Member Article

70% of business execs are resisting cloud adoption due to security concerns

70 per cent of business executives say security concerns have restricted their organisation’s adoption of public cloud. This is according to a new report titled Future Shock: The Cloud Is the New Network, commissioned by Barracuda Networks, the trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions. Such concerns specifically refer to the security, or lack there-of, of public cloud infrastructure, applications deployed in public cloud, and the potential impact of a cyber-attack.

The survey, conducted by independent market researcher Vanson Bourne, includes responses from 750 executives, individual contributors, and team managers with responsibility for or knowledge of their organisation’s cloud infrastructure – just less than half of which were from EMEA. Slightly more UK respondents than average (72%) reported that security concerns are restricting adoption of public cloud.

The report also predicted that 76 per cent of organisations’ IT infrastructure will be running in the public cloud within the next five years, compared to just 45 per cent today – this is a projected increase of 56 per cent by 2025 at least. For reference, 72 per cent of respondents from EMEA regions plan to use public cloud in five years’ time

Additionally, 75 per cent of surveyed respondents have already been targeted by a cyber attack – on average, UK businesses are aware of at least four cyber-attacks targeted against them. Secure software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), which is a software service that allows enterprises to securely connect users to public-cloud applications, is reportedly the most effective defence solution of choice, having been used by more than half of those who have already added security to their public cloud.

Whilst only 23 per cent of survey respondents have deployed SD-WAN, a further 51 per cent said they are in the process of deploying it, or expect to deploy within the next 12 months. However, only 38 per cent of respondents from the UK expect to deploy it in the next year.

Chris Hill, Regional VP for Public Cloud, Barracuda Networks, commented:

“Considering the abundance of sophisticated cyber attacks that face organisations every day, it is no surprise to see that such a large percentage of business decision makers are still cautious when committing to public cloud IT infrastructure.

“However, organisations can and should take comfort in knowing that if their data and applications are properly protected using proven firewall defence services, and users are gaining access with the assistance of SD-WAN technology, there is no reason that public cloud should be deemed any less secure than traditional data storage or software infrastructure.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Nick Till .