PREDI C TI VE I NTEL L I GE NC E
State of
the
cloud:
Five trends driving enterprise
cloud security in 2019
The cloud has unlocked numerous benefits for
enterprises and organisations across the region, but
it’s absolutely vital that security remains a top priority
at the same time. Anurag Kahol, CTO, Bitglass, unravels
the findings of the company’s Guardians of the Cloud report
and identifies some of the key trends when it comes to cloud
security approaches.
A
s more and more
organisations
migrate their data
to the cloud, it’s
critical that they
simultaneously
maintain a robust
cybersecurity posture. However, regular
news headlines about the latest high-
profile data breaches suggest that
security simply isn’t as high on the
enterprise priority list as it needs to be.
In order to better understand the state
of enterprise security in the cloud,
Bitglass conducts an annual survey
amongst IT and security professionals.
Each year, the results identify the key
trends and common vulnerabilities that
organisations are facing. Here, Anurag
Kahol, CTO, Bitglass, looks at some of
the main findings from this year’s survey,
compares them to previous years and
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Issue 18
discusses the implications with respect
to both the present and the future. Cloud security is a top concern
among organisations
The need for robust cloud
security is greater than ever A massive 93% of survey respondents
were at least moderately concerned
about the security of the cloud – 38%
said that they were extremely concerned.
Greater flexibility and productivity are
some of the key drivers behind the
growing volumes of data that are being
stored in the cloud. However, this mass
movement can increase the likelihood of
data leakage if proper security measures
aren’t in place.
A closer look at the type of information
moving to the cloud demonstrates
why this data leakage can be so
problematic. A total of 45% of 2019
survey respondents store customer data
in the cloud, 42% store employee data
and 24% store intellectual property.
Obviously, this shows how high the
stakes can be in the event of a breach.
Despite this, there is a growing
recognition that cloud apps aren’t as
much of a risk as they once were.
A total of 67% now believe that cloud
applications are as secure or more
secure than on-premises apps.
The main conclusion to be drawn from
this is that organisations increasingly
recognise that the cloud itself is safe;
however, they are struggling to put the
processes and tools in place that allow
them to properly secure its use from an
operational perspective.
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