These issues, he told Infosecurity, are central – and need to be addressed – if organisations are able to extend their existing security technologies to the cloud computing platform.
"It's also important to remember that the encryption and authentication systems we use in the cloud to secure data are based on PKI technology which, of course, has been around for a long time in the IT security world," he said.
"In addition, even though cloud computing has a clear economic imperative, most of our clients are now saying that there are a number of vendors all trying to sell them cloud security solutions", he added.
The bottom line, he went on to say, is that people are getting numbed to the cloud. They need solutions, rather than products, he explained.
Most clients, he says, are now asking the question: 'How can you secure my data as it flows into and out of the cloud?'
"It's also great that we now have cloud service providers, but what happens if they – or someone else – access my data accidentally? Then you have a problem," he said.
And it's against this backdrop that Smart, who is a veteran in the IT security industry, argues that you can encrypt all data in the cloud, which he says is a given if you are going to create trusted layer in a cloud computing environment.
Interestingly, Smart says that whilst cost is a driver for many companies looking to extend into the cloud environment, it's not always a major issue, as some experts are claiming.
"It depends on who you talk to [about costs]. It is really about optimising costs and keeping those costs under control", he explained.
Smart also says that many clients, whilst they are embracing the cloud, are also starting to prioritise their IT security projects, as pushing a security project back by a quarter saves money in the current term.
On the security front, the SafeNet products and solutions director says there are some interesting shifts by cybercriminals, who, he observes, are moving away from stealing card data on its own and into social data.
"This is why so many of the latest security breaches involving data theft are more about social data than card data on its own", he said, adding we are now moving into era of carefully targeted social networking attacks.
"We are also seeing a move into theft of intellectual property rights (IPRs) by cybercriminals. IPRs are a fundamental aspect of many firm's business models, and fraudsters are aware of this. This is another area of IT data that needs to be protected."