PerspecSys Survey Reveals Cloud-based Security Concerns for 2014

•  66% felt that cloud-based data is much more difficult to secure than on the premises
• 18% felt that securing data on the cloud is no different than securing data on the premises
• 16% felt that cloud-based data is less difficult to secure than on the premises

• 69% answered yes
• 31% answered no

• 54% said yes, we have a policy to follow
• 28% said no, but employees do it anyway
• 17% said no, we are not allowed or unable to access corporate cloud environments

• 36% use encryption
• 34% don’t use encryption or tokenization
• 24% use encryption and tokenization
• 6%   use tokenization

• “Almost 31 percent of respondents do not allow employees to access cloud applications such as Salesforce and DropBox from their mobile devices, but indicate employees do it anyway.”
•  “34 percent of organizations do not encrypt or use tokenization in the cloud.”
• “31 percent of organizations do not have any significant security protocols in place for employees using cloud applications.”

David Canellos, the CEO of PerspecSys reports that “through the poll data, as well as the results of hundreds of conversations we had at our exhibition booth, we were surprised to see how few companies are putting protocols in place for employees using cloud apps, as they are nearly ubiquitous as productivity enhancers and can hold important data that an organization has a vested interest in protecting. The data reinforces that simply blocking access isn’t an option, it’s time to be proactive and put long trusted security tools such as encryption and tokenization in place to make sure that no matter where your data is, it is protected.”

Stephen Kleynhans, research vice president of Gartner’s, stated in “How the Personal Cloud Impacts IT Organizations” published on February 6, 2014 that “enterprises must establish policies to manage the use of consumer-grade personal cloud tools, ensuring that appropriate information security and compliance controls aren’t being overlooked. IT organizations must also actively survey the user base to understand the motivation behind the tools’ use and ensure that advantageous functionality hasn’t been missed as part of official IT-supported enterprise user environments. IT organizations need to look for places where consumers are using personal cloud services and related apps, and understand the motivations, realizing there may be significant business value that has been missed by IT.”

PerspecSys found that although NSA was a major discussion subject at the 2014 RSA Conference, almost half of those surveyed did not feel the recent headlines and media attention regarding government had any effect on their use of the cloud.

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Kevin Jackson is a senior information technologist specializing in information technology solutions that meet critical Federal government operational requirements. Prior positions include VP & General Manager Cloud Services for NJVC, VP Federal Systems at Sirius Computer Solutions, Worldwide Sales Executive at IBM, Vice President Global IT Project Office at JP Morgan Chase, and CTO at SENTEL Corporation.