Security both a driver and barrier to cloud transformation: Study

While 91% of organizations were successful in increasing security as a result of adopting cloud services, it remains a top concern for many. This finding comes from part two of the four-part Cloud Impact Study from Aptum. The report, titled The Security and Compliance Barricade, identifies common security, compliance and governance challenges impacting organizations undergoing cloud transformation.

The independent research reveals that more than half of survey respondents (51%) see security as the main driver behind cloud adoption. However, 38% cite security and data protection as the primary barrier to cloud transformation.

Security and compliance play a critical role

Part one of the Cloud Impact Study, Bridging the Cloud Gap, found most survey respondents plan to take a hybridized approach to their cloud infrastructure, with more than half (59%) of respondents saying they will reduce their on-premises infrastructure to some degree and increase public cloud deployments within the next 18-24 months. A further 66% intend to expand their private cloud workloads.

According to data found in today’s report, this expansion and diversification of infrastructure raises security and compliance issues among senior IT professionals, including:

• Control and governance (82%)
• Visibility through a single portal (81%)
• Ability to meet requirements of compliancy audits (80%)

“Organizations are enjoying a newfound agility as they embrace hybrid cloud solutions, but scattered workloads present a security concern,” explains Craig Tavares, Global Head of Cloud at Aptum. “A cloud environment is only as secure as the polices and controls an organization has in place, which is why they need to be built into the formation of any cloud strategy. Although no single solution on its own can guarantee 100% security, especially in a multi/hybrid cloud approach, experienced partners can assist organizations in choosing the right combination of security technologies that compliments their workloads no matter where they are hosted and ensure visibility across disparate environments.”

“Security teams are tasked with protecting a widening attack surface, often with limited budgets and resources, against bad actors who are employing the same sophisticated techniques as top cybersecurity providers,” said Dan Webb, VP of Partner Sales and Alliances, Alert Logic. “With the ubiquity of cloud and hybrid environments, containerization, and mobile, IoT, and other edge devices, the traditional notion of a perimeter is no more. To be effective, security solutions must enable total visibility across an organization’s IT estate to help organizations quickly identify, prioritize, and respond to all threats that surface.”

The study’s results reinforce the importance of incorporating security into cloud architectures from design through to implementation and transformation. The results call for organizations to take a holistic approach to cloud architectures, with security principles embedded in the design. By doing this, businesses can mitigate threats and minimize risks as they arise to create an environment safer than any on-premise or legacy alternatives.