Palo Alto Networks, a global provider of cybersecurity solutions, has released its third annual State of Cloud-Native Security Report for 2023.



The report, based on a survey of over 2,500 C-level executives worldwide, aims to gain insight into their cloud adoption strategies and experiences. According to the report, 90% of organizations find it challenging to detect, contain, and resolve cyber threats within an hour, highlighting the main security gaps and challenges faced by businesses operating in the cloud.

The pandemic's widespread adoption of hybrid work has led to a 25% increase in cloud usage by organizations, resulting in DevOps teams delivering production code at a rapid pace. As a result, application security has become more complex, putting pressure on security organizations to keep pace. Meanwhile, organizations' top concerns regarding cloud adoption remain unchanged from the 2020 report, including struggles with comprehensive security, compliance, and technical complexity. Furthermore, while 78% of organizations have distributed cloud security responsibility to individual teams, 47% of respondents indicated that most of their workforce does not understand their security responsibilities.

To address these challenges, companies encourage greater engagement between application developers and security tools and teams. Specifically, 81% of respondents embed security professionals in their DevOps teams to ensure that applications are secure from code to cloud across multicloud environments.

In terms of cloud security, three-quarters of surveyed company leaders struggle to identify which security tools are necessary to achieve their objectives. As a result, they implement multiple single-point solutions, leading to the use of over 30 security tools on average, with six to ten dedicated to cloud security alone. This makes it difficult for leaders to have in-depth visibility into their entire cloud portfolio, resulting in blind spots that affect their ability to prioritize risk and prevent threats.

Ultimately, the report suggests that consolidating tools and vendors, using proven DevSecOps and security automation strategies, and adopting a platform approach that secures applications from code to cloud across multicloud environments are essential for better cloud security. Although having better security does not guarantee success, it gives development teams the tools they need to do their jobs more effectively and helps organizations succeed.

The survey was conducted online by Palo Alto Networks from November 21, 2022, to December 14, 2022. Respondents from various countries, including the U.S., Australia, Germany, the UK, Singapore, and Japan, were gathered from both executive leadership and more practitioner-level roles to understand sentiments broadly across companies. Over half of the respondents were from enterprise-sized organizations (over $1B in annual revenue).

IT companies still account for 6% of all attacks on organizations, despite a decrease in their number. Major attacks on IT giants, such as Nvidia, Samsung, Okta, Microsoft, Cisco, AMD, Cloudflare, and others have been observed throughout the year. Techniques such as social engineering, compromising credentials, and exploiting software vulnerabilities were used in attacks on IT companies, along with cryptographic programs being detected in every third attack.

In 2023, we can expect attacks to continue on the supply chains of software and services, and cloud service providers are at risk due to companies moving their data to the cloud infrastructure. In addition, science and education institutions are also among the top frequently attacked organizations, with attackers using cryptographers to get ransom from these institutions. In attacks on these institutions, attackers will pursue different goals, including hunting down research achievements and stealing personal and credentials that can be sold or reused in other attacks.

It is imperative for businesses to implement protection measures against certificate theft, leakage, and modification of software products' source codes, distribution of malicious updates, unauthorized access to customer data or infrastructure, and safeguard against compromising credentials for accessing resources. Being vigilant and proactive in cybersecurity measures is crucial in preventing cyber attacks.

Despite significant investments in cybersecurity measures, many are finding themselves vulnerable to sophisticated attacks that target their sensitive data and critical systems. This alarming trend is a result of a myriad of factors, including the evolving nature of cyber threats, resource constraints, and a lack of comprehensive understanding of the organization's own digital infrastructure.

One of the primary challenges organizations face is the rapid evolution and increasing complexity of cyber threats. Hackers and adversaries continually develop new tactics, techniques, and procedures to bypass traditional security measures, making it difficult for organizations to keep pace. As a result, many organizations find themselves one step behind, only detecting cyber threats after they have already penetrated their defenses.

Additionally, resource constraints often hinder organizations' ability to implement robust cybersecurity measures. Limited budget, shortage of skilled personnel, and competing priorities can lead to gaps in security posture, leaving organizations exposed to potential cyberattacks.

Furthermore, many organizations lack a comprehensive understanding of their own digital infrastructure, including the myriad of devices, applications, and networks that make up their IT environment. This lack of visibility into their own systems makes it challenging for organizations to proactively identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cyber threats.

To address these challenges, organizations need to adopt a more proactive and holistic approach to cybersecurity. This may involve leveraging advanced threat detection technologies, investing in ongoing cybersecurity training and education, and implementing comprehensive risk management strategies. Additionally, organizations must prioritize building a culture of cybersecurity awareness and readiness throughout the entire organization, from leadership to frontline employees.
The inability of the majority of organizations to detect and resolve cyber threats is a multifaceted issue that requires a concerted effort to address. By staying attuned to the evolving threat landscape, allocating resources effectively, and fostering a culture of cybersecurity, organizations can begin to take proactive steps towards enhancing their cybersecurity posture and better protecting their data and systems from malicious actors.

The rapid cloud adoption has outpaced security capabilities, with 90% of orgs struggling with threat detection. The tool sprawl - an average of 30 tools per org - is a clear indicator of ineffective tool selection and management. To mitigate these challenges, I advocate for a platform-based approach that secures applications from code to cloud across multicloud environments. This, coupled with robust DevSecOps practices and security automation, can help organizations gain better visibility and control over their cloud security posture.