What aspect should a security team prioritize when analyzing assessment results for cloud environments to detect data exfiltration?

When analyzing assessment results for cloud environments to detect data exfiltration, prioritizing unexpected outbound communication from cloud services is essential. Data exfiltration often occurs through unauthorized or unusual outbound traffic that transmits data outside of the organization's controlled environment. By monitoring and identifying any unexpected outbound communications, the security team can detect potential data breaches or suspicious activities, which may signify that sensitive data is being sent out without proper authorization.

While unexpected output from cloud-based applications, unauthorized access to cloud storage, and misconfigured cloud security settings can indicate potential security issues, they may not directly signal data exfiltration. In contrast, monitoring outbound communications is a more direct approach to identifying the movement of data leaving the cloud environment, making it a critical focus for detecting and responding to data exfiltration incidents.