With breaches costing Singaporean organisations $16m on average, report reinforces Zero Trust Segmentation is essential for cloud security.
Zero Trust Segmentation specialist Illumio has released research revealing the impact of cloud breaches in Singapore.
The independent research surveyed 1,600 IT and security decision makers across nine countries – including 150 Singaporean respondents.
Overall, the research found that cloud risks are getting worse with traditional cloud security tools falling short and Zero Trust Segmentation (ZTS) is essential.
Key Singaporean findings include:
- Traditional cloud security is failing the modern enterprise: In the last year, more than half of all local data breaches (55%) originated in the cloud and more than six in 10 respondents believe cloud security poses a severe risk to their business operations.
- Cloud breaches cost organisations millions each year: The average Singaporean organisation suffering a cloud breach last year lost roughly SGD $16m. Despite this, almost one in five operate under the assumption that breaches are not inevitable.
- Zero Trust Segmentation is critical for cloud resilience: 97% of local respondents agree that Zero Trust Segmentation (ZTS) is an essential piece of any cloud security strategy because it improves digital trust (51%), ensures Business Continuity (53%) and bolsters cyber resilience (51%).
Cloud concerns are pervasive in today’s complex, hybrid world
As organisations take their most sensitive data to the cloud, they face increased complexity and risk.
Ninety-five per cent of Singaporean organisations store their most sensitive data in the cloud, including financial information, business intelligence and customer or employee personally identifiable information (PII).
Yet, 99% are concerned that unnecessary or unauthorized connectivity between cloud services increases their likelihood of a breach.
According to the research, the main threats to local organisations’ cloud security are:
Workloads and data overlapping traditional boundaries (51%); a lack of understanding of the division of responsibility between cloud providers and vendors (44%); social engineering attacks (38%); and a lack of visibility within a single cloud provider (34%).
Where traditional cloud security tools fall short
Singaporean respondents overwhelmingly believe their organisation’s current approach to cloud security creates severe risks:
- Ninety-nine per cent say they need better visibility of connectivity with third party software.
- All 100% saying they need to improve their reaction time to cloud breaches.
Local respondents worry about the business repercussions of a cloud breach – their top three concerns being:
- Reputational damage and loss of public trust (45%); loss of revenue generating services (40%) and loss of sensitive data (35%).
Zero Trust Segmentation is a Non-Negotiable for Cloud Security
Ninety-seven per cent of Singaporean IT and security decision-makers believe that segmentation of critical assets is a necessary step to secure cloud-based projects.
John Kindervag, Chief Evangelist, Illumio, said: “I’m optimistic that nearly every security team is prioritising improving cloud security in the months ahead and that they see solutions like ZTS as an essential piece of their Zero Trust journey.”
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