During the past month, cloud security analysts have seen more and more malware spreading from one PC to another in a fan-out effect, thanks to file-sharing and file-syncing applications, Netskope, a leading Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) reports in its February 2016 Worldwide Cloud Report.
The malware discovered that spread via cloud accounts ranges from simple worms to complex ransomware. In most cases the malware is only copied, and users still need to execute it.
Netskope says that the cases it detected looked more like accidents, but there have been many of them. The company says that 4.1% of all the cloud-based apps they scanned contained some kind of malware.
They also say that they've scanned only sanctioned (official) cloud apps, which represent only about 5% of the total of cloud-based apps, and that the total number of cloud apps that are laced with malware, or contribute to the spreading of malware, may be much higher than 4.1%.
The report is a sign of future trouble
While many people praise cloud-based services because of their boost in productivity, Netskope's recent report should be taken as a sign of alarm, and companies should be very careful where they deploy such apps in the future.
