Security News > 2020 > February > Cloud misconfigurations cost companies nearly $5 trillion
Researchers from the cloud security company DivvyCloud found that breaches caused by cloud misconfigurations cost companies worldwide an estimated $5 trillion in 2018 and 2019.
In the "2020 Cloud Misconfigurations Report," DivvyCloud researchers studied all of the data breaches publicly reported between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2019 across the globe, finding that 196 separate data breaches were identified as having been definitively caused primarily by cloud misconfigurations.
Using data from a 2019 Ponemon Institute report that said the average cost per lost record globally is $150, DivvyCloud researchers estimated that cloud misconfiguration breaches cost companies upwards of $5 trillion over those two years.
"Year over year from 2018 to 2019, the number of records exposed by cloud misconfigurations rose by 80%, as did the total cost to companies associated with those lost records," according to the report Unfortunately, the report added, experts expect this upward trend to persist, as companies continue to adopt cloud services rapidly but fail to implement proper cloud security measures.
"These statistics indicate that older companies that are transitioning to the cloud are having a harder time implementing and continually enforcing proper security controls over their cloud environments when compared to younger companies 'born in the cloud,'" the report said.