Dubai: A huge amount of confidential and sensitive corporate information risk being exposed due to the fact that a majority of IT organisations are kept in the dark when it comes to protecting corporate data in the "cloud".
This is just one of the findings of a recent Ponemon Institute study commissioned by SafeNet, Inc., a global leader in data protection.
"Cloud" computing is the use of a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer.
The study, titled “The Challenges of Cloud Information Governance: A Global Data Security Study,” surveyed more than 1,800 IT and cyber security professionals worldwide.
Among the key findings, the research indicates that while organisations are increasingly using cloud computing resources, IT staff is having trouble controlling the management and security of data in the cloud.
The survey found that only 38 percent of organisations have clearly defined roles and accountability for safeguarding confidential or sensitive information in the cloud.
Adding to the confusion, 44 percent of corporate data stored in cloud environments is not managed or controlled by the IT department. And more than two-thirds (71 percent) of respondents say it is more difficult to protect sensitive data in the cloud using conventional security practices.
“The findings reveal that global organizations are struggling to secure data in the cloud due to the lack of critical governance and security practices in place,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute.
“To create a more secure cloud environment, organizations can begin with simple steps such as including IT security in establishing security policies and procedures; increasing visibility into the use of cloud applications, platforms, and infrastructure; and protecting data with encryption and stronger access controls, such as multi-factor authentication.”
Here are the key findings:
As cloud grows, so does the risk to sensitive data
Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of IT professionals confirmed that cloud computing is very important today, and more than three quarters (78 percent) believe it will be over the next two years. The respondents also estimate that 33 percent of their organizations’ total IT and data processing requirements are met with cloud resources today, and that is expected to increase to an average of 41 percent within two years.
However, the majority of respondents (70 percent) agree that it is more complex to manage privacy and data protection regulations in a cloud environment, and they also agree that the types of corporate data stored in the cloud, such as emails, and consumer, customer, and payment information, are the types of data most at risk.
Cloud security, shadow IT and the need for more accountability
On average, half of all cloud services are deployed by departments other than corporate IT, and an average of 44 percent of corporate data stored in the cloud environment is not managed or controlled by the IT department.
As a result, only 19 percent of respondents are very confident that they know about all cloud computing applications, platforms, or infrastructure services in use in their organizations today.
Along with this lack of control over the sourcing of cloud services, views on who is actually accountable for cloud data security are mixed. Thirty five percent of respondents say it is a shared responsibility between the cloud user and the cloud provider while 33 percent say it is the responsibility of the cloud user and 32 percent say it is the responsibility of the cloud provider.
Encryption, multi-factor authentication vs. conventional data security measures
More than two-thirds (71 percent) of respondents say it is more difficult to protect sensitive data in the cloud using conventional security practices, and nearly half (48 percent) say it’s more difficult to control or restrict end-user access to cloud data.
As a result, more than one-third (34 percent) of IT professionals surveyed say their organizations already have a policy in place that requires the use of security safeguards such as encryption as a condition for using certain cloud computing resources. Seventy-one (71) percent of respondents say the ability to encrypt or tokenize sensitive or confidential data is important, and 79 percent say it will become more important over the next two years.
In terms of what companies are actually doing to secure data in the cloud, 43 percent of respondents say their organization is using private data network connectivity. Nearly two-fifths, or 39 percent, of respondents say their organizations use encryption, tokenization or other cryptographic tools to protect data in the cloud. Thirty-three percent say they don’t know what security solutions they use and 29 percent say they use premium security services provided by their cloud provider.
Respondents also noted that the management of their encryption keys is important to securing data in the cloud, given the increasing number of key management and encryption platforms their companies use. Fifty-four percent of respondents say their organization controls the encryption keys when data is stored in the cloud. However, 45 percent say they store their encryption keys in the software where they store their data while 27 percent say they store their keys in more secure environments such as hardware devices.
Regarding access to data in the cloud, 68 percent of respondents also say that the management of user identities is more difficult in the cloud, and 62 percent of respondents say their organizations have third parties accessing the cloud. Nearly half (46 percent) say their company uses multi-factor authentication to secure third-party access to data in the cloud environment. About the same percentage (48 percent) of respondents say their organizations use multi-factor authentication for employees’ access to the cloud.
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