Cloud security worries are accelerating as the technology goes mainstream: Security and privacy of data and systems in the cloud remains a top worry for 70% of IT professionals worldwide, up from 63% in 2015. And, loss of control over data is a worry for half of them (53%).
That’s according to Netwirx Corp.’s second global Cloud Security Survey, which found that, even though cloud service providers generally make security a top priority, cloud computing is still associated with a number of risks, including potential for unauthorized access by employees and third parties, sophisticated attacks, and lack of visibility into what is happening across cloud IT environments. The majority (61%) of respondents indicate that their own employees pose more risk to data security in the cloud than anyone else. And the overwhelming majority (95%) of respondents consider visibility into user activities in the cloud to be an important element in cloud providers’ security guarantees.
Cloud adoption rate has risen during the past year, from 43% of organizations in 2015 to 68% this year. However, only 8% of companies are ready to move their entire IT infrastructure to the cloud in the near future. The survey found that the top three cloud security concerns in 2016 are unauthorized access (69%), malware (37%) and denial of service (DoS) attacks (34%).
A hybrid cloud approach is preferred by 55% of organizations that are considering a cloud move; 40% of cloud users are already taking advantage of the hybrid model. This model enables them to balance costs, business benefits and data security.
“The 2016 survey has revealed that despite cloud providers trying hard to secure the cloud environments, the majority of IT pros are still not convinced that the technology is safe enough—mainly because of the insider threat,” said Alex Vovk, CEO and co-founder of Netwrix. “Lack of visibility is the primary reason why security remains the top cloud-related challenge for many organizations. Advanced security solutions and an integrated view of activities both in the cloud and on premises will help companies increase user accountability, detect insider threats faster and prevent data exfiltration, thus minimizing the damage from unauthorized or incorrect user actions.”
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