Google Drive leads in malware hosting, with majority of downloads attributed to the cloud

Most malware downloads have originated from the cloud, with the percentage of cloud-based malware increasing from 46% in 2020 to 66% in the fourth quarter of 2021, SecurityWeek reports citing a study from Netskope. Google Drive was also discovered to be the leading malware hosting source, surpassing OneDrive. “We don’t yet know which cloud app will prove most popular in 2022 but we can be almost certain it won’t still be Google Drive,“ said Netskope Threat Research Director Ray Canzanese. The report also revealed that while credential stuffing attacks against cloud apps have not significantly increased between 2020 and 2021, most attacks last year originated from the U.S. Meanwhile, the ongoing Great Resignation phenomenon has also prompted increased data exfiltration, according to the study. “The increasing popularity of cloud apps has given rise to three types of abuse: attackers trying to gain access to victim cloud apps, attackers abusing cloud apps to deliver malware, and insiders using cloud apps for data exfiltration,“ Canzanese added.