Average total annual financial loss for companies from compromised cloud accounts is more than $500,000, according to new research.
The findings came from a survey of 600 IT and security professionals in the U.S. jointly produced by Proofpoint and the Ponemon Institute.
The report also noted that:
- 68% of respondents believe cloud account takeovers present a significant security risk to their organizations
- over 50% indicated that the frequency and severity of cloud account compromises increased over the past year
- firms average 64 cloud account compromises per year on average, with 30% exposing sensitive data
- 50% or more say phishing has become the most frequent method attackers use to acquire legitimate cloud credentials
- 75% say the use of cloud apps and services as shadow IT, which was not properly vetted, is a serious security risk
Not surprisingly, a greater percentage of malware attacks are leveraging cloud applications. 61% of their malicious payloads in 2020 were via cloud-based apps.
That’s up from 48% of malware samples in 2019, according to a study from Netskope. This reveals the extent to which digital attackers are turning to the cloud more and more. This preference comes with certain advantages; using cloud apps helps the attackers evade older email and web defense solutions.
Microsoft Office is a primary gateway to malware attacks on the cloud.
This increased number is also testament that more application developers utilize the cloud in their deployment and more firms utilize cloud-based apps in their operation.
It’s therefore not surprising that digital attackers are using these apps to distribute cloud malware. To be specific, more than half (58%) turned to malicious Microsoft Office documents. They could use these as a means of sending ransomware, back doors and other threats.
At the same time, they’re using cloud apps in other ways, too. Attackers now target cloud-based apps in more than one-third (36%) of phishing attacks as a means of gaining a foothold in the target’s network.
The only way for organizations to retain full control when transitioning to the Cloud is through Anonymization of data or rendering enough sensitive data fields inaccessible when in the Cloud and only accessible again when coming back on-premise or back within their span of control. This is where the Hold Your Own Key (HYOK) concept becomes essential. Encrypting data prior to sending to it the Cloud and only decrypting once back on-premise is the only way to satisfy any more conservative trust models.
Cloud Service provider encryption solutions, however, cannot strike the required balance. Disk, file, tablespace or even Column level encryption solutions still mean the Cloud Provider controls the keys! This protects against an intruder walking out of the data center with a disk drive but not any normal access channels to the data. Cloud Services provided solutions including Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) designs are not acceptable to organizations in any highly regulated industries or processing particularly sensitive data.
Another major problem is encrypting all the data. If data is 100% encrypted, then fields and columns cannot be accessed and are therefore are inadequate for use as a data set. It becomes impractical then from a business standpoint, to encrypt all data fields or offer access only aon a “need-to-know” basis. The result is that most data is shared on the CSP without encryption at all. Your data is tehn 100% reliant on the CSP not being breached.
Device-2-Device (D2D) Encryption by BLAKFX offers DNA BindingTM cryptography that embeds with the data itself. The key exchange originates on an encrypted device (not in software or an app) and is augmented with a genuine “zero-knowledge” universal key server. The recipients device must have Helix22 installed in order to exfiltrate the data. Therefore, we offer perfect data security with 100% compliance, in your control, at all times. This of course is the optimal scenario. Your firm controls full control over access to your data sets at all time.
Enter BLAKFX. The Helix22 offers 100% data security on your firms data while it is at rest, in use or in transit. It also works on every CSP and on any device or in any programming language.
With Helix22, this means that data is protected on your infrastructure, on a CSP and is 100% compliant. Also, it means that no other service provider will be able to access data or have it breached. Compliance is controlled also 100% by your frim as all the keys are in your possession and/or generated by the BLAKFX key serer, which is 100% zero-knowledge.
Here is how it works.
Helix22 delivers perfect security assurance due to our genius engineering team that has invented a new model for data security that required an innovative look at the problem. The approach we took was to protect the data itself. Almost all other data security products try to build a perimeter or being fanatic on user credentials. However, once the product is breached or a password is stolen, even if it is 2FA or encrypted, your firms data is in the clear.
You see, the Helix22 cryptography is embedded with the data itself through our inventive and patented process of DNA BindingTM. Therefore, even if credentials are stolen the data cannot be exfiltrated. This means that all data is 100% protected regardless of the type of attack.
Another substantial advantage of Helix22, is that it protects all data whether at rest, in use or in transit. All communication apps for example, only encrypt data while in transit. Therefore, that encryption become useless for internal IT security or Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning experimentation. All data generated during these massive computing exercises is equally protected in real time. Plus, the latency period for the Helix22 is exponentially less than any other security product, so it actually contributes to faster processing times.
Our Motto
In Math We Trust
In this protocol, we are truly a “zero-knowledge” server so your private communications and transmissions remain completely top secret. Even in the event that BLAKFX were subpoenaed, we can honor the request by just handing over the encrypted content…as that is literally all we have. Helix22 also only use keys just one-time and then destroys them. This way the data security is future forward prefect. Therefore, in our unique user-to-user encryption (U2U) world, there is no opportunity ever for any data leak.
The Helix22 data security SDK accomplishes the following:
- Protects all your firms data at rest, in use and in transit
- Renders ransomware threats obsolete
- Eliminates human error
- Eliminates all malicious or interior attacks
- Verifies original content i.e. minimizes the threat of impersonation attacks and deep fakes
- Reduces latency
- Installs with 5 lines of code
- Runs on any CSP, platform, network, device and in any programming language
- Provides perfect future/forward secrecy
- Delivers “zero-knowledge” encryption
- Compatible with all cloud, 3rd party and vendor services
- Is quantum ready – so there’s no need to upgrade when the time comes
- Requires no employee training
- Exceeds all gov’t and banking standards
- Meets compliance regulations
D2D encryption
We can make all these claims as the tech engineers at BLAKFX invented and patented a genuine device2device (D2D) encryption. We manage data security transmission through the truly brilliant and also patented universal Helix22 key service. The Helix22 encryption originates on your network or device, not just when the app is opened. This means, that when data arrives to our key server, it is already encrypted so all it needs to do is issue another key. Signal and Telegram cannot claim this level of security. This key will then only work with the intended device, which generates a matching key required to open the data. In this protocol, we are truly a “zero-knowledge” server so your communications and transmissions remain completely top secret. Even in the event that BLAKFX were subpoenaed, we can honor the request by just handing over the encrypted content…as that is literally all we have. Helix22 also only use keys just one-time and then destroys them. This way the data security is future forward prefect. Therefore, in our unique device-to-device world, there is no opportunity at all for any data leak.
This same protocol just described, can be the same with all your 3rd party vendors and suppliers. It does not matter in the least what platform they are running or what device they are using or even the type of data, it is all 100% protected. We do however, strongly advise that all firms involved be utilizing Helix22 due to the nature of the data content. Helix22 can ensure that whatever data they are generating is protected as well.
Let’s take it a step further. Even if your organization were a victim of an internal attack or a victim of malicious open source downloads, there is no reason for concern. Any data that has been forwarded, downloaded, copied or saved cannot be exfiltrated. Period. We have the technology industries foremost data packets which are protected with multi-layered, military grade encryption algorithms that have already proven the ability to withstand penetration testing from MI5 and quantum computing attacks.
One final practical genius of DNA BindingTM is in that it is immediately compatible with whichever system or software you are utilizing. Therefore, any organization can forward information to another and then discuss it and there is immediate privacy.
BLAKFX is Based on Success
Our founders, Robert Statica PhD and Kara Coppa, also founded Wickr, which is used by the US military and has never been hacked since its inception in 2012. The Helix22 data security SDK is several generations enhanced since then. Dr. Statica also delivered the encryption for the world’s most secure phone, Katim.
Founder – Robert Statica PhD Founder – Kara Coppa Founder – Alex Maslov MS, MBA
Co-Founders of Wickr KatimTM Ultra Secure Smartphone
Finally, the Helix22 encryption is quantum computing ready so no need to redo all your data security methodologies in a couple of years when everything else becomes obsolete.
We like to refer to Helix22 as “22nd Century Data Security.”
