Intelligent CXO Issue 43 | Page 7

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Tenable Cloud Risk report sounds the alarm on toxic cloud exposures threatening global organisations

Tenable , an exposure management company , has released its 2024 Tenable Cloud Risk Report , which examines the critical risks at play in modern cloud environments . Most alarmingly , nearly four in 10 organisations globally are leaving themselves exposed at the highest levels due to the ‘ toxic cloud triad ’ of publicly exposed , critically vulnerable and highly privileged cloud workloads . Each of these misalignments alone introduces risk to cloud data , but the combination of all three drastically elevates the likelihood of exposure access by cyberattackers .

Security gaps caused by misconfigurations , risky entitlements and vulnerabilities combine to dramatically increase cloud risk . The Tenable Cloud Risk Report provides a deep dive into the most pressing cloud security issues observed in the first half of 2024 , highlighting areas such as identities and permissions , workloads , storage resources , vulnerabilities , containers and Kubernetes . It also offers mitigation guidance for organisations seeking ways to limit exposures in the cloud .
Publicly exposed and highly privileged cloud data lead to data leaks . Critical vulnerabilities exacerbate the likelihood of incidents . The report reveals that a staggering 38 % of organisations have cloud workloads that meet all three of these toxic cloud triad criteria , representing a perfect storm of exposure for cyberattackers to target . When bad actors exploit these exposures , incidents commonly include application disruptions , full system takeovers and DDoS attacks that are often associated with ransomware . Scenarios like these could devastate an organisation , with the 2024 average cost of a single data breach approaching US $ 5 million .

One fifth of IT managers waste a week every month on manual procurement tasks

Research from Probrand , an IT procurement platform , shows that 20 % of IT managers are spending more than five days every month on manual procurement processes which is distracting them from higher value activities .

In addition , 63 % of all buyers still rely on laborious manual processes to access basic information , such as prices , stock availability and product comparisons . Many also shared that they are wasting time fielding sales calls with some saying they receive as many as 40 unsolicited reseller calls every day .
While purchasing IT is a vital task , slow , outdated processes are holding IT managers back from performing valuable tasks that require their skilled input , such as network management , line management , design work , systems administration and technical engineering , according to the study , which included 100 IT buyers in UK organisations .
Ian Nethercot MCIPS , Supply Chain Director at Probrand , said : “ The multi-tasking IT manager is already having to wear multiple hats and juggle an ever-increasing workload due to an industry-wide skills shortage . So , if they are having to rely on outdated manual processes , when digital alternatives are available , it ’ s wasting the time of people who are already stretched .”
He added : “ We are on a mission to give all IT buyers transparency and efficiency by openly connecting them with distributors and vendors on one easy to use digital platform .”
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