Google Drive accounted for the most malware downloads in 2021

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Google Drive accounted for the most malware downloads in 2021, taking the best place from Microsoft OneDrive.

The cloud storage service accounted for 37% of all destructive downloads previous 12 months, according to the January edition of Netskope’s Cloud and Risk report. 

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Google Generate took the selection one particular from Microsoft OneDrive, which fell to next spot with 20% of recorded malware downloads. Rounding out the top five had been SharePoint with 9%, Amazon S3 with 6% and GitHub with 3%.

IT Pro contacted Google, Microsoft and Amazon for comment but experienced not been given a response at the time of publication. 

Netskope, a US-dependent cyber security supplier, famous that cloud storage apps gained even higher adoption in 2021, with 79% of customers analysed making use of at least 1 cloud storage app, which is up from 71% in 2020. The selection of cloud storage applications in use also rose, with organisations with 500 to 2,000 personnel utilizing 39 distinctive cloud storage applications final 12 months.

What is actually additional, cloud-delivered malware is now much more commonplace than variants are downloaded by using the web. In 2021, cloud app malware accounted for 66% of all malware downloads, up from 46% at the commence of 2020. 

Aside from its expanding attractiveness, there are other motives why Generate surpassed other expert services when it arrived to malware downloads, according to Netskope. For illustration, the Emotet botnet that employed Box to deliver destructive Office environment document payloads was taken down early in 2021 but finished up inspiring hackers to use Google Drive to share malicious Office environment files.

“The expanding recognition of cloud apps has presented increase to a few sorts of abuse described in this report: attackers trying to achieve entry to sufferer cloud applications, attackers abusing cloud applications to deliver malware, and insiders applying cloud apps for data exfiltration,” Netskope Risk Labs danger study director Ray Canzanese reported. 

“The report serves as a reminder that the same applications that you use for reputable uses will be attacked and abused. Locking down cloud applications can support to avert attackers from infiltrating them, even though scanning for incoming threats and outgoing data can aid block malware downloads and data exfiltration.”