Survey finds lack of concern for cloud security

Clarifying issues surrounding this emerging security architecture

Half the companies that use or plan to use cloud computing services don’t know how they will square that use with the need to insure that data integrity and compliance with standards and policies.

Actually, it’s more than half, according to a study by IDG that was commissioned by RSA. And on a separate question, more than half also say they don’t know how cloud providers protect customer data or how their own internal security teams will comply with standards once they start using cloud computing.

“Most surprisingly, more than a quarter (29%) say business units have used cloud computing services without involving or informing corporate IT,” according to the survey, “As Hyper-Extended Enterprises Grow, So Do Security Risks.” Workers do this type of thing routinely – think unauthorized wireless access points plugged into spare network jacks – but the negative business implications of security breaches of data in the cloud should override this impulse.

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Half the companies that use or plan to use cloud computing services don’t know how they will square that use with the need to insure that data integrity and compliance with standards and policies.

Actually, it’s more than half, according to a study by IDG that was commissioned by RSA. And on a separate question, more than half also say they don’t know how cloud providers protect customer data or how their own internal security teams will comply with standards once they start using cloud computing.

“Most surprisingly, more than a quarter (29%) say business units have used cloud computing services without involving or informing corporate IT,” according to the survey, “As Hyper-Extended Enterprises Grow, So Do Security Risks.” Workers do this type of thing routinely – think unauthorized wireless access points plugged into spare network jacks – but the negative business implications of security breaches of data in the cloud should override this impulse.

Despite all this, 70% of respondents to the survey say they feel at least somewhat confident that their businesses are prepared for adopting cloud computing widely and securely.

All of which is scary and says more about how respondents decide what services to use and what vetting they do before they use them. The flip side is that a bit chunk of cloud users do address these issues.

Unfortunately the survey doesn’t address whether these decisions are well informed – unlikely – or whether they are made out of ignorance of the possible threats. Clearly better education is called for so the lure of the economic benefits of cloud computing services don’t endanger corporate security.

Read more about security in Network World's Security section.

Tim Greene is senior editor at Network World.