According to new research from Check Point Software, a lack of cybersecurity expertise and employee training threatens the security of cloud environments.
In its 2024 Cloud Security Report, the company found that 61% of organizations experienced at least one security incident related to their use of the public cloud in the past year, a significant increase from 24% the year before.
Of these incidents, 21% resulted in a data breach.
Lack of cyber training
32% of respondents cited a lack of skills as a barrier to defending cybersecurity in cloud computing environments. 41% of experts cited a lack of security awareness among employees as a barrier.
ISC2 figures published in September 2024 indicate that cloud computing security was among the largest skills gaps in security teams.
While training can be considered a primary defense against cyber incidents in the cloud, only 44% of organizations provide training annually.
Check Point noted that only 26% of participants conduct monthly sessions, contributing to a skills shortage and increased exposure to sophisticated cyberattacks.
“Organizations need to prioritize cybersecurity education and prevention,” said Muhammad Yahya Patel, chief security engineer at Check Point Software. “It is alarming that while 40% of organizations see prevention and mitigation as their biggest challenge, only 21% prioritize it. This disparity suggests that many organizations do not believe prevention is achievable in their current state.”
The adoption of artificial intelligence is increasing the need for new skills.
Regarding artificial intelligence, the report found that the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies has intensified the need for new skills.
Check Point found that 49% of respondents indicated a need for their security professionals to acquire new AI-related skills, while 35% are concerned about a lack of knowledge that is holding back AI adoption. Access to training and resources is critical to overcoming these barriers.
Data security breaches were found to be the leading cloud security incident in the report, followed by cloud service misuse and configuration errors.
The research gathered insights from more than 800 cloud computing and cybersecurity professionals.
