Coalfire Cloud Study: Security Concerns Still a Barrier to Cloud Adoption

Survey data reveals data loss/leakage, shared responsibility concerns still abound

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Oct 03, 2019, 11:00 ET

WESTMINSTER, Colo., Oct. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Coalfire, a provider of cybersecurity advisory and assessment services, today announced the release of a new Securealities research report: "Cloud Security Intelligence Report."

The report, created in cooperation with Cybersecurity Insiders, provides a detailed look at how organizations are responding to security threats in the cloud. It highlights what is and is not working for security operations teams in securing their cloud data, systems and services in the cloud shared responsibility model.

A majority of analyst reports show that 90% of enterprises are in the cloud to various degrees (whether public, private or hybrid deployments); however, this study revealed that 93% of enterprise respondents are still moderately to extremely concerned about cloud security, providing a barrier to a more aggressive embrace of cloud strategies.

"This report clearly indicates that organizations should regularly reassess their cloud security practices and re-evaluate whether their deployments are meeting their business objectives," said Mark Carney, EVP of Cybersecurity Services, Coalfire. "Security strategies must be customized to cloud environments and optimized to ensure companies are extracting the benefits they set out to achieve in their cloud journeys."

Some other noted highlights of the report include:

The top cloud security concerns of cybersecurity professionals are data loss and leakage (64%) and data privacy/confidentiality (62%).
Unauthorized access through misuse of employee credentials and improper access controls (42%), as well as insecure interfaces and APIs (42%), are tied for the top spot as the single biggest perceived vulnerability to cloud security. They are followed by misconfiguration of the cloud platform (40%).
The top two operational security headaches SOC teams struggle with are compliance (34%) and lack of visibility into infrastructure security (33%).
The three most commonly mentioned security controls that would increase enterprise confidence in cloud solution security include encryption of data-at-rest (38%), automation of compliance (37%) and alerting on security events (34%).
Of special concern is the number of organizations that lack visibility to their own security status: 25% of those surveyed reported that they don't know whether they have been breached.

Overall, many of the concerns expressed by respondents of the study pointed directly to the enterprise's own responsibilities within the shared responsibility model.

Download the complete Cloud Security Intelligence Report here.

About Coalfire

Coalfire is the trusted cybersecurity advisor that helps private and public-sector organizations avert threats, close gaps and effectively manage risk. By providing independent and tailored advice, assessments, technical testing and cyber engineering services, we help clients develop scalable programs that improve their security posture, achieve their business objectives and fuel their continued success. Coalfire has been a cybersecurity thought leader for nearly 20 years and has offices throughout the United States and Europe.

For more information, visit Coalfire.com.

Press Contact:
Mike Gallo
For Coalfire
212-239-8594
[email protected]

SOURCE Coalfire