Cloud assets are located outside standard IT networks and, for this reason, can be difficult or impossible to locate and identify with standard, scan-based security tools. If these instances are invisible to security teams, they cannot be monitored or protected from threats, and it’s unlikely that an incident on an undetected cloud asset will generate any sort of alert for the team to respond to.
Unless an organization can find and monitor its cloud assets, much of its data may be at risk. The global share of corporate data in the cloud increased from 30% in 2015 to 50% in 2021, and “85% of enterprises will have a cloud-first principle” by 2025. The shift from on-premises servers to the cloud can save organizations money, increase their agility, and facilitate remote work.