A lack of visibility increases public cloud security risk, according to a survey of over 350 IT professionals conducted by cybersecurity testing and visibility services provider Ixia and technology market analysis firm Dimensional Research.
Key findings from the Ixia-Dimensional Research survey included:
- Over 90 percent of IT professionals are concerned about data and application security in public cloud environments.
- 88 percent suffered a business-related issue due to a lack of visibility into public cloud data traffic.
- 82 percent are concerned with security and data privacy in private cloud environments.
- Nearly 60 percent said public cloud environments make it more difficult to obtain visibility into data traffic.
- The top three challenges companies experience due to a lack of visibility into their public cloud data are troubleshooting application performance issues, troubleshooting network performance issues and application outages and rapid response to resolve security alerts and network outages.
- The top three priorities for companies that leverage public cloud environments are securing data and apps, meeting compliance requirements and increasing cloud expertise.
Security breaches that result from a lack of visibility into public or private clouds may cause customers to avoid or mistrust cloud-based services and applications, according to Ixia. As such, organizations must prioritize cloud visibility and monitoring, Ixia noted, to protect customer data and maintain customer confidence.
How to Secure a Cloud Environment
Cloud security is important for organizations around the globe. However, safeguarding sensitive data stored in public and private cloud environments remains a major challenge for organizations of all sizes and across all industries.
Organizations must prioritize security and compliance and find ways to gain control of their data, Ixia said. Furthermore, organizations must be accountable for their cloud security initiatives, Ixia indicated, and provide full visibility into these efforts to build trust with customers.
In addition, MSSPs that can provide cloud visibility services can help organizations protect critical information stored in public and private clouds.
Cloud visibility services can deliver data visibility in every public and private cloud that an organization uses, Ixia Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Harris said in a prepared statement. Therefore, an MSSP that offers cloud visibility services may be better equipped than others to help organizations address their cloud security concerns.
