According to a Palo Alto Networks study, it takes security teams an average of 145 hours to resolve an alert.

In its new Cloud Threat Report, Palo Alto Networks examined more than 210,000 cloud accounts at around 1,300 organizations worldwide. When companies use the cloud, the attack surface grows exponentially.

It is sometimes difficult for companies to keep up with this growth, which entails major security risks. Any misconfiguration in the cloud is a potential opening for hackers to break into the organization. From inadequate authentication to faulty patches to malicious open source software, cybercriminals leave no stone unturned.

The most important number in this study is undoubtedly the 145 hours it takes security teams on average to resolve an alert.

Other interesting numbers from the study:

• In most cloud environments, only 5% of security rules are responsible for 80% of alerts.
• 63% of base code in production has critical vulnerabilities that have not been patched.
• 76% of organizations don’t have multi-factor authentication (MFA) for users with audit permissions. 58% of organizations don’t have MFA for admins with admin access.

The UNIT 42 research group within Palo Alto Networks therefore recommends scheduling backups, storing them in isolated locations and making strategic plans for when the organization would be impacted. The researchers also expect a shift from endpoint security to platforms that secure applications directly in the cloud in the coming years.