Cloud Risk Surface Report

“Are we safer on-prem or in the cloud?” is an evergreen question that has become more critical as cloud workloads surpass 25% of enterprise totals. This study analyzes 18,000 organizations and five million hosts to provide a definitive data-driven perspective on cloud risk. While the cloud offers immense benefits, the research highlights that these advantages do not come without a distinct “tax” on security visibility and posture.

The analysis reveals that cloud consolidation is a massive trend, with the top 5 providers hosting assets from 75% of organizations. Interestingly, heavy consolidation may actually impact security: firms using only one cloud provider exhibit an exposure rate four times higher than those diversified across four clouds. This report rewards the reader with a surprising reputational find: on-premises hosts are 13 times more likely to be blacklisted than those in top cloud environments.

Ultimately, the study confirms that security in the cloud is a shared responsibility where the user often defaults to “complacency.” Organizations are over twice as likely to have severe findings in high-value assets hosted in the cloud compared to on-prem. The report concludes that while choice of provider matters, organizational readiness and user actions remain the primary prevents of “cloud fires.”

Key Findings

• Heavy Cloud Consolidation: The top 5 cloud providers (Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Rackspace, IP) host assets for 75% of all organizations.
• The Diversity Bonus: Organizations diversified across four clouds have one-quarter the exposure rate of those reliant on a single provider.
• 2X Cloud Risk: Firms are over twice as likely to have high-risk exposures in high-value assets when they are hosted in the cloud vs. on-premises.
• 13X Reputation Advantage: On-premises hosts are 13 times more likely to appear on blacklists (threat intel) than any of the top cloud providers.
• Industry Readiness Gap: Cloud-based exposures in the Healthcare sector jump 4X to 5X compared to on-premises levels, indicating a sector-wide readiness struggle.
• 144X Provider Disparity: There is a 144-fold difference in host exposure rates between the most secure and least secure cloud providers.
• Size Tipping Point: Midsize firms ($1M–$5B revenue) operate more safely in the cloud, while larger enterprises tend to manage internal hosts better.