downloads, researchers report.

Read the full release and report here.

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