In a new survey from energy management and automation specialist Schneider Electric, 42% of respondents indicate they currently run security applications in the cloud and almost half, 45%, say they are likely or extremely likely to transition security operations to the cloud in the future.
Organizations use the cloud for existing applications including data storage, human resources, e-mail and security, and are keen on adopting it for security operations. 57% of respondents believe the cloud is secure, with information technology (IT) and technology professionals having the most confidence (78%), followed by education (70%), construction (68%) and financial services (52%). However some skeptics remain, with 18% of respondents indicating they do not trust the cloud.
Nearly 75% of respondents stated that network security is an important feature for security systems in their organizations. While the state of security continues to advance, respondents indicate security systems are not where they should be in order to adopt emerging technologies (54%), and despite business leaders being supportive of emerging technology (95%), many barriers to adoption exist.
Organizational/administrative barriers such as procedures, lack of perceived value and return on investment (ROI) were the top barriers identified that are inhibiting organizations from achieving their security goals.
“Leveraging the cloud for security applications is becoming increasingly accepted and required as we move into a 24/7 digital world,” says Steven Turney, Schneider Electric security program manager. “Especially for companies where security management improvements are imminent, it makes sense to consider innovation at every level of their organization to meet their security needs.”
The survey results for Security in the Cloud are available from Schneider Electric here.
