Multi-factor authentication (MFA) failures have fueled a 500% surge in ransomware losses, as noted in an article published by "The Hacker News"—from an average ransom payment of $400,000 in 2023 to $2 million in 2024. And attacks exploiting an MFA failure are getting increasingly advanced. Case in point: In Q3 2023, Retool, a development platform company, faced a significant cybersecurity incident when attackers accessed the accounts of 27 cloud customers despite robust MFA. This breach highlights the evolving sophistication of cyber threats and the need for continuous improvement in security measures.
In this article, we will give a short primer on why it is important to unpack MFA failures like this one, explore the details of the Retool attack, and outline the critical lessons learned for enhancing cloud security.