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20 Oct 2009
IT security teams still have serious reservations about moving to cloud-based infrastructures, according to a new survey from security and encryption firm Thales released today.
The news comes just days after consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers warned that companies are rushing into the cloud without paying adequate attention to the security concerns.
Thales' annual Encryption and Key Management Benchmark report interviewed nearly 700 IT professionals globally, and found that 47 per cent would not move to the cloud unless data was encrypted, while 43 per cent have no current plans to move to cloud computing.
Data security was the chief concern of most respondents, while 59 per cent said that they would not allow encryption keys to be managed by a cloud service.
"This is painting a picture of a lot of scepticism relating to the cloud, much more than I imagined," said Kevin Bocek, director of product marketing at Thales. "There is an opportunity for the cloud service providers, though. I'm sure they will roll out additional security services to overcome these objections."
Bocek explained that cloud pioneer Amazon already offers encrypted storage, along with a virtual private network service for customers with stringent security requirements.
The Thales report also said that organisations are still slow to adopt tape and database encryption technologies, despite the obvious benefits in the case of the latter, because of concerns over the impact on performance.
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Secure the pearly gates not the cloud
It's true that big questions remain over the security of cloud computing, but the issue is not necessarily as hugely complex as some would have you imagine. The key to security of cloud computing lies in the routes between your business and the cloud, not the cloud itself. As with tangible security risks to homes and business premises, it's the access points that are always the weak point, therefore it's vital to ensure the ?windows? and ?doors? of cloud computing are made as secure as possible. Addressing the security of your company?s specific cloud entry and exit points is the best ? and simplest ? way to get a grip on the potential issues involved to enable businesses to take advantage of all that the cloud has to offer. The only way to ensure your data is not compromised by the cloud is to control what is going to and from it in the first place, and make sure your gateways to the cloud are watertight.
Posted by: Alf Pilgrim, Clearswift 20 Oct 2009