Cloud application usage continues to grow

Netskope has released the April 2015 Netskope Cloud Report which reveals that cloud app usage continues to grow across enterprise organisations with 15.1 percent of European organisations now using over 1,000 cloud apps.

At a global level, more than 25 percent of organisations in the Netskope Cloud now use more than 1,000 apps and the average number of cloud apps (both sanctioned and unsanctioned) in use now stands at 730 – a 16 percent increase from the previous quarter. The April 2015 Netskope Cloud Report separates out European data for the first time, with an average of 511 cloud apps in use within European firms. At both a global and European level, nine out of every ten apps in use today are not enterprise ready, scoring a “medium” or below in the Netskope Cloud Confidence IndexTM (CCI).

The Netskope Cloud Report monitors enterprise cloud app usage and trends, and this edition also highlights the continued impact of compromised cloud app credentials on enterprises globally. According to the report:
13.6 percent of app users have had their log-in details compromised
more than seven out of ten uploads from users with compromised accounts are to apps with a “poor” rating in the Netskope Cloud Confidence Index
21.6 percent of Salesforce access is by users who’ve had their accounts compromised in a data breach

“While there’s a more common understanding and acceptance of ‘shadow IT’ across organisations, there’s a corresponding rise in the volume of unsanctioned cloud apps in use,” said Sanjay Beri, CEO and founder, Netskope. “This should make IT teams stop and think, but it’s not a cause for mass panic. Like it or not, this is the new reality for IT; it’s thus critical that organisations maintain a deep level of visibility and governance over their cloud app infrastructure so they can spot and mitigate a suspicious pattern before it becomes an issue.”