Security remains the single biggest concern of government information technology decision-makers when it comes to cloud computing, a survey has found. However, despite these security concerns, 50% are now considering cloud applications for their agencies, versus only 12% a year ago.
Two-thirds of participants cited security as the most important element in their evaluations. At the same time, those more familiar with cloud computing are more than twice as likely to trust it, 57 percent versus 24 percent. Concerns about security are not the only obstacle holding back federal agencies from moving to the cloud. At least three-quarters of participants identified dependability, availability, and the ability to continue using existing applications as elements that cloud-based solutions must address. Meanwhile, more than one-quarter of participants identified mission-critical data management, procurement, and financial management systems as applications they would never consider moving to the cloud.
Comment from Lockheed Martin's Curt Aubley, Vice President for Cyber Security and NexGen innovation: The government is making strides in transitioning to the cloud and we believe an intelligence driven cyber security approach, and asking the penetrating questions regarding cloud governance, availability, and reliability are key to prudent adoption. Security concerns are the single biggest reason agencies cite for their slow adoption of cloud. There's a lot of hype in the industry.
Comment from Cynthia Poole, research director at Market Connections: One major takeaway is that nearly one-third of participants agreed that cloud-based computing is a good solution for all data and applications, which indicates that if security concerns can be addressed successfully, the cloud would be embraced wholeheartedly by a number of agencies.
About the survey: The study funded by the Lockheed Martin Cyber Security Alliance and conducted by Market Connections included in-depth interviews and an online survey. It explored comfort levels, cloud engagement, elements of importance and plans for cloud application migration among U.S. federal government, defense/military, and intelligence agency technology decision-makers and IT contractors serving the federal government. Study findings reflect input from 196 participants from all military branches and a variety of federal civilian agencies.
Contact: http://www.lockheedmartin.com
Showing posts with label Cloud security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cloud security. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Majority Of IT Security Professionals Are Likely To Use FISMA Or PCI Compliant Cloud Vendor
A survey of IT security professionals has found that 69 percent would be more likely to consider cloud vendors that are PCI or FISMA compliant, compared with 63 percent in 2010.
Other findings:
-- Only 32 percent of companies believe the cost savings associated with cloud computing outweigh security considerations for their organization, up from 26 percent in 2010
-- 69 percent of companies are considering cloud computing, up from 66 percent in 2010
Comment from Tim Keanini, CTO for nCircle: These results are a clear indication that there is demand for specific and tangible assurance of security and compliance measures from cloud vendors. IT security professionals are informed buyers. They know that cloud vendors currently produce very little evidence of their internal security and compliance processes and do not allow their customers to conduct their own security and compliance audits.
About the survey: The nCircle survey (2011 Information Cloud Computing Study) polled 551 IT security senior management, IT operations, security professionals and risk and audit managers.The survey was conducted between March 17 and March 25, 2011, and covered a range of security topics.
Contact: Download a copy of the study here.
Contact: http://www.ncircle.com
Other findings:
-- Only 32 percent of companies believe the cost savings associated with cloud computing outweigh security considerations for their organization, up from 26 percent in 2010
-- 69 percent of companies are considering cloud computing, up from 66 percent in 2010
Comment from Tim Keanini, CTO for nCircle: These results are a clear indication that there is demand for specific and tangible assurance of security and compliance measures from cloud vendors. IT security professionals are informed buyers. They know that cloud vendors currently produce very little evidence of their internal security and compliance processes and do not allow their customers to conduct their own security and compliance audits.
About the survey: The nCircle survey (2011 Information Cloud Computing Study) polled 551 IT security senior management, IT operations, security professionals and risk and audit managers.The survey was conducted between March 17 and March 25, 2011, and covered a range of security topics.
Contact: Download a copy of the study here.
Contact: http://www.ncircle.com
Monday, June 20, 2011
Exposing Enterprise Apps To Mobile Users Via The Cloud Raises Security Worries
Security is the top concern for connecting from mobile Cloud-based applications into the organization, accoding to a survey. The security challenges cited by 48 percent of the respondents included the problem of how to protect a mobile application itself from reverse-engineering, how to protect the Web Services used by the mobile application, and how to deter users from installing malicious mobile applications placed in app markets (such as the Android Market) by attackers.
Additionally, 26 percent of respondents felt that integration complexities were a challenge. This is to be expected as programming for mobile apps uses such lightweight protocols as REST and JSON, whilst the enterprise application development environment is characterized by enterprise applications such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft .NET, which tend to support heavyweight standards such as SOAP, rather than REST and JSON.
Other interesting data gleaned indicates that 53 percent of organizations are currently deploying mobile applications to customers with 47 percent deploying applications to employees and 24 percent deploying to partners. Of note, 29 percent said they were planning to deploy mobile applications, but had not done so at this time. Additionally, 18 percent did not have any current deployment plans.
Comment from Hugh Carroll, VP Marketing at Vordel: The survey results demonstrate that organizations need to govern the mobile app channel as it increasingly becomes an important channel to customers, partners and employees. Clearly mastering the security issue is a key concern for organizations and a challenge to adoption. Vordel is delivering API Gateway technology today to respond to this need, bridging mobile applications into the enterprise, via the Cloud.
About the survey: The survey was conducted by Vordel, an SOA and Cloud Services provider.The survey results were based on a sample pool of 78 respondents from 50 organizations (Fortune 5000 firms and Government Agencies). The typical respondents were Enterprise Architects, Senior IT Manager and Chief Security Officers. Date of poll -- May 19, 2011.
Contact: http://www.vordel.com
Additionally, 26 percent of respondents felt that integration complexities were a challenge. This is to be expected as programming for mobile apps uses such lightweight protocols as REST and JSON, whilst the enterprise application development environment is characterized by enterprise applications such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft .NET, which tend to support heavyweight standards such as SOAP, rather than REST and JSON.
Other interesting data gleaned indicates that 53 percent of organizations are currently deploying mobile applications to customers with 47 percent deploying applications to employees and 24 percent deploying to partners. Of note, 29 percent said they were planning to deploy mobile applications, but had not done so at this time. Additionally, 18 percent did not have any current deployment plans.
Comment from Hugh Carroll, VP Marketing at Vordel: The survey results demonstrate that organizations need to govern the mobile app channel as it increasingly becomes an important channel to customers, partners and employees. Clearly mastering the security issue is a key concern for organizations and a challenge to adoption. Vordel is delivering API Gateway technology today to respond to this need, bridging mobile applications into the enterprise, via the Cloud.
About the survey: The survey was conducted by Vordel, an SOA and Cloud Services provider.The survey results were based on a sample pool of 78 respondents from 50 organizations (Fortune 5000 firms and Government Agencies). The typical respondents were Enterprise Architects, Senior IT Manager and Chief Security Officers. Date of poll -- May 19, 2011.
Contact: http://www.vordel.com
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Growing Trust in Cloud Computing As Businesses Achieve Measurable Value
Global and regional trends in cloud computing adoption and usage reveal the importance of both infrastructure and workloads in considering a cloud computing model, according to a survey.
Findings:
-- Cloud computing is maturing rapidly, with 70 percent of respondents indicating they are either using or currently investigating cloud computing for remotely hosted applications or to store data
-- Of those organizations that have deployed cloud solutions, 60 percent reported that they are already seeing business value
-- Among current cloud users, 92 percent stated that infrastructure was an important part of their decision to move to a cloud computing model
As cloud adoption continues to increase, so does the value of the data that lives in the cloud. Sixty-three percent of those using the cloud to host data estimated they store more than $250,000 worth of data in the cloud, and by evaluating this survey field alone as a sample of the industry at large, it can be estimated that billions of dollars in active data currently lives in the cloud.
This new era of IT is being driven by the CIO, head of IT or IT director more than 50 percent of the time, placing a huge amount of importance on the technology at the core of the cloud. Ninety-two percent of respondents currently using the cloud stated that infrastructure was important in their decision to adopt cloud computing, dispelling the myth that cloud customers do not care to know about the physical servers housing and running their data. Global private sector respondents also identified the workloads they believe most suited potentially for cloud computing as email, finance/accounting and Web serving, in that order.
With such a clear level of importance placed on the IT infrastructure of the cloud, it is imperative for vendors to move beyond the hype and talk about the real issues at the core of the cloud. Email, finance/account and web serving are all fast-growing workloads in the cloud, yet have significantly different compute demands. AMD is taking the lead in approaching cloud computing from a workload-based model that provides differentiated solutions based on the unique requirements of the cloud provider and customer.
The survey also found that local and federal mandates are having a significant impact in accelerating cloud adoption. In the U.S., public sector respondents felt government policies have accelerated a move to the cloud more than twice as many times as those who felt it has decelerated adoption, primarily citing the shift as a way to reduce costs. Nearly half of the worldwide public sector respondents indicated budget restrictions are driving a more rapid adoption of cloud solutions.
One key hurdle that still remains for the public sector to fully embrace cloud computing is having the necessary IT skills in-house to support the deployment of cloud solutions. Currently, 43 percent of public sector respondents did not feel they had the skills in place to support cloud versus only 23 percent in the private sector.
Other findings:
-- Seventy-four percent of U.S. organizations are using or investigating cloud solutions, followed by 68 percent in Asia and 58 percent in Europe
-- Nearly 1 in 10 organizations in the U.S. estimate they store more than $10 million worth of data in the cloud. However, 63 percent of global respondents still view security as one of the greatest risks associated with the model
-- For those currently using the cloud, 75 percent had the necessary IT skills to implement the solution versus only 39 percent of those who are currently investigating cloud today
-- Cloud users are able to access their services primarily via a PC (90 percent), followed by smartphone (56 percent), tablet (37 percent) and thin client (32 percent)
Comment from Patrick Patla, general manager and vice president, Server and Embedded Divisions: Based on the findings of this global study, AMD believes it is time for the industry to re-shape the way we think about cloud technology. The findings point to the fact that while the era of cloud computing has arrived, there are radically different attitudes, approaches, concerns and levels of maturity depending on business environment. As an industry, we must provide clear guidance about how to optimize hardware and software for all types of clouds, focusing on custom parts for specific workloads that are prevalent in the cloud and the appropriate balance of performance, power and cost efficiency they require.
About the survey: The survey was conducted by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) among IT decision makers in public and private sector organizations in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Contact: http://www.amd.com
Findings:
-- Cloud computing is maturing rapidly, with 70 percent of respondents indicating they are either using or currently investigating cloud computing for remotely hosted applications or to store data
-- Of those organizations that have deployed cloud solutions, 60 percent reported that they are already seeing business value
-- Among current cloud users, 92 percent stated that infrastructure was an important part of their decision to move to a cloud computing model
As cloud adoption continues to increase, so does the value of the data that lives in the cloud. Sixty-three percent of those using the cloud to host data estimated they store more than $250,000 worth of data in the cloud, and by evaluating this survey field alone as a sample of the industry at large, it can be estimated that billions of dollars in active data currently lives in the cloud.
This new era of IT is being driven by the CIO, head of IT or IT director more than 50 percent of the time, placing a huge amount of importance on the technology at the core of the cloud. Ninety-two percent of respondents currently using the cloud stated that infrastructure was important in their decision to adopt cloud computing, dispelling the myth that cloud customers do not care to know about the physical servers housing and running their data. Global private sector respondents also identified the workloads they believe most suited potentially for cloud computing as email, finance/accounting and Web serving, in that order.
With such a clear level of importance placed on the IT infrastructure of the cloud, it is imperative for vendors to move beyond the hype and talk about the real issues at the core of the cloud. Email, finance/account and web serving are all fast-growing workloads in the cloud, yet have significantly different compute demands. AMD is taking the lead in approaching cloud computing from a workload-based model that provides differentiated solutions based on the unique requirements of the cloud provider and customer.
The survey also found that local and federal mandates are having a significant impact in accelerating cloud adoption. In the U.S., public sector respondents felt government policies have accelerated a move to the cloud more than twice as many times as those who felt it has decelerated adoption, primarily citing the shift as a way to reduce costs. Nearly half of the worldwide public sector respondents indicated budget restrictions are driving a more rapid adoption of cloud solutions.
One key hurdle that still remains for the public sector to fully embrace cloud computing is having the necessary IT skills in-house to support the deployment of cloud solutions. Currently, 43 percent of public sector respondents did not feel they had the skills in place to support cloud versus only 23 percent in the private sector.
Other findings:
-- Seventy-four percent of U.S. organizations are using or investigating cloud solutions, followed by 68 percent in Asia and 58 percent in Europe
-- Nearly 1 in 10 organizations in the U.S. estimate they store more than $10 million worth of data in the cloud. However, 63 percent of global respondents still view security as one of the greatest risks associated with the model
-- For those currently using the cloud, 75 percent had the necessary IT skills to implement the solution versus only 39 percent of those who are currently investigating cloud today
-- Cloud users are able to access their services primarily via a PC (90 percent), followed by smartphone (56 percent), tablet (37 percent) and thin client (32 percent)
Comment from Patrick Patla, general manager and vice president, Server and Embedded Divisions: Based on the findings of this global study, AMD believes it is time for the industry to re-shape the way we think about cloud technology. The findings point to the fact that while the era of cloud computing has arrived, there are radically different attitudes, approaches, concerns and levels of maturity depending on business environment. As an industry, we must provide clear guidance about how to optimize hardware and software for all types of clouds, focusing on custom parts for specific workloads that are prevalent in the cloud and the appropriate balance of performance, power and cost efficiency they require.
About the survey: The survey was conducted by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) among IT decision makers in public and private sector organizations in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Contact: http://www.amd.com
Virtualization Of Data Centers Presents Challenges For Application, Network Security
IT departments are turning to virtualization, with half of the respondents having either implemented or are planning to deploy private clouds, but they are facing inherent challenges that arise when applications are decoupled from the physical resources they rely on, introducing new obstacles such as traffic bottlenecks, inconsistent network policies and security loopholes, according to a survey.
Sixty-two percent are planning or engaged in data center upgrades, many due to increased use of virtualization. Additionally, 29 percent report that scaling server virtualization is a concern and 32 percent report that bandwidth and traffic engineering are pressing issues. The results show that virtualization comes at a cost and that traditional networking architectures are not always best-suited to handle the demands of a virtualized environment. Application security can fail when subjected to data center-wide server virtualization and application mobility.
IT departments view targeted attacks and security breaches as the biggest threats to the next-generation data center. When asked to rate security challenges, 77 percent rate threat protection (i.e., intrusion prevention) as "critical" or "important". Twenty-six percent view targeted attacks as their biggest concerns and 24 percent think security breaches are their biggest concerns. However, although half are relying on the same security model for virtualization they used with physical servers, 18 percent have not decided this is the best approach when securing virtual servers.
Forty percent said that moving virtual machines is challenging because it introduces operational complexity and 25 percent indicated a concern with securing trust boundaries.
Comment from Rees Johnson, senior vice president and general manager for network security, McAfee: Companies investing in full scale virtualization are now running into network and security challenges. Data centers have to be upgraded for the stringent demands of virtualization. Brocade and McAfee have partnered to address the key roadblocks for data center virtualization, providing new ways to ensure agility and efficiency in the network while providing comprehensive security services. Virtualization, especially in the context of private clouds, introduces unique operational and security challenges. The ability to move virtual machines is essential to creating flexible virtual data centers, yet this same flexibility introduces operational complexity and makes it much more difficult to maintain traditional trust boundaries.
About the survey: McAfee commissioned the study conducted by Network World. The study surveyed 100 IT professionals and security decision makers in North American companies with 500 or more employees.
Contact: Click here.
Sixty-two percent are planning or engaged in data center upgrades, many due to increased use of virtualization. Additionally, 29 percent report that scaling server virtualization is a concern and 32 percent report that bandwidth and traffic engineering are pressing issues. The results show that virtualization comes at a cost and that traditional networking architectures are not always best-suited to handle the demands of a virtualized environment. Application security can fail when subjected to data center-wide server virtualization and application mobility.
IT departments view targeted attacks and security breaches as the biggest threats to the next-generation data center. When asked to rate security challenges, 77 percent rate threat protection (i.e., intrusion prevention) as "critical" or "important". Twenty-six percent view targeted attacks as their biggest concerns and 24 percent think security breaches are their biggest concerns. However, although half are relying on the same security model for virtualization they used with physical servers, 18 percent have not decided this is the best approach when securing virtual servers.
Forty percent said that moving virtual machines is challenging because it introduces operational complexity and 25 percent indicated a concern with securing trust boundaries.
Comment from Rees Johnson, senior vice president and general manager for network security, McAfee: Companies investing in full scale virtualization are now running into network and security challenges. Data centers have to be upgraded for the stringent demands of virtualization. Brocade and McAfee have partnered to address the key roadblocks for data center virtualization, providing new ways to ensure agility and efficiency in the network while providing comprehensive security services. Virtualization, especially in the context of private clouds, introduces unique operational and security challenges. The ability to move virtual machines is essential to creating flexible virtual data centers, yet this same flexibility introduces operational complexity and makes it much more difficult to maintain traditional trust boundaries.
About the survey: McAfee commissioned the study conducted by Network World. The study surveyed 100 IT professionals and security decision makers in North American companies with 500 or more employees.
Contact: Click here.
43 Percent of Enterprises Have Had Security Issues With Cloud Service Providers
Most enterprises are apprehensive about adopting cloud computing, mainly because of security issues with cloud service providers.
Nearly half (43 percent) of enterprise IT decision makers reported a security lapse or issue with their cloud provider within the last 12 months, according to a recent global cloud security survey.
The survey confirmed that, on the whole, enterprises are moving toward the cloud at a brisk pace and are initiating a giant multiplicative wave of new deployments. Although slightly over 10 percent of the respondents currently have cloud computing projects in production, close to half are either implementing or piloting new cloud applications.
Despite cloud computing's growing popularity in most countries, confusion is still at play among enterprises, some of whom don't recognize what cloud computing services are. When presented with a list of cloud computing services, 93 percent of the respondents said they are currently working with at least one of them. And yet, 7 percent of the same respondents said that their company has no plans to deploy any cloud computing service - a contradiction.
While security is still the major hindrance toward cloud adoption, more enterprises are now perceiving performance and availability of cloud services to be of near-equal consideration. According to the survey, the top barriers respondents see in adopting cloud computing services are: Concerns over security of data or cloud infrastructure (50 percent) and performance and availability of cloud service (48 percent).
When it comes to safeguarding sensitive data stored in the cloud, enterprises turn to encryption. 85 percent of respondents(2) said they encrypt data stored in the cloud. And before taking the plunge into cloud adoption, more than half of survey respondents said they would be more likely to consider a cloud provider if encrypted data storage were included in the offering. Nevertheless, most commonly used encryption key management techniques used in the cloud today are vulnerable.
Comment from Dave Asprey, vice president of cloud security, Trend Micro: Based on our data, we see about 5 times more cloud applications coming online in the next few years, yet 43 percent of existing cloud users had a security incident last year. On top of that, some respondents didn't even know they were using the cloud, much less securing it. Given that many cloud service providers do not adequately add IT resources to security, the reality is that securing your cloud environment is not an option, it's a necessity.In the past, security concerns were the primary inhibitors to cloud adoption. Now, performance and availability have equal influence over IT decision makers. As we witnessed in recent data breach incidents, everything is linked - poor security causes downtime, as well as bad performance.
About the survey: The global survey was conducted by TrendMicro among 1,200 U.S., UK, Germany, India, Canada and Japan IT decision makers (200 respondents from each of the six countries). These professionals, from enterprises with over 500 employees, make purchase decisions for cloud computing services, server virtualization or Virtual Desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions.
Contact: http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud
Nearly half (43 percent) of enterprise IT decision makers reported a security lapse or issue with their cloud provider within the last 12 months, according to a recent global cloud security survey.
The survey confirmed that, on the whole, enterprises are moving toward the cloud at a brisk pace and are initiating a giant multiplicative wave of new deployments. Although slightly over 10 percent of the respondents currently have cloud computing projects in production, close to half are either implementing or piloting new cloud applications.
Despite cloud computing's growing popularity in most countries, confusion is still at play among enterprises, some of whom don't recognize what cloud computing services are. When presented with a list of cloud computing services, 93 percent of the respondents said they are currently working with at least one of them. And yet, 7 percent of the same respondents said that their company has no plans to deploy any cloud computing service - a contradiction.
While security is still the major hindrance toward cloud adoption, more enterprises are now perceiving performance and availability of cloud services to be of near-equal consideration. According to the survey, the top barriers respondents see in adopting cloud computing services are: Concerns over security of data or cloud infrastructure (50 percent) and performance and availability of cloud service (48 percent).
When it comes to safeguarding sensitive data stored in the cloud, enterprises turn to encryption. 85 percent of respondents(2) said they encrypt data stored in the cloud. And before taking the plunge into cloud adoption, more than half of survey respondents said they would be more likely to consider a cloud provider if encrypted data storage were included in the offering. Nevertheless, most commonly used encryption key management techniques used in the cloud today are vulnerable.
Comment from Dave Asprey, vice president of cloud security, Trend Micro: Based on our data, we see about 5 times more cloud applications coming online in the next few years, yet 43 percent of existing cloud users had a security incident last year. On top of that, some respondents didn't even know they were using the cloud, much less securing it. Given that many cloud service providers do not adequately add IT resources to security, the reality is that securing your cloud environment is not an option, it's a necessity.In the past, security concerns were the primary inhibitors to cloud adoption. Now, performance and availability have equal influence over IT decision makers. As we witnessed in recent data breach incidents, everything is linked - poor security causes downtime, as well as bad performance.
About the survey: The global survey was conducted by TrendMicro among 1,200 U.S., UK, Germany, India, Canada and Japan IT decision makers (200 respondents from each of the six countries). These professionals, from enterprises with over 500 employees, make purchase decisions for cloud computing services, server virtualization or Virtual Desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions.
Contact: http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud
Friday, May 6, 2011
Cloud Providers, Consumers Have Conflicting Views On Cloud Security
Conflicting views among cloud providers and cloud consumers on focus, priority and responsibility suggest a pending security standoff between cloud providers and cloud users, according to a study.
Cloud providers are more focused on delivering the benefits of cost and speed of deployment, the top two reasons cited for migrating to cloud computing. The majority of cloud providers (79 percent) allocate just 10 percent or less of IT resources to security or control-related activities. This result is consistent with the finding that less than half of the respondents agree or strongly agree that security is a priority.
Additional key findings:
Fewer than 20 percent of cloud providers across the U.S. and Europe view security as a competitive advantage. Fewer than 30 percent of respondents consider security as an important responsibility. Less than 27 percent of respondents feel their cloud services substantially protect and secure customer information.
The majority of cloud providers (69 percent) believe security is primarily the responsibility of the cloud user; this contrasts with 35 percent of cloud users who believe security is their responsibility. Just 16 percent of cloud providers feel security is a shared responsibility, compared to 33 percent of cloud users who believe the duty should be shared. Thirty-two percent of both cloud providers and cloud users say security is the responsibility of the provider.
Cloud providers and cloud users disagree widely on the degree to which they saw intellectual property (IP) being too sensitive for the cloud. Sixty-eight percent of cloud users felt their IP was too risky for cloud use, compared to just 42 percent of cloud providers.
Comment from Mike Denning, general manager, Security, CA Technologies: The focus on reduced cost and faster deployment may be sufficient for cloud providers now, but as organizations reach the point where increasingly sensitive data and applications are all that remains to migrate to the cloud, they will quickly reach an impasse. If the risk of breach outweighs potential cost savings and agility, we may reach a point of "cloud stall" -- where cloud adoption slows or stops -- until organizations believe cloud security is as good as or better than enterprise security.
Comment from Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute: Given the well-publicized concerns about the potential risks to organizations' sensitive and confidential information in the cloud, we believe it is only a matter of time until users of cloud computing solutions will demand enhanced security systems. However, until this happens, users of cloud computing should be aware of their responsibility to assess the risks before migrating to the cloud. They should thoroughly vet providers and their applications and infrastructure for their ability to safeguard information. Finally, cloud users and providers should consider the importance of joint responsibility to create a secure computing environment.
About the study: For "Security of Cloud Computing Providers," sponsored by CA Technologies, Ponemon Institute surveyed 103 cloud service providers in the US and 24 in six European countries for a total of 127 separate providers. Respondents said SaaS (55 percent) is the most frequently offered cloud service, followed by IaaS (34 percent) and PaaS (11 percent). Sixty-five percent of cloud providers in this study deploy their IT resources in the public cloud environment, 18 percent deploy in the private cloud and 18 percent are hybrid.
Contact: http://www.ca.com
Contact: http://www.ponemon.org/index.php
Cloud providers are more focused on delivering the benefits of cost and speed of deployment, the top two reasons cited for migrating to cloud computing. The majority of cloud providers (79 percent) allocate just 10 percent or less of IT resources to security or control-related activities. This result is consistent with the finding that less than half of the respondents agree or strongly agree that security is a priority.
Additional key findings:
Fewer than 20 percent of cloud providers across the U.S. and Europe view security as a competitive advantage. Fewer than 30 percent of respondents consider security as an important responsibility. Less than 27 percent of respondents feel their cloud services substantially protect and secure customer information.
The majority of cloud providers (69 percent) believe security is primarily the responsibility of the cloud user; this contrasts with 35 percent of cloud users who believe security is their responsibility. Just 16 percent of cloud providers feel security is a shared responsibility, compared to 33 percent of cloud users who believe the duty should be shared. Thirty-two percent of both cloud providers and cloud users say security is the responsibility of the provider.
Cloud providers and cloud users disagree widely on the degree to which they saw intellectual property (IP) being too sensitive for the cloud. Sixty-eight percent of cloud users felt their IP was too risky for cloud use, compared to just 42 percent of cloud providers.
Comment from Mike Denning, general manager, Security, CA Technologies: The focus on reduced cost and faster deployment may be sufficient for cloud providers now, but as organizations reach the point where increasingly sensitive data and applications are all that remains to migrate to the cloud, they will quickly reach an impasse. If the risk of breach outweighs potential cost savings and agility, we may reach a point of "cloud stall" -- where cloud adoption slows or stops -- until organizations believe cloud security is as good as or better than enterprise security.
Comment from Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute: Given the well-publicized concerns about the potential risks to organizations' sensitive and confidential information in the cloud, we believe it is only a matter of time until users of cloud computing solutions will demand enhanced security systems. However, until this happens, users of cloud computing should be aware of their responsibility to assess the risks before migrating to the cloud. They should thoroughly vet providers and their applications and infrastructure for their ability to safeguard information. Finally, cloud users and providers should consider the importance of joint responsibility to create a secure computing environment.
About the study: For "Security of Cloud Computing Providers," sponsored by CA Technologies, Ponemon Institute surveyed 103 cloud service providers in the US and 24 in six European countries for a total of 127 separate providers. Respondents said SaaS (55 percent) is the most frequently offered cloud service, followed by IaaS (34 percent) and PaaS (11 percent). Sixty-five percent of cloud providers in this study deploy their IT resources in the public cloud environment, 18 percent deploy in the private cloud and 18 percent are hybrid.
Contact: http://www.ca.com
Contact: http://www.ponemon.org/index.php
Monday, April 11, 2011
More Than Half Of IT Pros Expect To Adopt Cloud Storage
More than 57 percent of respondents to a survey expect to adopt cloud storage to store e-mail, front office application data and backup data in the cloud, in that order.
Respondents felt that cloud storage standards are important in advancing the industry and that for many organizations but are more important for public cloud implementations than private clouds. In addition, the security of data stored in the cloud isn't as much of a concern as lack of budget is.
Comment from Wayne M. Adams, Chairman, SNIA Board of Directors: With the SNIA Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) standard gaining commercial implementation, the marketplace can reduce vendor lock-in while enabling increased interoperability and data portability across service providers. CDMI is cited in the recent Storage Strategies NOW Cloud Storage market research study as very important standard for public/hybrid clouds that will increasingly be part of cloud RFPs.
About the survey: Information for this report ("Cloud Storage: Adoption, Practice and Deployment") was obtained by Storage Strategies NOW (SSG-NOW) through a number of sources including vendor questionnaires and interviews, end-user and managed service provider (MSP) interactions, available market data and a survey of IT professionals, conducted in the first quarter of 2011. The report defines cloud storage, outlines the explosive growth in cloud storage and details how small and enterprise-size businesses are adopting and deploying cloud storage services for backup, archive, email and bulk storage data. The IT Professionals Cloud Adoption Survey, co-sponsored by the Storage Networking Industry Association, presents information on the status of the cloud storage market.
Contact: http://www.snia.org
Respondents felt that cloud storage standards are important in advancing the industry and that for many organizations but are more important for public cloud implementations than private clouds. In addition, the security of data stored in the cloud isn't as much of a concern as lack of budget is.
Comment from Wayne M. Adams, Chairman, SNIA Board of Directors: With the SNIA Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) standard gaining commercial implementation, the marketplace can reduce vendor lock-in while enabling increased interoperability and data portability across service providers. CDMI is cited in the recent Storage Strategies NOW Cloud Storage market research study as very important standard for public/hybrid clouds that will increasingly be part of cloud RFPs.
About the survey: Information for this report ("Cloud Storage: Adoption, Practice and Deployment") was obtained by Storage Strategies NOW (SSG-NOW) through a number of sources including vendor questionnaires and interviews, end-user and managed service provider (MSP) interactions, available market data and a survey of IT professionals, conducted in the first quarter of 2011. The report defines cloud storage, outlines the explosive growth in cloud storage and details how small and enterprise-size businesses are adopting and deploying cloud storage services for backup, archive, email and bulk storage data. The IT Professionals Cloud Adoption Survey, co-sponsored by the Storage Networking Industry Association, presents information on the status of the cloud storage market.
Contact: http://www.snia.org
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Legacy Apps Like Quickbooks, Sage Are The Weakest Link in Enterprise Desktop Security
Legacy applications put enterprise network security at risk across EMEA and North America, according to a survey. In examining the hidden role of legacy applications in desktop the report reveals why many IT administrators today consider the desktop as the IT equivalent of the Wild West.
Key findings:
-- In organizations with more than 2500 desktops, it was Intuit QuickBooks (80 percent of respondents) that most often forced IT administrators to elevate network access privileges to the more risky administrator or super user status.
-- In enterprises with fewer than 2500 desktops, in-house bespoke applications (18 percent of respondents), and a range of 'other legacy apps' (55 percent) including old mainframe apps, Flash and Adobe Software, and rogue apps such as iPhone apps, and gaming software, which force IT Admins to elevate privileges to administrator status.
-- IT admins and help desk personnel say they spend more than 1/4 of their time fixing problems caused by over-privileged users, costing $1,000s per user each year; 90 percent of IT admins and help desk personnel who admit to experiencing the headache of managing the impact of legacy apps would welcome help with automating the process of dealing with over-privileged users.
Findings from IT administrators and help desk operatives were confirmed by control group of 40 IT analysts and consultants.
Comment from Geoff Haggart, BeyondTrust President of International Sales: This report offers a revealing insight into the state of desktops today. They are littered with legacy applications, many requiring Windows administrator or power user status to run, and so leaving IT administrators caught between a rock and a hard place. Effective access management is practically impossible for them because adopting best practice of removing administrator or super user status, means shutting down applications the enterprise still relies on to conduct it's business day-to-day. Legacy apps make it increasingly difficult for IT administrators to thwart attacks by people with legitimate access to an organization's computers, devices and networks. These insider threats represents a growing problem across the globe, frustrating admins, auditors and managers who lack the resources to properly identify them, oversee their behavior and protect mission-critical information technology (IT) assets from the misuse of privilege.
About the survey: BeyondTrust, a provider of privilege authorization management, access control and security solutions, surveyed 185 IT administrators and help desk operatives, collectively responsible for more than 250,000 individual Windows desktops to determine why effectively managing network access from the desktop -- whether in a company with 100 or 10,000 seats -- is so fraught with difficulty.
Contact: The report is available here.
Key findings:
-- In organizations with more than 2500 desktops, it was Intuit QuickBooks (80 percent of respondents) that most often forced IT administrators to elevate network access privileges to the more risky administrator or super user status.
-- In enterprises with fewer than 2500 desktops, in-house bespoke applications (18 percent of respondents), and a range of 'other legacy apps' (55 percent) including old mainframe apps, Flash and Adobe Software, and rogue apps such as iPhone apps, and gaming software, which force IT Admins to elevate privileges to administrator status.
-- IT admins and help desk personnel say they spend more than 1/4 of their time fixing problems caused by over-privileged users, costing $1,000s per user each year; 90 percent of IT admins and help desk personnel who admit to experiencing the headache of managing the impact of legacy apps would welcome help with automating the process of dealing with over-privileged users.
Findings from IT administrators and help desk operatives were confirmed by control group of 40 IT analysts and consultants.
Comment from Geoff Haggart, BeyondTrust President of International Sales: This report offers a revealing insight into the state of desktops today. They are littered with legacy applications, many requiring Windows administrator or power user status to run, and so leaving IT administrators caught between a rock and a hard place. Effective access management is practically impossible for them because adopting best practice of removing administrator or super user status, means shutting down applications the enterprise still relies on to conduct it's business day-to-day. Legacy apps make it increasingly difficult for IT administrators to thwart attacks by people with legitimate access to an organization's computers, devices and networks. These insider threats represents a growing problem across the globe, frustrating admins, auditors and managers who lack the resources to properly identify them, oversee their behavior and protect mission-critical information technology (IT) assets from the misuse of privilege.
About the survey: BeyondTrust, a provider of privilege authorization management, access control and security solutions, surveyed 185 IT administrators and help desk operatives, collectively responsible for more than 250,000 individual Windows desktops to determine why effectively managing network access from the desktop -- whether in a company with 100 or 10,000 seats -- is so fraught with difficulty.
Contact: The report is available here.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Midsize Businesses Increasing IT Budgets, Investing In Analytics And Cloud Computing
More than half of midsize companies are planning to increase their information technology (IT) budgets over the next 12 to 18 months, according to a study. As a result, these companies are investing in a wide range of priorities including analytics, cloud computing, collaboration, mobility and customer relationship solutions.
Seventy percent of midsize companies surveyed are actively pursuing analytics technology to better understand their customers, make better decisions and become more efficient. The study also shows growing adoption of cloud computing among midsize firms, with two-thirds either planning or currently deploying cloud-based technologies to improve IT systems management while lowering costs.
Other key findings:
-- 53 percent of respondents expect their IT budgets to increase over the next 12 to 18 months, 31 percent expect they will remain unchanged and 16 percent think they will decrease or are unsure.
-- Security (63 percent), customer relationship management (62 percent) and analytics / information management (59 percent) were cited as their "Most Critical IT Priorities."
-- 75 percent plan to upgrade their core IT systems to improve performance, security and reliability.
-- Top expected benefits from cloud computing include cost reduction, better manageability of IT, improved system redundancy and availability.
-- To achieve their technology objectives, more than 70 percent plan to pursue a consultative (IT and business), versus purely transactional relationship with their primary IT provider.
-- Top barriers to IT adoption cited were cost, difficulty in acquiring and deploying technology solutions, and lack of IT skills and resources.
Comparisons between the current study and those from 2009 also reveal a shift from a predominant focus on cost control and efficiency to a greater emphasis on growth initiatives. Today, 21 percent characterize their strategic mindset as 'efficiency and cost control', with the majority (79 percent) concentrating on customers, growth and innovation. In 2009, 53 percent characterized their company mindset as one of efficiency and cost control", with less than half (47 percent) focused on growth, innovation and customers. This change is reflected in the increased adoption of analytics and predictive technologies that have become more affordable and widely available for midsize companies.
Comment from Andy Monshaw, General Manager, IBM Midmarket: The survey findings show that midsize firms are tackling a new set of opportunities to advance their role as engines of economic growth. When we spoke to midsize firms 18 months ago, most were focused on reducing costs and improving efficiencies. Today, the conversation is also about expanding their business, connecting with customers and gaining greater insights.
Comment from Jay Hakami, President and CEO of Sky IT Group, an IBM Business Partner: We've seen a boom in the number of midsize customers within the consumer products space who want to engage with us around analytics and cloud. IT departments in midsize markets are adapting very fast to that fact that they must do much more with less. Companies are looking to quickly identify tools and efficient ways to support growth and innovation.
About the study: "Inside the Midmarket: A 2011 Perspective" was commissioned by IBM and conducted independently by KS&R, Inc. The survey of 2,112 business and information technology decision makers at midsize businesses (100-1000 employees) spanned a variety of industries, including banking, retail, consumer products, wholesale, transportation, industrial products, and insurance. Participants hailed from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden), Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Japan, China, Brazil, India, Russia, Australia, Mexico, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Poland, New Zealand and the Czech Republic. The study was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2010 to capture current and upcoming business and IT priorities and investment direction.
Contact: Download the report (PDF).
Seventy percent of midsize companies surveyed are actively pursuing analytics technology to better understand their customers, make better decisions and become more efficient. The study also shows growing adoption of cloud computing among midsize firms, with two-thirds either planning or currently deploying cloud-based technologies to improve IT systems management while lowering costs.
Other key findings:
-- 53 percent of respondents expect their IT budgets to increase over the next 12 to 18 months, 31 percent expect they will remain unchanged and 16 percent think they will decrease or are unsure.
-- Security (63 percent), customer relationship management (62 percent) and analytics / information management (59 percent) were cited as their "Most Critical IT Priorities."
-- 75 percent plan to upgrade their core IT systems to improve performance, security and reliability.
-- Top expected benefits from cloud computing include cost reduction, better manageability of IT, improved system redundancy and availability.
-- To achieve their technology objectives, more than 70 percent plan to pursue a consultative (IT and business), versus purely transactional relationship with their primary IT provider.
-- Top barriers to IT adoption cited were cost, difficulty in acquiring and deploying technology solutions, and lack of IT skills and resources.
Comparisons between the current study and those from 2009 also reveal a shift from a predominant focus on cost control and efficiency to a greater emphasis on growth initiatives. Today, 21 percent characterize their strategic mindset as 'efficiency and cost control', with the majority (79 percent) concentrating on customers, growth and innovation. In 2009, 53 percent characterized their company mindset as one of efficiency and cost control", with less than half (47 percent) focused on growth, innovation and customers. This change is reflected in the increased adoption of analytics and predictive technologies that have become more affordable and widely available for midsize companies.
Comment from Andy Monshaw, General Manager, IBM Midmarket: The survey findings show that midsize firms are tackling a new set of opportunities to advance their role as engines of economic growth. When we spoke to midsize firms 18 months ago, most were focused on reducing costs and improving efficiencies. Today, the conversation is also about expanding their business, connecting with customers and gaining greater insights.
Comment from Jay Hakami, President and CEO of Sky IT Group, an IBM Business Partner: We've seen a boom in the number of midsize customers within the consumer products space who want to engage with us around analytics and cloud. IT departments in midsize markets are adapting very fast to that fact that they must do much more with less. Companies are looking to quickly identify tools and efficient ways to support growth and innovation.
About the study: "Inside the Midmarket: A 2011 Perspective" was commissioned by IBM and conducted independently by KS&R, Inc. The survey of 2,112 business and information technology decision makers at midsize businesses (100-1000 employees) spanned a variety of industries, including banking, retail, consumer products, wholesale, transportation, industrial products, and insurance. Participants hailed from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden), Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Japan, China, Brazil, India, Russia, Australia, Mexico, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Poland, New Zealand and the Czech Republic. The study was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2010 to capture current and upcoming business and IT priorities and investment direction.
Contact: Download the report (PDF).
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Cloud Adoption Triggering Fundamental Changes In Mid-Market And SMB
Migration to the Cloud is accelerating, according to a study, as 44 percent of companies claim to have at least one business application on the cloud and over 70 percent indicate they will move more within the next 12 months
Other findings:
-- Mobility Drives Cloud Migration: 38 percent of respondents indicated that the need to support greater workforce mobility is a trigger for cloud adoption
-- Early Adopters are Growth Companies: Companies growing >10 percent per year were nearly twice as likely to move software and infrastructure to the cloud
-- Marketing, Sales Most Accepted Cloud Applications: While 36 percent of companies using marketing automation do so via the cloud, and 29 percent of CRM is cloud-deployed, >49 percent of companies are planning to move one or more of these applications to the cloud within 12 months
-- Private Cloud Networks Preferred: 52 percent of respondents preferred to deploy on some sort of "private cloud" as oppose to multi-tenant public clouds
-- Better Security Becoming a Cloud Asset: 48 percent of respondents believed that data security would actually be better on the cloud, recognizing the investment and expertise needed to establish and maintain secure computing environments
-- 3rd Party Channels Remain Critical: 67 percent of respondents preferred to purchase software applications through a 3rd party value-added managed service provider; this appears to be due to a need for both higher service levels and functional expertise
Comment from Tim Furey, founder of MarketBridge: Adoption of cloud-based information technology by mid-market and SMB companies -- particularly in customer facing business processes such as Marketing, Sales, and Customer Intelligence -- is being accepted more rapidly than many industry analysts originally predicted. While the practicality and challenges of cloud migration may slow down C-level executives' aggressive expectations, there is no doubt that the shift will happen rapidly over the next 2-3 years. The CEO and other senior executives outside of IT are more involved in these decisions than ever, and their level of cloud technology understanding is surprisingly high.
About the study: The study comprised the preliminary findings of a December survey of 1,000 North American mid-market and small businesses and their adoption of cloud-based information technologies. The research was performed by MarketBridge, a provider of technology-enabled Marketing & Sales Managed Services and Solutions. In parallel with its "Customer Cloud Adoption" research, MarketBridge is also completing research on "Channel Cloud Adoption" to understand how traditional resellers of on-premise software and hardware are adapting to the rapid migration to off-premise and shared IT infrastructure.
Contact: http://www.market-bridge.com
Other findings:
-- Mobility Drives Cloud Migration: 38 percent of respondents indicated that the need to support greater workforce mobility is a trigger for cloud adoption
-- Early Adopters are Growth Companies: Companies growing >10 percent per year were nearly twice as likely to move software and infrastructure to the cloud
-- Marketing, Sales Most Accepted Cloud Applications: While 36 percent of companies using marketing automation do so via the cloud, and 29 percent of CRM is cloud-deployed, >49 percent of companies are planning to move one or more of these applications to the cloud within 12 months
-- Private Cloud Networks Preferred: 52 percent of respondents preferred to deploy on some sort of "private cloud" as oppose to multi-tenant public clouds
-- Better Security Becoming a Cloud Asset: 48 percent of respondents believed that data security would actually be better on the cloud, recognizing the investment and expertise needed to establish and maintain secure computing environments
-- 3rd Party Channels Remain Critical: 67 percent of respondents preferred to purchase software applications through a 3rd party value-added managed service provider; this appears to be due to a need for both higher service levels and functional expertise
Comment from Tim Furey, founder of MarketBridge: Adoption of cloud-based information technology by mid-market and SMB companies -- particularly in customer facing business processes such as Marketing, Sales, and Customer Intelligence -- is being accepted more rapidly than many industry analysts originally predicted. While the practicality and challenges of cloud migration may slow down C-level executives' aggressive expectations, there is no doubt that the shift will happen rapidly over the next 2-3 years. The CEO and other senior executives outside of IT are more involved in these decisions than ever, and their level of cloud technology understanding is surprisingly high.
About the study: The study comprised the preliminary findings of a December survey of 1,000 North American mid-market and small businesses and their adoption of cloud-based information technologies. The research was performed by MarketBridge, a provider of technology-enabled Marketing & Sales Managed Services and Solutions. In parallel with its "Customer Cloud Adoption" research, MarketBridge is also completing research on "Channel Cloud Adoption" to understand how traditional resellers of on-premise software and hardware are adapting to the rapid migration to off-premise and shared IT infrastructure.
Contact: http://www.market-bridge.com
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