As more and more enterprises are migrating to the cloud, it is imperative to look into whether organizations can protect their current cloud environments.
Perhaps not. Says a recent study by Proofpoint and Cloud Security Alliance (CSA). The study was conducted on around 950 professionals belonging to the Security and IT industry. These organizations were of different sizes and based in the US, APAC, and EMEA.
The study highlighted the need to protect the cloud environments as several enterprises were apparently struggling to thoroughly safeguard their cloud implemented during the pandemic and adapt or change their existing cyber security suite in accordance with the new rules and changed scenarios.
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What led to this scenario was the changed circumstances during the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic presented unprecedented challenges. One significant challenge was keeping the business working while maintaining less contact. Such a scenario was indeed restrictive yet challenging, and the entire world was left with no option but to invent innovative ways and go beyond conventional methods.
During the pandemic, remote working was the norm, and the cloud gained the utmost experience. Organizations began shifting to the cloud at such speeds that the sudden and vast volumes of data at much faster rates paved the way for the emergence of specific issues. The large-scale structural changes required during the process of rapid transition of data into the cloud during the pandemic have been the basis of the present trouble.
The Challenges
One among the immediate challenges for organizations is to develop a cohesive approach to the cloud while maintaining a balanced approach toward on-premise security infrastructure and the traditional cloud.
Supply chain threats and risks are rising as enterprises continue to transition to the cloud. Such risks require immediate attention as the abundance of clouds has also led to increased reliance on parties and third partners and parties.
The study, as mentioned earlier emphasizes that almost half of the participants were explicitly apprehensive about data loss due to the supply chain.
Furthermore, almost 81 percent of the participants said they were moderately or highly concerned about supply chain attacks or data loss through them.
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Besides, it is critical that cloud administrators possess a deep understanding of how the respective organization intends to use the cloud and to what extent. The aptest security standards and policies must be implemented and adopted, keeping the accountabilities in mind.
About 47% of those who participated in the survey admitted they struggle to deal with legacy systems. In fact, they also said doing so is their topmost security concern.
Enterprises are also making considerable efforts to tackle the issue. For instance, almost all rely on security awareness training to protect themselves against web threats and deal with existing cloud systems. More research and investment are happening concerning enhancing awareness of security.
Cloud Presents Critical Advantages
Transition to the cloud is associated with several benefits. Some of them include High-levels of flexibility, scalability, faster deployments, and lower costs.
Besides, the cloud is said to be the future, and migration to the cloud makes you take a step forward to being future-ready.
Cloud provides faster deployment, and all that is required is just a few clicks, irrespective of whether they are on-premises or remotely located. Such a flexibility is inevitable in today’s scenario.
There is control on data susceptibility and quality. Recent statistics reveal that around 94 percent of businesses have witnessed some security improvement, and about 91 percent agree that their cloud has been critical in enabling the enterprises to achieve mandatory compliance requirements.
The CSA, or the Cloud Security Alliance is a global organization focusing on defining and enhancing awareness on best cloud practices.
Proofpoint is a leading name in the worldwide cyber security industry. The company has been extending exceptional practices with an aim to protect assets of an enterprise.
Also, the study found that most of the organizations have well-defined strategies for the current year.
“In terms of primary cloud and web security objectives for 2022, 43% of organizations cited protecting customer data, while 41% mentioned automating cloud and web threat prevention solutions as their number one priority”, says the study.