The recent Snowflake attack is an important reminder that data remains king when it comes to cyberattacks, and identities are the gateway for threat actors to access this coveted information. While in the event of an attack, service providers typically take the brunt of the blame. In this case, Snowflake reflected that it was actually how the company’s customers — including major companies like Ticketmaster and Advanced Auto Parts — chose to leverage its SaaS product that created the risk.

The implication is that because the victims failed to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA), they left themselves open to attacks such as phishing, credential stuffing and credential theft. Although the accusations might not have been off base, finger-pointing at customers rarely builds trust or regains loyalty. Instead, this is an opportunity to foster collaboration and discuss the importance of shared responsibility between SaaS service providers and customers to prevent future incidents.