Radware®, a leading provider of cyber security and application delivery solutions, released its new report, Application Security in a Multi-Cloud World 2023. The survey, which was conducted with Osterman Research, reveals the escalation of threats against web applications and increased security concerns about hybrid cloud infrastructures and API usage. At the same time, organizations struggle with low levels of security preparedness.
KEY FINDINGS
Frequency of Application Attacks Rise
The report reveals a surge in the frequency of bot, application, API, and DDoS attacks against applications over the past 12 months. During the past year, application attacks have become the most frequently occurring attack on a daily basis, jumping from 4% in 2022 to 23% in 2023.
- Almost half of organizations (46%) experience web application attacks daily or weekly.
- Nearly one third (31%) of organizations face DDoS attacks weekly.
- Downtime due to a successful application DDoS attack costs organizations an average of $6,130 per minute.
Lack of Confidence Plagues Increased API Usage
While the use of internally developed and third-party APIs may be inextricably tied to core business processes, outcomes, and thus measures of business success, they are also a cause for anxiety for most organizations.
- More than 87% of organizations report they are developing and using more APIs as an essential element of their modern application strategy. Yet, nearly three out of four respondents (74%) lack confidence that their internally developed APIs are protected against security threats that lead to unauthorized data access, exposure of application logic, and data breaches.
- Nearly all organizations (99%) make extensive use of third-party APIs or code, with 68% using more than 11 third-party APIs for each web application. Despite widespread usage, 64% of respondents would not be very surprised if they experienced a supply-chain breach via third-party APIs or code tomorrow.
“Companies continue to admit to looming security challenges and struggle with a lack of readiness when it comes to protecting their applications and infrastructure,” said Haim Zelikovsky, vice president of cloud security services at Radware. “Threats against applications are increasing in frequency and severity. Compounding these threats is marked concern over multi-cloud security, the weak protection of internally developed and third-party APIs, and subpar defenses against application DDoS attacks.”
Public Cloud Security Takes a Hit
Between 2022 and 2023, the survey shows a marked increase in concern over public cloud security. The inability to achieve consistent security policies surfaced as the problem that grew the most during the last year. In 2023, more than half of respondents (56%) rated inconsistent security policies a problem or extreme problem, up from 26% in 2022. Other areas respondents ranked as problems or extreme problems include:
- Protection coverage between platforms: 61% in 2023 compared to 38% in 2022
- Unified visibility: 58% in 2023, up from 41% in 2022
- Centralized management: 46% in 2023, compared to 34% in 2022
Companies Rethink Hybrid Environments
While every organization relies on at least one public cloud platform, approximately 70% also report using private cloud services and on-premises data centers for hosting applications.
- Almost half (46%) of organizations use all three environments in parallel, creating a complex situation where strong cross-environment administration, management, and security are essential.
- Despite the ongoing discussion about “the great cloud migration” and the abandonment of on-premises environments, approximately three quarters (73%) of organizations not only still use these environments but expect usage to increase in the next 12 months.
- During the next 12 months, the use of public clouds for hosting applications is expected to consolidate around one or two public clouds.
Methodology
The survey includes responses from senior DevOps and DevSecOps administrators, application and cloud security architects, senior network security administrators, vice presidents of research and development, among other security roles. It was conducted in 10 countries across the Americas, APAC, EMEA, and LATAM.
